Benefit v.14 brings together the best in creative Philadelphia, from emerging fashion designers to kickass catering crews, from pumped-up performances by Liberty City Kings Drag and Burlesque to hundreds of works by area artists. In addition, an entire section of the Icebox Project Space will be dedicated to two Philadelphia galleries, FJORD and Gallery Joe, to highlight venues at the forefront of today’s arts community.
FJORD, a studio and gallery space founded and run by a tight knit group of artists in the Kensington area of Philadelphia, is an excellent example of the stimulating creativity at work in this city. The talented artists/curators at FJORD are working to create, display, and initiate alternative discourse, with innovative artwork and curatorial projects, weekly movie screenings, and curated monthly exhibitions of artists from varied career stages. Sophisticated curatorship unites quality artwork into a forum for ultimately thought provoking dialog.
Fjord is run by a wonderfully talented community of artists. How did you all meet?
Several of us were friends from RISD. We met AJ through a mutual friend, and AJ introduced us to her Boston University friends. We have since gotten some newer members of FJORD who we have met through the Philly artist community.
What are some of the most challenging aspects of running a studio and gallery space?
Getting everyone in one space at the same time is often like herding cats. Figuring out how to most effectively reach our audience when promoting our exhibitions and other programing. Raising money.
Did you come across any unexpected challenges while establishing Fjord?
Figuring out how to curate and build a gallery with no budget in less than two months.
About how long does it tend to take to organize an exhibition, from concept to installation?
Roughly three months. We like to curate seasonally to keep our programing fresh and to keep all of us engaged.
Is there a piece of advice or mantra that has stuck with you throughout the years that you’d like to share?
It is sometimes better to ask forgiveness than ask permission.
Do you have any advice for young artists aspiring to open their own space?
Get a solid group of friends that you can get serious and silly with and just do it and don’t think too hard about it. We have certainly learned a lot about running FJORD since starting it. Challenges have come up but they don’t hit us all at once so it is rarely overwhelming.
Can you tell us a bit about your involvement in the InLiquid benefit this year?
We are honored to have the opportunity to feature the work of the members of FJORD. We typically show outside artists at FJORD so we are looking forward to curating a show of our own work.
What about the InLiquid Benefit are you most looking forward to?
We have had some of the best conversations with artists in the community at our openings, and we are sure that Inliquid will be no different.
You can check out FJORD’s pop-up space at Benefit v.14 on Saturday, February 8 at Crane Arts
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