REVEALED : work by the new faces of GLG

Bruce Hoffman, Chloë Le Pichon, Joseph Miceli

June 17th – Aug 15th 2023

Opening Reception

Thursday July 27th 5 – 8pm

Join the festivities with

Salsa social and lessons @5:30pm and @7pm outside the gallery

REVEALED features the work of three artist/gallerists Bruce Hoffman, Chloë Le Pichon and Joseph Miceli whose interests & individual studio work originate from diverse mediums. Traditionally, the role of a curatorial staff is to promote the work of a select group of artists represented by the gallery and to act as a liaison between an artist and collector. As the new team at GLG settles into their positions, this exhibition reverses that equation to present a self-curated collection of ceramics, paintings & mixed media sculptures. For Revealed, GLG’s staff has joined together in one venue to highlight their own recent work and to share backgrounds and influences from the unique vantage point of their chosen disciplines. It’s not often that the tables are turned to highlight the art & studio craft created by the respective hands of the curatorial team.

Work in this exhibition will be available online for viewing and purchase inquiries at:

graverslanegallery.com/1213-exhibit

Bruce Hoffman

As the Director of Gravers Lane Gallery since 2012, Bruce Hoffman has worked tirelessly branding Gravers Lane Gallery as a world-class representative of contemporary art with an emphasis on studio crafts. In high school he was chosen to participate in a Saturday advanced education program in the arts, studying art history and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and printmaking at Moore College of Art and Design. He received a scholarship to attend Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, where he studied painting and printmaking and attended the Rome program for overseas studies.

After graduating from Tyler, Hoffman started working at The Works Gallery and Snyderman Gallery in Philadelphia quickly becoming Director of The Works and within a decade joint Director of the merged Snyderman-Works. His passion for studio crafts, more specifically textile and fiber arts, emerged in an internationally recognized Fiber Biennial Exhibition beginning in mid 1990’s and ran for almost two decades. The focus on Study Crafts brought special curatorial accolades to Hoffman when he was hired to curate two acclaimed exhibitions at the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Gallery in Princeton, New Jersey. Furniture Makers of the North East included such noted artists as George Nakashima, Wendell Castle, Albert Paley, Stephen Whittlesley and Roseanne Somerson and Jere Osgood to name a few. Hoffman has lectured and served as juror for museums, colleges, art centers and arts organizations throughout the country. Noted places include Evanston Museum of Art in Indiana, Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, Hunterdon Museum in New Jersey, Virginia Commonwealth University, The American Crafts Council, The Smithsonian Craft Show, The Philadelphia Museum of Arts, The Art Alliance in Philadelphia, The Cherry Grove Arts Festival in Denver and the Craft Alliance in St. Louis. He has been published and featured in American Craft Magazine, Fiber Art Now, Fiberarts Magazine, the New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Boston Globe.

In 2011 Hoffman, along with 5 friends and numerous volunteers, created FiberPhiladelphia2012. Spearheaded by friend, professor and artist, Amy Orr, the International Biennial comprised 61 exhibitions throughout Philadelphia. In 2006 Hoffman taught the first undergraduate Curatorial Studies class at Moore College of Art and Design. In 2012 he joined the board of The Chestnut Hill Business Association and served as an elected Vice President and President of the Board. His own work can be found in numerous private collections. This coming Fall Hoffman will be mounting an installation at the Philadelphia International Airport that will remain on public view for 6 months.

Chloë Le Pichon

Chloë graduated from Swarthmore College having fallen in love with claywork, thanks to her inspiring professor Syd Carpenter and generous teacher Doug Herren. Over the past 20 odd years she has kept up a studio practice. Most recently she collaborated on a project with florist Missi Flowers for Altuzarra. She continues to take intensives, especially in France, where traditional techniques and strong modern design particularly appeal to her sensibilities. She has enjoyed her work as a technician and teacher for the Claymobile and her private lessons to children and adults.

Of French and Chinese heritage, born in London, Chloë lived a large part of her youth in Hong Kong where she received a French education. Her work naturally lives at the crossroads of Asian and Western sensibilities. Each piece is a result of the play between the refined with the raw, the elegant with the natural, classical proportions meet wabi-sabi philosophy resulting in pieces that contain subtle tension.

Making objects by hand in today’s world is deeply rewarding because of the intimacy experienced with each piece as it is formed. Her work is a dance and conversation with the earth —a raw, active act of creation and improvisation. The pieces in this show are hand-coiled, a technique used since the beginning of human life, examples of which date from prehistoric times. This slow methodical building process lends itself well to moments when the mind disappears and the energy of improvisation can be channeled. This method develops a deep listening to the clay as well as responding to it.

Chloë is interested in the impermanence and transience of our lives. The ceramic pots, transformed to the permanence of stone by firing, outlive their creator and become evidence of existence —the thought, culture and identity of a particular time, place and person. Once fired, her sculptures become timeless anchors in an ever changing life. With each piece, she strives to achieve a sense of beauty, responding keenly to the need of the soul to be elevated through art.

Chloë Le Pichon (aka Demeter Blooming) currently works out of her ceramic studio near Philadelphia, PA.

Joseph Miceli

Joseph received his undergraduate degree from Nazareth College of Rochester, NY, and relocated to Philadelphia in 1991 to pursue a master’s degree in printmaking at Tyler School of Art and Architecture of Temple University. As the recipient of a graduate assistantship for Tyler Galleries and a later promotion to Exhibitions Registrar he gained valuable experience as an art handler, preparator and curator. In 1991 he acquired a nationally respected fine art and craft gallery in the Philadelphia area which he managed and regularly curated exhibitions for almost 20 years. There he forged the majority of his professional relationships with accomplished craftspeople from across the country through visits to artist studios and craft shows, his commitment to mounting exhibitions for artists represented by his gallery, and acting as a liaison for special commissions and acquisitions for his clientele. He recently returned to his studio full time with a renewed focus on painting as a result of remaining closer to home.

Originally trained as a printmaker, Joseph often adapts the complex process of printed inks into a more fluid approach utilizing templates and subtractive methods to attain comparable translucent surfaces. Through his intentional use of water-based inks this pliable medium allows the mining of multiple pigment layers to reveal dormant veils of underpainting. The impetus for his excavation of these strata of ink is to offer liberation to the unseen. Loosely based upon an array of foundational sketches, Joseph’s luminous imagery is suffused with metaphoric elements which occupy an ideal periphery- one that crosses an intangible threshold into liminal realms. The immersive and intuitive act of painting for him fosters a confident terrain where limitations completely fall away.

Joseph’s work has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions with his paintings and prints residing in private collections across the country. The majority of his time is spent drawing and painting in his home studio located in the Philadelphia area.

Pick of the Week

JUNE LEE

June Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to the U.S. when she was 18 years old. She received her BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Fibers MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art. After graduation, she moved back to Korea to work and teach in Seoul while participating in many shows and residency programs all over the world.

“My wok focuses on the individual in contemporary society today. I explore the neutrality and duality of the individual as a distinct unity and again as a constituent of the collective society. In particular, I shed light on the social phenomena surrounding the individual in a contemporary social space, especially on negative conditions such as bystander effect, mass psychology, scapegoating and biases. Using the East Asian element of thread which represents human life to form figurative works, my art looks at the problems of the modern man from a third-person perspective”

GLG@1213 WALNUT STREET

Gravers Lane Gallery Midtown Philadelphia

The Goldenberg Group presents

Gravers Lane Gallery’s second location G.L.G. @ 1213 Walnut Street

Designed as an exhibition and special events gallery, GLG @1213 WALNUT is an intimate, sophisticated gallery showcasing individual artists, and curated exhibitions. We are located at 1213 Walnut Street, a luxury high-rise apartment complex. The entrance to G.L.G @ 1213 WALNUT can be found to the left of the main resident entrance, in the thoroughfare between Walnut and Sansom Streets. This gallery location is by appointment only. To schedule, please call 215-247-1603 or email info@graverslanegallery.com