Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
From February 23rd to April 14th, the Banana Factory’s 9th Annual Hope & Healing Juried Art Show is on display in the Crayola Gallery. Students in the Lehigh Valley created the artwork for this exhibition, focusing on the themes of healing and comfort. Healing Through the Arts, a non-profit organization in Allentown, sponsored the art…
Katie Hovencamp, a resident artist at the Banana Factory Arts Center and Artist Collective member, currently has a solo exhibition at the Bradbury-Sullivan Center. Her exhibition, titled “Fracturing Gender: Beauty and the Body Politic,” is eye-catching and subversive, cotton candy that’s not so sweet. Hovencamp’s work speaks to beauty, bodies, gender, and space, and the…
On Sunday, February 17th, Color Me Mine and Seven Sirens Brewing Company hosted a Beer and Brush Night for the South Side’s 2nd Annual Cocktails & Craft Beer Week. The celebration consisted of events centered around the South Side’s assortment of cocktails and craft beer. Various restaurants and bars on the South Side hosted different…
Scale Shift: Large and Small Works is the current exhibit available in the Siegal Gallery at Iacocca Hall. This exhibit was thought-provoking and honed on perspective. Each unique piece highlighted the effects of perception when it comes to the size of objects in the artwork. When creating this exhibit, the curator emphasized complexities of size…
The air was hot and heavy, and I was greeted with the strong smell of burning wood as I walked into the studio. Seldom is this the scene we imagine when we think of conventional forms of art, though this is a typical day in the Banana Factory’s glass studio. While artists rarely have the…
The Banana Factory’s latest exhibition, Common Threads, features the work of three talented fiber artists: Tabitha Arnold, Ariel Posh, and Lily Wilkins. While the exhibition focuses on the role of violence in our everyday lives, the artists’ use of fiber materials creates a clear dichotomy between the subject and the medium. Many of the pieces…
Missy Hartney Brings Energy and Ideas to the South Side Arts District Colorful murals in South Bethlehem burst from what used to be blank walls. The addition of a mural on E. Third Street has brought vitality to the city’s streetscape. Created by Manhattan street artist Denton Burrows, this piece of artwork combines elements of…
Anyone who has visited the Southside of Bethlehem knows that the area takes art very much to heart. At practically every corner is a distinct, fiery-colored planter that consists of elements of Bethlehem. And lest we forget, drivers and passersby alike can now enjoy the recently completed murals located near the New Street Bridge and…
There are many things about Bethlehem that makes it stand apart from other cities. For example, can you name any other pottery studio that hosts a “Paint With a Sloth” event, where attendees can BYOB, learn how to paint, AND snag a selfie with a real life sloth? You guessed it – Color Me Mine….
On Saturday, April 28th from 11-3 p.m. there will be drinks, music, books, crafts, and a monstrous robot dinosaur all at the 23rd annual Spring on the Southside Community Festival. Jeff Boerner, director of the Fab Lab at Northampton Community College, beams with a somewhat anxious excitement when he mentions this busy event to me….