Park Towne Place

hearth, frame, foundation explores the textures of urbanism through the lens of five artists, Francis Beaty, Cimone Kind Berman, Annette Cords, Michael Morgan, and Rita Scheer, who draw materials and inspiration from the built environment. Found materials, patterns, textures, and abstraction give visual expression to the dialogue between cities and the people who live in them. 

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The included artists play with diverse methodologies from fields including architecture, construction, archaeology, and botany, exploring the links between construction, inhabitation, and the passage of time in cities. The parallels between construction in the built environment and the artist’s studio are seen through the included series of maquettes and drawings, highlighting how, in architecture, sculpture, or installation, the process of shaping physical space is a translation of ideas from inner worlds to outer expression. 

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Each artists’ use of familiar forms, materials, and images emphasizes the collaboration between human construction and the weathering forces of nature in shaping our cities and our daily lives. Michael Morgan’s brick and found artifact assemblages consider the city as a material collage that reflects our patterns of living. Annette Cords’ Jacquard tapestries draw inspiration from the codes engraved in city surfaces and planetary bodies alike. Cimone Kind Berman’s glassworks echo the textures of aged silver mirrors in imagined lunar landscapes, while Rita Scheer meditates on the flows of materials and energy in greenhouses and textile looms, where architecture encloses the operations that produce the materials of our lives. Francis Beaty’s site-specific works respond directly to Park Towne Place’s North and West Tower galleries, embracing the movements of light and air within each space’s volume. 

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Francis Beaty

Francis Beaty is a contemporary installation artist, painter, and sculptor known for her interdisciplinary work and introspective style. Her works incorporate found and constructed elements with a unique conceptual inventiveness, drawing from her degrees in Education, French, and Architectural Interior Design. 

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Cimone Kind Berman

Cimone Kind Berman, the founder of Argent Mirror, is a mirror alchemist who creates beautiful one-of-a-kind silvered mirrors. The daughter of the historic Gordon & Son’s owners, mirrors are in Berman’s blood. After years in the industry, she has decorated the interiors of award-winning restaurants, luxe personal homes, and gallery-based art exhibitions. 

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Annette Cords

Annette Cords was born and raised in Germany and received her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Cords has exhibited her work widely both nationally and internationally and has been widely recognized through fellowships, residencies, and awards. She is currently an Assistant Professor at St. John’s University in Queens, NY. 

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Michael Morgan

Michael Morgan is a ceramic sculptor who uses found bricks and ceramic sherds. Morgan has completed brick sculptures for both public and private clients throughout the USA and UK. He currently lives in Philadelphia, PA, where he continues to make a living as a practicing artist and teaches ceramic sculpture at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

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Rita Scheer

Rita Scheer is an artist and educator living and working between Philadelphia, PA and Providence, RI. They received their MFA in Painting and Drawing from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Scheer has exhibited nationally at venues including The Cherry Arts Gallery, Ithaca, NY; Vox Populi and Pilot Projects, Philadelphia, PA; and Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, MA.