"No Bicycle Parking" to give Philly bike riders a chance to share their stories

A bike wheel on Broad and Spruce Streets. | Photo by Raphael XavierWith spring nearly arrived, we can expect to see a lot more bicycles cruising Philadelphia streets. Unfortunately, this also means we’re likely to see a lot more stripped and abandoned bikes too. Ever had your bike stolen or stripped? The artist Raphael Xavier wants to hear from you. Visit his exhibit “No Bicycle Parking” on display at the Painted Bride Center from March 21-22, to tell him your story.

Xavier, who is also a performing artist and documentary filmmaker, has spent the past 10 years photographing more than 400 abandoned and stripped bikes. Many of the photos were taken in Philadelphia where Xavier currently lives; others are from cities he visited while touring for his professional dance career.

During the two-day exhibit, Xavier is hoping to collect handwritten stories to be used in an upcoming book featuring the bike photographs. The exhibit is on displayed in the Café Gallery (Hours: 12-8 p.m.), and will be welcomed with an artist’s reception tomorrow from 5-8 p.m. Xavier will be selling a limited selection of prints as well. 

“No Bicycle Parking” at the Painted Bride Art Center (230 Vine St.,) free admission

PhilaU students break the mold and grow furniture from mushroom fungus

Part of the pendant light McClellan is growing from mushroom fungus. | Photo from Brian McClellan and Mercan SismanPlanting season is just a month away, and while green thumbs throughout the region are dusting off their grow lights and readying their soil for spring flowers and vegetables, senior industrial design students Brian McClellan and Mercan Sisman – from Philadelphia University’s Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce – are already deep in the process of growing something quite different: furniture.

The project began as a conversation with classmates about sustainable design and the possibilities of building with living materials. Soon, McClellan and Sisman found themselves researching ways to grow objects naturally as an alternative to using harmful plastics and other materials. Eventually, they landed on the mycelium organism, essentially the rooting system for mushrooms. By studying the way the organism grows and travels, McClellan and Sisman discovered that, in a controlled environment, they could force the mycelium to grow in different ways inside forms or molds. For their senior projects, the pair decided to use reishi and oyster mushrooms, two naturally wood decomposing species. They found an organic mushroom grower in California who could provide the substrate (or food) on which the mushrooms would live.

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Win a free pass to Philadelphia's craftsmen and historic home show

Last issue, we looked at the inspiring preservation work happening in Philadelphia through a special editorial partnership with Hidden City Philadelphia. As part of that feature, Jacob Hellman wrote about the art and science of historical preservation, explaining the importance and challenge of finding sustainable and reliable materials when doing restoration work. This is especially true for homeowners, who might not have the resources or experience to successfully complete a restoration project.

Luckily for homeowners there’s a great resource for home preservation. On March 8-10 the Valley Forge Convention Center is hosting the annual Philadelphia Designer Craftsmen and Historic Home Show. 

One of the lead presenters at the Home Show will be LimeWorks.us, a Quakertown-based company specializing in historic masonry preservation; they’ve worked on projects as varied as local private home preservation to the restoration of University of Virginia’s iconic Academical Village. At noon on Saturday, March 9, they will be presenting on the economic and environmental benefits of historic preservation, and will share tips for the homeowner unsure of how to begin the sometimes confusing process of restoration.

Tickets for the show, including the LimeWorks.us presentation, can be found here. LimeWorks.us is also providing a free ticket to a Grid reader. Be to first to email us (getinvolved@gridphilly.com) with a brief reason of why you want to attend and the ticket is all yours!

ALEX JACOBS is the Grid intern for spring 2013. He is a junior history major at Haverford College.

Material Issues: The art and science of restoring old buildings

story by Jacob HellmanCity Hall—now a crisp white icon, but it was only last year that the building’s restoration was finally finished, undoing a half-century of neglect. Built with some 88 million bricks, the restoration treated 200,000 square feet of masonry, 680 windows and 250 sculptures. The project drew on an army of building conservation specialists, and employed some of the industry’s most advanced techniques. It’s no wonder the process took a decade.

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Modern Love: Why a North Philadelphia Thriftway deserves historical recognition

story and photo by Peter Woodall This article is part of a special editorial partnership with Hidden City Daily on preservation in Philadelphia. Like what you read? Check out the full March 2013 issue and visit Hidden City for more stories on the inspiring preservation work being done in Philadelphia.

Nowadays, vintage stores are thick with “Members Only” jackets from the 1980s and car collectors covet the “classic” Honda Civics from the 1970s. But appreciation develops more slowly when it comes to architecture: buildings must be 50 years or older to be eligible for the National Historic Register. In Philadelphia, however, there is no minimum age for a building to be called historic; and good thing because the city has a few late modernist buildings that are worth preserving, but have yet to make the list. 

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