How to have the perfect Philly day, according to fiber artist Caitlin McCormack

There are many cups of coffee, a garden visit, and stops for vegan snacks.

Caitlin McCormack is a fiber artist who explores queerness, isolation, and loss through textile and hand-crocheted sculpture, drawing inspiration from folklore, medieval botanical imagery, institutional osteological displays like those at the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and science fiction. They have contributed works to Elijah Wheat Showroom, Hashimoto Contemporary, the Mütter Museum, and many galleries and museums internationally. McCormack is currently preparing for solo shows at the Dina Wind Art Foundation in South Philadelphia and the Philadelphia International Airport (January to August 2026). McCormack doesn’t drive and relies heavily on public transportation, while also endlessly traversing the city on foot. McCormack’s perfect day in Philly is usually the first Saturday of each month, providing all the buses and trains are magically running on time.

I wake up, avoid looking at my phone, and hang out with my fluffy black cat, Canyon, while having my first coffee, a Pink Lady apple, and some nuts.

I walk to Solar Myth to sit with an oat cortado and a book (currently reading Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford), while listening to the jazz they have on.

I board the BSL at Ellsworth/Federal, ride it to Erie then transfer to the 23 bus, ride it to Germantown Ave to Germantown Kitchen Garden (open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays), which I love. I’ll look for fresh herbs, tomatoes, summer squash — whatever is seasonal. I might buy some cherry tomatoes and snack on them, then grab a drip coffee at Uncle Bobbie’s, which is so warm and welcoming, and also a bookstore, before getting back on the SEPTA.

From the Cecil B. Moore stop, I walk from Broad Street to the Wagner Free Institute, to attend their Saturday open house. It’s a medical institute that was turned into a museum of biology and geology and they have a historic surgical amphitheater. It’s full of artifacts dating back hundreds of years, including exotic corals, taxidermied animals, and osteological specimens. I’ll have my sketchbook with me and will do some drawing in the space, using their skeletal specimens as reference. It’s such a unique gem of a historic place and I have enjoyed visiting since moving to Philly in 2006.

I head to my studio at 319 N 11th Street. I say hello to Dot the African grey parrot and put in a couple two hours of work, then I meander southeast through Chinatown and stop at Ray’s Coffee House for yet another coffee and some really good, handmade veggie dumplings.

Then I stop by the Curtis Building on 6th and Walnut to admire The Dream Garden, my favorite piece of public art in the city. It’s just in the lobby, next to PJ Clarke’s for anyone to look at. It’s a Maxfield Parrish mural composed of handcut Tiffany glass. It’s astounding and it glows.

I walk south to meet my partner James Heimer. We’ll stop by Partners and Son and Brickbat Books to poke around for interesting graphic novels, zines, books by Robert Walser, Bruno Schulz, and Franz Kafka, or weird pataphysical or whimsical texts.

I walk further south to Ba Le Bakery, for an early dinner, the #11 tofu banh mi, the best sandwich in the city. The tofu is cooked with pineapple and achieves a perfect, caramelized texture. James and I will sit on the stoop outside Ba Le and split the sandwich.

I walk back north, maybe catch a repertory horror or noir film at the Ritz Five or the PFS East then head back south from Old City to Queens Village, stopping by the Good King Tavern for a Penicillin or a Sazerac, probably both, and split their chickpea socca and some Castelvetrano olives with James.

I head home on Passyunk, back to Canyon, but if I have a burst of energy, I’ll stop at Tattooed Mom for a drink.