On Friday, September 9, 2011, from 6 to 9 PM the Passyunk Square Civic Association will host the first annual P’unk Square Community Art Show and Auction. The event, which will be held at 822 Ellsworth Street, will include both an art auction and a raffle.

The event will feature sculpture, prints, jewelry, photography and paintings. Artists will include: Chris Crisman; Kelly Gadsby; Jason Goldberg; Kyra Harris; Carolyn Giordano; Sam McConnell; Isaiah Zagar; Darla Jackson; Abiezar Galloza; Nikki Virbitsky; Becca Kuhn; Elissa Kara; Tony Pregiato; and Lauren Parker.

(Over on Philadelphia Speaks, we’ve started a thread where we are sharing profiles of some of the artists. Check it out… don’t worry, there are links for buying your tickets there too!)

Tickets for the event can be purchased for $6 in advance through Paypal (click on the button below) or for $12 at the door. Raffle tickets will also be available for purchase. Beer, wine and light appetizers will be provided. All proceeds will benefit the work of the Passyunk Square Civic Association.

Details
Who: Friends of the Passyunk Square Civic Association. This event is open to the public.
What: Art Show and Auction to benefit the Passyunk Square Civic Association
Where: 822 Ellsworth Street
When: Friday, September 9, 2011, 6pm to 9pm

Any questions? Email Lauren Parker at events@passyunk.org. Hope to see you there!

Web Start Women is a community of girl geeks in the Philadelphia area who are learning to program for the web so they can make awesome stuff online. If you have a website and would like to learn how to make it easier for people who are interested in it to find it via Google and other search engines, join them for their Search Engine Optimization class. If you would like to learn how to build a website, join them for their HTML & CSS class. Web Start Women fosters a welcoming environment where women and girls of all ages will feel comfortable.

Here are two classes happening right in the heart of our neighborhood:

Practical & Realistic SEO
When: Tuesday, September 6th at 6:30-8:30pm
Where: CHI Movement Arts Center (1316 South 9th St., Philadelphia, PA)
Info: In this class, we’ll cover what we’ve learned from experience about the honest, content-driven way to get your website in the browsers of the users that are looking for it. There are no silver bullets – just clear advice on title tags, meta tags, urls, keywords, site organization and most importantly, content. It’s not a magic potion, just a recipe for reaching your site’s best potential; these elements combined won’t help you game Google, but they will work with Google to get you closer to where you want to be.
Click here for complete info.

Wrangling HTML & CSS
When: Tuesdays, Sept. 13th, 20th, 27th, and Oct. 4th at 6:30-8:30pm
Where: CHI Movement Arts Center (1316 South 9th St., Philadelphia, PA)
Info: By popular demand, we’re running another round of HTML + CSS! This class is the foundation for a majority of our other courses and will give you the essentials tools you need to publishing work online. There are no pre-reqs and both newbies as well as experienced hackers are welcome.
Click here for complete info.

It's always sunny in this part of Philadelphia. (Photo by Karin Morris)

A new school year is under way and anyone who has walked, biked or driven down 12th Street past the Andrew Jackson School over the last few days has probably noticed the beautiful new addition to the front door that welcomes students, faculty, parents and community members.

In the past year, COSACOSA art at large, Inc. worked with 8th grade students at the Jackson School to develop a large-scale mosaic for the building’s facade.  Students researched and shared sun stories from the almost 30 different nationalities represented at the school. Together with COSACOSA artists, they designed a mosaic where hundreds of tiny little suns (representing our individual skills and strengths) combine to create a giant sun (representing the community and the common good).

Suns also symbolize academic brilliance and environmental stewardship. The project bridged cultures and built community through hands-on art-making and storytelling workshops throughout the year. Mosaic-making for the corner of 12th and Federal will continue throughout 2012.

COSACOSA is a non-profit organization creating new public art as a catalyst for community dialogue, creative cooperation, and positive change.  The Jackson School of the Suns project was supported by grants from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, The Picasso Project of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, the Support Community  Outreach Program of the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services, and Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts. For more information, please visit COSACOSA’s website and consider supporting them and the great work they do.

On Friday, September 9, 2011, from 6 to 9 PM the Passyunk Square Civic Association will host the first annual P’unk Square Community Art Show and Auction. The event, which will be held at 822 Ellsworth Street, will include both an art auction and a raffle.

The event will feature sculpture, prints, jewelry, photography and paintings. Artists will include: Chris Crisman; Kelly Gadsby; Jason Goldberg; Kyra Harris; Carolyn Giordano; Sam McConnell; Isaiah Zagar; Darla Jackson; Abiezar Galloza; Nikki Virbitsky; Becca Kuhn; Elissa Kara; Tony Pregiato; and Lauren Parker.

Tickets for the event can be purchased for $6 in advance through Paypal (click on the button below) or for $12 at the door. Raffle tickets will also be available for purchase. Beer, wine and light appetizers will be provided. All proceeds will benefit the work of the Passyunk Square Civic Association.

Details
Who: Friends of the Passyunk Square Civic Association. This event is open to the public.
What: Art Show and Auction to benefit the Passyunk Square Civic Association
Where: 822 Ellsworth Street
When: Friday, September 9, 2011, 6pm to 9pm

Any questions? Email Lauren Parker at events@passyunk.org. Hope to see you there!

The developer of the lot at 921-931 Ellsworth got in touch with us and let us know that they have recently been awarded tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency which will allow them to begin construction on the senior housing project between Thanksgiving and Christmas of this year.

Currently they are working to complete their civil engineering and architectural plans.  To do so they will be conducting two weeks of tests on the soils below the parking lot.  To that end they have an executed agreement with the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Parking Authority.  These tests are scheduled to begin on 22 August and last until 5 September.

During this time period the parking lot will be closed to any vehicles not involved with the construction so that the drilling equipment has room to work.  At the conclusion of this work the parking lot will once again be open for general parking.

If you have any questions, feel free to email parking (at) passyunk.org and we will pass those questions along to the developer.