In Rodin Museum’s courtyard last Friday evening, you could run into old friends, play a game of gigantic chess, or try to keep up with your toddler toddling through the garden.

Or you could just sit back, sipping white wine and taking in the scene.

This weekly urban oasis at the Rodin has often featured live music to accompany drinks and snacks in the gorgeously landscaped courtyard. The event is now in its seasonal homestretch, continuing each Friday evening with recorded music through the end of August.

Oh, and while you’re there, you could also take in the jewel-box of a museum, which offers a choice selection of works by the French sculptor. The current show, “Rodin’s Hands,” features 15 bronzes and plasters, some of which relate to Auguste Rodin’s famous The Burghers of Calais.

The Rodin Museum, 2151 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Friday-Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Fridays until 8:30 p.m. through Aug. 28. Friday evenings are pay-what-you-wish. philamuseum.org.

— Peter Dobrin

The last Irish funeral I watched on YouTube was Shane MacGowan’s.

The musical peak of that celebration of the Pogues songwriter, who had been beset by health problems before his death in 2023 at 65, came on a thrilling duet between Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill on the whiskey-soaked holiday classic “Fairytale of New York.”

I watched another this week. This time, it was for Hansard, the Frames and Swell Season singer who had been working on an album in Philadelphia before his death at 56 in a Dublin motorcycle accident, on July 29.

The funeral mass, which was livestreamed on Tuesday from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, — and is archived online — had a feeling of unwanted deja vu. Less than three years after MacGowan had been laid to rest, many of the same musician mourners again gathered to pay tribute to one of their own; in this case to celebrate a life brought to an unexpected tragic end.

Mourners included U2’s Bono, who led the congregation in an a cappella “Beautiful Day,” and played a voice note recording of Patti Smith singing a lullaby she wrote for Hansard. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, who Hansard opened for in Philadelphia in 2024, sang “A Song of Good Hope” with the Swell Season’s Marketa Irglova.

The service is a beautiful, devastating watch. Eulogies were given by Hansard’s wife Maire Saaritsa and his brothers Richard and Gary, the latter of whom sang the heart breaking ballad “I Can See God,” written by the Hansards’ uncle Paul Cahill.

O’Neill, who was among the Dublin musicians who played with an expanded Pogues at Franklin Music Hall in Philly last September, was particularly moving on “Old Note,” a song she wrote in a Dublin apartment that Hansard lent her so she could work on her music.

The Philadelphia crew who worked with Hansard at Elm Street Studios in Conshohocken in 2025, and this year, was represented by producer Charlie Hall of The War On Drugs. He can be spotted in the church choir as the service came to a close with a fevered rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young,” mashed up with George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and led by Hot House Flowers singer Liam Ó Maonlaí.

The night of the funeral, Hansard was further celebrated at Dublin’s Vicar Street concert hall. Vedder led the way on Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” with Hall on guitar on his right, and Asbury Park repped by Jake Clemons of the E Street Band, and photographer/musician Danny Clinch.

Philly musicians who worked with Hansard, including Hall, Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Ben Arnold and Kevin Hanson shared their remembrances of him on the Craic Radio Hour on Thursday on WPPM-FM (106.5). The show can be heard on Mixcloud and will be rebroadcast on the radio on Tuesday at 2 a.m.

— Dan DeLuca

For incarcerated individuals with long-term or life sentences, life outside of prison may seem unimaginable. Artist Jesse Krimes brings those future visions to life through his Elegy Quilts.

The quilts, currently on display at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, are made up of pieces of clothing from incarcerated individuals. Krimes then asks the subjects of these quilts to name three elements: a piece of furniture, an animal, and an object; all meant to represent the person’s identity.

Some commonalities are present, with multiple individuals selecting a bird or a bathroom setting. However, each quilt feels like its own distinct insight into this person’s life, whether that’s a memory they cherish or the life they wish to return to.

Krimes himself was incarcerated for five years, and used art as a creative outlet during his sentence. All of the pieces in the show are named after prisons.

The quilts feel incredibly personal, thanks to the elements that Krimes requested of the subjects. Particularly in pieces like Florence, where I could almost see the sadness of the quilt horse as he looks at this childhood playroom scene.

At the same time, as deep as the pieces feel, their ultimate message or theme can’t be known without knowing the subject’s intention. It creates this emotional reaction while also raising a lot of questions about these people’s identities and how they perceive themselves: What makes someone feel like they’re an owl? Or a flamingo?

The quilts are striking, and all I want to see besides a million more are the actual stories behind them. That being said, the mystery is heartbreakingly beautiful too.

“Elegy Quilts by Jesse Krimes” is on display until Nov. 1, 2026, at The Fabric Museum and Workshop, 1214 Arch St, Phila. fabricworkshopandmuseum.org

— Morgan Ritter

Inside the quiet, well air-conditioned Museum of Art in Wood, visitors can explore dozens of wondrous artworks that will leave them asking, “How did the artist make this?” Two floors in Old City are packed with treasures primarily inside humidity-controlled glass cases, though I’d encourage you to check every corner — and make sure you look up! — so you don’t miss a thing.

One disarmingly funny work that I loved was a pair of tall bar chairs made of cherry wood with a special design on the seat: meticulously crafted luscious lips. Artists Silas Kopf and Thomas Coughlin fittingly called them Kiss My A — Chairs, but I was fascinated even before I learned the cheeky title. The lips (and nose) are multicolored to indicate texture, light, and shading with such impressive skill.

Kopf is particularly renowned for his expertise in marquetry, a style of woodworking that incorporates thin pieces of other material (in this case, assorted woods) to create a design.

See also: Louise Hibbert’s stunningly shiny seashells; Daniel Forest Hoffman’s unbelievably realistic Ram; Jason Marlow’s enigmatic helmet; and John H. Williams’ Solar Storm, a deep orange vessel with fingerprint-like swirls.

Those picks are only from their permanent collection — the museum also hosts rotating exhibits, with the latest opening this weekend spotlighting their artists in residence. (The gift shop is another must-see.)

Plus, if you’re looking to enjoy the air-conditioning a bit longer, enter their wooden games library and try your hand at various puzzles or the ancient Egyptian board game Senet.

Museum for Art in Wood, Wed-Sun, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., 141 N 3rd St, Phila. museumforartinwood.org

— Rosa Cartagena