Branford Marsalis Drummer Justin Faulkner Comes to the Michener

Fresh from an appearance with Branford Marsalis on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Justin Faulkner  will play Jazz Night at the Michener Art Museum April 27.

The New York Times recently cited Faulkner as one of “Five drummers whose time is now.” He is quoted as saying, “So what you’re feeling and hearing should go from within to the drums. If you’re not feeling what you’re playing, then you’re just meandering… If the music doesn’t build, what’s it going to do?”

“Justin Faulkner is really hot right now,” says Director of Programs Zoriana Siokalo. “He’s so in demand, we’re lucky to be able to bring him to the Michener.”

For the last three years, Justin Faulkner has been the drummer of choice for Branford

Michener Showcases Shared American Culture in ‘Infinite Mirror’

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American artists of African, Arab, European, Asian, Latino and Native American descent explore their heritage in Infinite Mirror: Images of American Identity, on view at the Michener Art Museum April 13 through July 7, 2013.

Renowned artists Paul Keene, Tomie Arai, Luis Jimenez, Jacob Lawrence and Faith Ringgold are among the culturally-diverse artists who use portraiture and figuration to examine issues of race, gender, religion, history, politics and family. The exhibit, comprised

The Brush is Mightier than the Sword

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The Michener Art Museum is fortunate to have in its collection many examples of paintings and works on paper that both celebrate daily life and reveal the plight of the homeless and the hungry. The Brush Is Mightier than the Sword: Twentieth-Century Works from the Michener Art Museum Collection, now on view in the museum’s Commonwealth Gallery, focuses on the tradition of “art with a conscience”—art that’s meant to open our eyes and change the world.

This form has a long and colorful history, but truly came into its own in the tumult and ferment of the first half of the 20th century.

“It’s easy to forget how bad things were when President Franklin Roosevelt said, ‘The only

Ground-breaking sculpture reveals sensuous form

Karl Stirner, Untitled, 1987–1990, Steel, 13.25 x 13.25 x 6 inches, Collection of Karl Stirner, Photograph courtesy of Ken Ek

Picasso may have been the first sculptor to work in iron, and David Smith’s works may have signaled the beginning of steel sculpture, but Karl Stirner was among the first to strip metal of its suggestiveness and allow it to become purely abstract, to reveal its pure form.

Transformations II: Works in Steel by Karl Stirner is on view in the Pfundt Gallery at the Michener Art Museum March 16 – June 16, 2013.

“Karl Stirner is a significant sculptor living right here in our community,” says Michener Director & CEO Lisa Tremper Hanover, who curated this exhibit. “His work is abstract and untitled, and viewers take away something personal from his sensuous forms.”

Stirner, 89, brings new life to metal that has been discarded, whether from Bethlehem

Amazing Grace

Visitors view the exhibition “The Grace Kelly Years” at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. AFP PHOTO VALERY HACHE

Through fashion, film, photographs and personal artifacts, the Michener Art Museum will examine the life of Philadelphia native Grace Kelly in an exhibition scheduled for October 28, 2013, through January 26, 2014. The Michener is the first American venue for this interactive exhibition.

Prince Albert of Monaco will attend an opening reception.

“We are excited to dedicate our three largest galleries for this major exhibition, and will organize a companion exhibition about the Bucks County Playhouse, where Grace made her stage debut,” says Michener Director

‘The Mind’s Eye’ a Popular Exhibit at the Michener

Jerry Uelsmann (born 1934) Untitled, 1982 Gelatin silver print 13 1/4 x 10 3/8 in (33.8 x 26.4 cm) © Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann is considered a darkroom magician and a master of contemporary photography. His work is at once witty, dreamlike, mysterious, and provocative. The Michener Art Museum is exhibiting more than 90 iconic photographs from Uelsmann’s celebrated career through April 28 in The Mind’s Eye, a major retrospective organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The Michener exhibition sponsored is Jon Paton.

“At the core of the show are examples of his most famous technique: seamlessly fabricating photographs from apparently unrelated negatives, creating scenes both imaginary and intensely real, with well-known works shown alongside never-before-seen recent images,” says Michener Director and CEO Lisa Tremper Hanover. This is Uelsmann’s first retrospective in 40 years.

“Beautiful and surreal, funny and provocative, the photographs of Jerry Uelsmann are

Photography and Poetry ‘Walk in Beauty’

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A moonlit path to the beach inviting one into its mysteries, or a gossamer peony lit from within; the swirls of “snow” on a painted Icelandic storefront, or the patterns that form in rock. We all see beauty in different places, and artists often find beauty in unexpected places. Just the ability to see can be ecstasy.

Making Magic: Beauty in Word and Image, on view at the Michener Art Museum through March 31, 2013, explores beauty through the through the eyes and ears of poets and photographers from the greater Philadelphia region. Here, you can recline in a comfy chair, don a set of headphones and listen to poems about beauty by 16 regional poets, including