Our founding mothers, Jessica Korzenecki and Deedie McCarthy took the liberty to assemble twenty-three PAA members for Ed Outside LA’26. They rang the bell in Philadelphia, our nation’s birthplace, creating a perfect union of art, food and friendship!

We each made our own way to Philly, where we began our adventure by gathering at the Sofitel Hotel at Rittenhouse Square to meet our fabulous Art Horizons guides, program manager, Cy Britt and program director, Robin Bloom. For the next four days we braved the mid-30 degree mornings and enjoyed clear blue skies.

We visited the spectacular homes of two modern and contemporary art collectors, enjoyed a curator-led tour of the Institute of Contemporary Art, and visited the studio of Odili Donald Odita, an abstract colorist painter recently commissioned to paint a large mural in the lobby of MoMA. This was only day one.

The following three days included docent led tours of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts permanent collection highlights and special exhibits, visits to the Fabric Workshop, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), visit and tour of the George Nakashima Woodworkers Complex in New Hope, P.A. and a visit to a private home and artist studio with her gallery of modern design objects. We toured neighborhoods where public space and privately owned buildings have become the canvas for Mural Arts Philadelphia. Founded in 1984, Mural Arts has created nearly 4,000 artworks and is the world’s largest public art program.

With grit and constitution, we kept the pace along with one Rocky (Balboa) moment.

~ Lynne Sullivan