Past Present Projects

TONIGHT! Join us in celebrating the release of two catalogs designed by our outgoing graphic design student Cailin Tallarico. Our Fall 2025 exhibition, Of The Grid, featured thirty-six artists working in, around and outside of the box. This catalog captures the photography, video, drawing, weaving, sculpture, embroidery, printmaking, painting, book arts, and interactive installations that activated the gallery space. The catalog includes the introductory essay "On the Grid" by co-curator Cindy Stockton Moore. Past Present is a journal of contemporary art practices that intersect with historic spaces, material collections, and cultural histories, edited and curated by friend of the gallery Heather Gibson Moqtaderi. Issue No. 5 features articles and interviews from Sandra Eula Lee, Leo Tecosky, Samara Weaver, Jeremy Frey, Shaina Nez, Janna Añonuevo Langholz, Aislinn Pentecost Farren, Tabitha Arnold, Olivia Block, Ye Zhu. This event is free and open to all; catalogs will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served.

This Saturday, May 9 from 5-7 PM, join us to celebrate the opening of Looking Glass at Cliveden! Looking Glass is a site-responsive exhibition of works by six contemporary artists. Sited with the historic interiors and grounds of Cliveden, the project reflects on the history of people and place in commemoration of the U.S. Semiquincentennial. The exhibition is organized by Past Present Projects in partnership with Cliveden of the National Trust. Looking Glass is part of Radical America, a city-wide series of exhibitions organized by @theclaystudiophl The Clay Studio, with support from Philly 250 and @artphilly2026 ArtPhilly. Curated by @heathergibsongirl for Past Present Projects @cliveden1767 Artists: Naya Lee Chang Janna Gregonis Jacintha Kruc Kristen Neville Taylor Jonathan Wahl Samara Weaver Looking Glass Opening Reception Saturday, May 9 5:00 - 7:00 PM Cliveden 6401 Germantown Avenue Free and open to the public

Installation day snaps of ‘Looking Glass’ at historic Cliveden in Germantown, featuring (in order of photos of select pieces) Samara Weaver, Kristen Neville Taylor, Janna Gregonis, Jonathan Wahl, Jacintha Clark, and Naya Lee Chang. Join us for the opening reception May 9 from 5-7 PM. Cliveden is located at 6401 Germantown Avenue in Philly. ‘Looking Glass’ is part of Radical Americana, a citywide series organized by The Clay Studio. @pastpresentprojects @samaracweaver @knevilletaylor @jacinthakruc @jannagregonis @jonathancwahl @nayaleechang @cliveden1767 #radicalamericana

New art exhibitions are coming to the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove! Join us on Sunday, April 19 from 1-3pm to celebrate with the artists. The opening reception is free and open to the public. Following the opening, the exhibitions will be open during regular museum hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10am-4pm. Sunday mornings from 10am-noon are always free! John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove @audubonmidatl 1201 Pawlings Road Audubon, PA Audubon.org/John-James Exhibitions: Deirdre Murphy: Home Making Holly Fasching: Fledge Yvonne Love & Deirdre Murphy: Field Notes Rosalind Sutkowski: Witness Tree Link to RSVP for opening: /events/7078208b-b241-3769-a56f-f6efdb61cb47 Artworks pictured by: @deirdremurphyart Yvonne Love @hollyfasching @rosalindsutkowski @audubonmidatl Curated by @heathergibsongirl

Congrats Mikel Elam on your solo show “Divine Navigation” at Allen’s Lane Art Center! 🎨 @allenslaneartcenter

Plantastic day with Phaan Howng at The Woodlands and Leonard Pearlstein Gallery 🌱 @phaanlove @woodlandsphila @pearlsteingallery @heathergibsongirl

If you joined us for A Night of Grief Karaoke at The Woodlands or were just there in spirit, you can get a Karaoke in the Cemetery t-shirt! Leigh Davis is taking pre-orders with proceeds benefiting the Southern Equality Trans Youth Emergency Fund and future Karaoke in the Cemetery programs. ⏫ Link in bio to place your order! @leighdavisprojects @woodlandsphila

Cold weather site visit to Cliveden with Naya Lee Chang! As part of Radical Americana, a city-wide exhibition series organized by The Clay Studio, Chang is developing artistic interventions for this group of 18th century garden sculptures. Thanks to Libby Hawes at Cliveden for facilitating this research day in the Cliveden research library and with the objects themselves. Chang’s work is part of “Looking Glass” a group exhibition (within the Radical Americana series) curated by Past Present Projects and also featuring Kristen Neville Taylor, Samara Weaver, Jacintha Kruc, Janna Gregonis, and Jonathan Wahl. Opening May 2026 — stay tuned for details! @theclaystudiophl @nayaleechang @cliveden1767 @knevilletaylor @samaracweaver @jacinthakruc @jannagregonis @jonathancwahl #radicalamericana2026

Tabitha Arnold’s essay on Erik Ruin’s new installation at Glen Foerd explores how the work “considers what is hidden by the things we can see.” (Link to the essay on the PPP blog in our bio.) Erik will be speaking about his installation Songs of Enclosure and Exclosure at Glen Foerd’s ArtsFest this Sunday, October 5 at 2pm. Hope to see you there! @glenfoerd @erikruin @tabithakarnold Thanks to Tabitha Arnold for writing this essay as 2025 Emerging Writing Fellow at Glen Foerd. Tabitha was Glen Foerd’s Visual Artist in Residence in 2021, and she has an amazing show currently up at Field Projects in NY through October 4! @fieldprojects Thanks to Talia Greene, curatorial consultant for Erik’s project, for facilitating Tabitha’s research for her essay. @taliaevegreene

What a beautiful evening for Karaoke in the Cemetery! Thank you @leighdavisprojects for bringing this project into the world and @woodlandsphila for hosting. And thanks to everyone who shared by singing on “stage,” singing (and dancing) along, or just being with us. Thank you Andrew for bringing the music to life and Bob D for making the lighting happen. Special thanks to Emma and Hann at The Woodlands, their volunteers, Robin and of course Jessica. 💖🌕🎤

Hi dear Philadelphians, A reminder to RSVP for a night of grief karaoke this Friday, September 26 @woodlandsphila from 6:30-10pm. In the city named for love, this free event is open to everyone. You can sign up to sing, support, or just listen. You’re invited to browse titles from my archive or make song requests when you arrive. This project is a way to get together right now, to share in grief responses through singing. People grieve differently. And all of it is welcome. If don’t want to sing, you can still show up and be part of this experience. You already know that it’s really really bad out there. And that right now there are so many people who can’t come out at all. People who are afraid to leave their homes. Especially where I live.  I’ll be singing as loud as I can so they can hear me. I’ll be singing to honor my friend who lost their parent last week. It’s all the grief on top of the grief. And I’ll continue singing for everything and everyone that needs protecting right now. Maybe if we let some of the grief out, we can create a few new spaces in the body for juice, energy, breath, a few moments of relief. Also, this project really can’t happen without people so I hope you’ll join me as I contend with the atrocities of living and celebrate the impermanence of all things. And the timing is pretty good. It’s just post-eclipse, a time to transform, to let go of something you’re ready to release. If you have friends, family, or know people in Philadelphia who can and may want to join in, please share this. I’ll meet you in the cemetery. RSVP online at The Woodlands, link in bio Friday, September 26, 2025 Gates 6:30, Karaoke 7-10pm Outdoors at The Stable (rain date: Sat) BYOB refreshments, blankets, chairs, and most importantly your voices. Thank you for supporting this work Heather @pastpresentprojects Emma & Hann @woodlandsphila Andrew @hotnightskaraoke Bob @bob_donahue_fine_art_services And everyone who can make it there.

🎤🪦 Join us for A Night of Grief Karaoke FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 Doors open at 6:30 PM Karaoke from 7:00 - 10:00 PM Pre-registration is required (link in bio). Your presence is your participation—you do not need to sing. A project by @leighdavisprojects in collaboration with @pastpresentprojects and The Woodlands, Karaoke in the Cemetery invites everyone to gather in the cemetery to sing, listen, dance, or make a raucous or emotional mess together, shattering cultural expectations that grief should be kept silent. Adapted from Leigh: “If you live in Philadelphia, please come with your loves, neighbors, family, friends. Just being there — you’re a part of it. We all grieve differently, and all of it belongs here. If you’re reading this, you’re alive. You know the situation out there. I continue to learn to live in an autocracy as I go. Right now (at least for me) deeply connective experiences with other people are reparative. They are ways to hold on to each other. A lot right now needs to be vocal, so that sentiment echoes into this work. It’s a project that offers a way to release some of the grief, to let it spill out if you need, and to honor or talk to someone you know (or don’t know), dead and alive. I know there’s someone somewhere who needs to hear it. If you’ve ever been to The Woodlands, you may get why my nervous system appreciates the place. It’s West Philadelphia’s largest green space, its trees alone offer sweet relief. So join in, connecting through vibrations that echo into the here and now as we mourn and celebrate our simultaneous existence. As my therapist says, “We can hold more than one feeling at once.” And as Rilke said, “We do not die of sadness — out of sadness we live on”. Link in bio for RSVP. Details about song requests/what to expect will be sent to everyone who registers, so please do. Thank you to @pastpresentprojects curator/goodness Heather Moqtaderi for your ongoing support, The Woodlands’ Emma and Hann for energy/teamwork, @hotnightskaraoke Andrew for media music/magic, @bob_donahue_fine_art_services Bobby D for working with my nerves/install puzzle. And for everyone who shows up, singing or not, thank you ahead.”