Seven cultural groups win grants for exhibitions

Seven area cultural organizations have been awarded a total of $651,650 in exhibition and planning grants from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Recipients of the annual grants, administered by the University of the Arts, are chosen by an international panel of experts in the visual arts.

This year's exhibition recipients include the John Bartram Association, which will receive $171,650 for "Bartram's Travels Revisited." Pennsylvania artist Mark Dion will retrace John and brother William Bartram's travels to northern Florida, collecting natural specimens and man-made artifacts. The finds will be displayed in handmade cabinets at the Bartram house and garden.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has been awarded $150,000 for "William Kentridge: Ten Tapestries," which will reflect Kentridge's continuing interest in the politics and social culture of South Africa.

The University of the Arts has been awarded $200,000 for "Beyond the Surface: Women in Pop Art 1958-1968."

In 2007, the exhibitions initiative also continued its focus on planning grants for project research and development.

Grantees in this category include the Design Center at Philadelphia University, which will receive $20,000 for "Lace in Translation," bringing three Dutch design teams together to research the center's Quaker Lace archives.

The Philadelphia Art Alliance will receive $20,000 for "The Sitting Room: Four Studies," incorporating separate but interrelated installations featuring furniture design, ceramics, plastic, textiles, glass, metal and paper.

Philagrafika has been awarded $20,000 for "Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious," to refine the primary curatorial theses and sub-themes for the multisite exhibition.

Tyler Exhibitions will also receive $20,000 for "Invented Cities," an exhibition that will examine the roles photographic images play in urban fantasy.

- Stephan Salisbury