Latest / philly has heART / CallieCo Paints feat Callie Avellino + Kelly Harper Crosby feat. Kelly Crosby

Transcript

CallieCo Paints feat Callie Avellino + Kelly Harper Crosby feat. Kelly Crosby · philly has heART

• 0:14
  Hey, Lucinda. How's it going, Robert? Not too
• 0:18
  bad, not too bad. Another artsy weekend. What'd
• 0:24
  you get into? I had the opportunity of meeting
• 0:28
  some artists in the wild this weekend. So hopefully
• 0:32
  we get to see them or hear them as part of the
• 0:36
  pod in the future. Being able to meet the artists
• 0:40
  out. out in the streets and out where we're meeting
• 0:44
  our friends and family has been like super cool.
• 0:48
  And so being able to share the podcast story
• 0:51
  as well as to find new artists to have conversations
• 0:54
  with is always exciting. Indeed. How about yourself?
• 1:00
  I went to the Bridget Meyer Gallery Friday after
• 1:04
  work to see the John Poblador Chapel of Color
• 1:08
  exhibition. Oh, how was that? So good. He had
• 1:14
  his more recent works throughout the main gallery
• 1:17
  and he had older works in the vault and it was
• 1:23
  really interesting how you could draw the comparison
• 1:28
  from one of the older work in particular to his
• 1:35
  more recent stuff. After I went to Bridget Meyer
• 1:39
  Gallery, I went across Washington Square and
• 1:42
  I checked out Locke's Gallery. They were only
• 1:45
  open for another half hour, but they had an exhibition
• 1:50
  from Rob Wynn called Vents and another group
• 1:56
  exhibition on the second floor called Tea Party.
• 2:00
  I mean, this is... art that I would never imagine
• 2:04
  or dream of purchasing for myself just because
• 2:08
  you know some of it's a better part of a down
• 2:10
  payment on a house you're full of tuition for
• 2:15
  school Oh my gosh, that's that's that's tuition
• 2:19
  right there. Yeah, but it's still fascinating
• 2:22
  to look at. John Pablador at Bridget Meyer Gallery
• 2:26
  will be on exhibit until August 2nd. Rob Wynn
• 2:30
  and the group show titled Tea Party are going
• 2:35
  to be on exhibition at Locke's Gallery until
• 2:38
  July 11th. Other than that, I finally got to
• 2:43
  see Tara. Yes, how was it? Not in the rain? Not
• 2:49
  in the rain. Shortly after Robert and I signed
• 2:54
  off for our outro last week, we were ready to
• 2:58
  be on our way to go see Tara that day, and it
• 3:03
  was rained out. Yep. So this week, the weather
• 3:06
  was beautiful, albeit it was very, very hot.
• 3:10
  I think I downed at least two water bottles while
• 3:14
  I was waiting. It was very interesting though.
• 3:19
  The dance was outside, kind of on sloped terrain.
• 3:24
  So we weren't seeing technical stuff like pirouettes.
• 3:28
  It was more of a modern and interpretive dance
• 3:31
  piece. Nice. How was it with the sound? Yeah,
• 3:35
  oh it was great. Devon was set up doing a Devon
• 3:41
  Arnay thing there. It was very organic. I will
• 3:46
  also say that there was a trombone that scared
• 3:51
  the shit out of me at one point. It was seemingly
• 3:56
  right behind me, but it was really interesting
• 4:00
  the way that they layered that on top. Something
• 4:03
  else I wanted to mention is that the scenery
• 4:07
  pieces, there were trees and pieces of wood carved
• 4:12
  out to be in like, like feminine forms. Like
• 4:16
  for instance, or there was a tree with a branch
• 4:18
  that came off of it onto the ground that was
• 4:22
  whittled down to look like a leg with the black
• 4:25
  high heel on it. Oh, wow. There was something
• 4:29
  like that. It was more like some more narrow
• 4:34
  sticks that were whittled down to look like fingernails,
• 4:40
  and the fingernails were painted red. Red was
• 4:44
  a theme throughout. It was a very feminist art
• 4:47
  piece. Some of it was a little bit, there were
• 4:51
  depictions of violence against women. Okay. And
• 4:57
  one thing that I wanted to shout out, there was
• 5:00
  a young lady who was part of the piece. There
• 5:04
  were seven main dancers. She was part of it.
• 5:08
  And I think that like the theme of taking care
• 5:11
  of our future really shone through through having
• 5:18
  a younger dancer involved. Oh, excellent. Oh,
• 5:21
  wow. So there were seven main dancers. And then
• 5:24
  at the end, a slew of women came out and interpretive
• 5:29
  dance. Are they going to continue this next weekend
• 5:32
  or are they done now? I think they're done now.
• 5:35
  Okay. You know, they had a little bit of humor
• 5:37
  about it that the past two weekends they were
• 5:39
  rained out. So there were a lot of people there.
• 5:43
  It wasn't crowded though, obviously, because
• 5:45
  we weren't in an enclosed space. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:49
  Oh, that's great. It's off of what we typically
• 5:53
  cover, but it was definitely worthwhile. Yeah.
• 5:56
  Well, we'll be on to the conversation, but we
• 5:59
  have a few notes. So I just wanted to... send
• 6:03
  big apologies for the rogue microphones in the
• 6:07
  following conversation and the overall audio
• 6:10
  of this episode. And specifically to Kelly, one
• 6:14
  of our guests who had the roguest microphone
• 6:17
  of them all. We will do better next time. On
• 6:21
  to the conversation. On to the conversation.
• 6:36
  This is Robert Marsh, and you're listening to
• 6:38
  Philly Has Heart podcast. In this podcast, we
• 6:41
  sit down with artists, gallerists, educators,
• 6:43
  and curators, other creatives who comprise the
• 6:46
  Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
• 6:50
  exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
• 6:52
  are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
• 6:56
  is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
• 6:59
  this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
• 7:02
  me, always, is my producer Lucinda Degrelik.
• 7:06
  Hello, hello. And today with us we have Callie
• 7:10
  Avellino and Kelly Crosby. Hey. Thank you both
• 7:16
  so much for joining us today and we're so happy
• 7:19
  to have you here. Thanks for having us. Yeah.
• 7:22
  Both Lucinda and I met Kelly and Kelly at PMA
• 7:26
  at Artish, which was an amazing fundraising event
• 7:31
  for the young friends at the Philadelphia Museum
• 7:33
  of Art, where they were both doing watercolor
• 7:37
  portraits of the guests. And I got to be able
• 7:43
  to take one home and already put it on my wall.
• 7:46
  So amazing! I'm very, so proud of it. And I was
• 7:52
  already like, okay, I need a new frame for this.
• 7:55
  I want to make sure that it's special. And I
• 7:59
  had an awesome leopard print shirt that now is
• 8:03
  immortalized. And so we're able to create such
• 8:08
  an... incredible moments in time that everybody
• 8:14
  kind of gets to like take home with them, right?
• 8:16
  And you got to allow each person who was there
• 8:20
  maybe just to dance, maybe just to enjoy the
• 8:23
  art, maybe just to be there with friends, a little
• 8:26
  memento to take home. And so thank you for that.
• 8:31
  Thank you for sharing your art. Maybe one at
• 8:33
  a time. Can you let us know a little bit about
• 8:36
  your artistic origin story? Yeah, so Well, we
• 8:41
  got involved with our dish through Kelly Farley.
• 8:45
  She's the co -chair excellent. Yeah, I love Kelly
• 8:48
  So she her and I go way back and she actually
• 8:51
  reached out to me last year to bring me into
• 8:52
  it But I couldn't make it so I was so glad to
• 8:54
  do it this year and then bring Kelly into but
• 8:57
  the way I started out is actually The Philly
• 9:00
  Art Museum is near and dear to my heart because
• 9:03
  when I was younger, my mom was so encouraging
• 9:06
  of doing art and keeping me inspired and keeping
• 9:10
  this to be a passion of mine. And so the earliest
• 9:14
  memory, one of the earliest memories I have is
• 9:16
  my mom and I going on a mommy daughter date to
• 9:18
  the Philadelphia Art Museum. Oh, that's great.
• 9:20
  Yeah. And so we went and saw the Edgar Degami's
• 9:24
  exhibit. And don't ask me the year because I
• 9:26
  tried to go back and find it, but I couldn't.
• 9:29
  But I just had such a wonderful time with my
• 9:31
  mom. Again, she was just so encouraging with
• 9:33
  that. And after that, I had fallen in love with
• 9:37
  the ballet dancers and especially the 14 year
• 9:39
  old girl. Excuse me the 14 year old ballet dancer
• 9:42
  the statue and my mom had got me all the fun
• 9:46
  stuff like she got me the ballet socks and she
• 9:49
  got me the umbrella of the day gone everything
• 9:51
  and when we went home she had me pose as That's
• 9:58
  like one of my favorite memories with my mom
• 10:00
  and so it's it's so cool talking to you guys
• 10:02
  and having this experience like full circle of
• 10:05
  talking about the Philly art museum and all that
• 10:07
  good stuff but like I said she always encouraged
• 10:09
  me so I started art from a really young age and
• 10:13
  then you know in high school you could always
• 10:15
  find me in the art room and then I went to Penn
• 10:17
  State where I was a part of the arts and architecture
• 10:19
  program and I did integrated arts so arts and
• 10:24
  communications so I had that nice combination
• 10:27
  of getting a business experience with also getting
• 10:30
  that you know technique of art understanding
• 10:33
  it you know on a deeper level. And then while
• 10:35
  I was there, I was actually also selected to
• 10:37
  do the abroad program in Italy called Saatchi,
• 10:42
  which was Studio Art Center International, where
• 10:46
  I fell obviously more in love with art. Yes,
• 10:48
  how good in you. Yeah, and that was another place
• 10:53
  that I really fell in love with figure drawing,
• 10:55
  actually. And figure drawing, I fell in love
• 10:58
  with at Penn State, too. But that entirely was
• 11:01
  just something that captured me. And I've just
• 11:05
  ever since then like focused my entire art on
• 11:09
  figure drawing. And then now that I'm here, I
• 11:13
  kind of get to do a little bit of figure drawing
• 11:14
  when it comes to doing the live watercolors and
• 11:17
  having a little bit of that while also in my
• 11:19
  personal time painting those figure drawings
• 11:21
  and of women that I like to paint. But also my
• 11:25
  background is in sales and in recruiting. So
• 11:28
  I got that experience when I was in the corporate
• 11:31
  world after graduating Penn State. people to
• 11:35
  get all that, you know, business experience,
• 11:37
  talking to clients and understanding how to follow
• 11:39
  up with people and booking and contracts and
• 11:42
  things like that. So I take all of that experience
• 11:44
  from corporate worlds into what I do today, which
• 11:48
  is ultimately what I've always wanted to do,
• 11:49
  which is being an artist full time. What else
• 11:52
  can I talk about? I feel like I just got a word
• 11:56
  vomiting there. No, that's excellent. So it's
• 11:59
  mostly today it's like mostly still like. figure
• 12:03
  drawings and then the watercolor itself. Is there
• 12:06
  any other medium that you specialize? Yeah, so
• 12:08
  I typically work with acrylic and watercolor.
• 12:12
  Lovely. So for the business and event side that
• 12:15
  I do, which I've brought Kelly into, is doing
• 12:18
  those live watercolor portraits, which are mostly
• 12:21
  at events like weddings, the Philadelphia Artish.
• 12:26
  what else, baby showers, bridal showers, anything
• 12:29
  that you can think of at a 60th birthday party.
• 12:33
  So those are just always fun to do because not
• 12:36
  only can I put my own little creative flair into
• 12:39
  it, but I get to pull from what you guys are
• 12:41
  wearing. Like, Lou, I love what you are wearing.
• 12:44
  So good. I loved how you depicted that. Yes.
• 12:47
  For those who don't know, it was a fully sequined
• 12:51
  dress. Oh, yes, it was. It was everything. And
• 12:54
  what was dad wearing? A shirt I bought him. He
• 12:59
  had on like a Hawaiian shirt essentially. But
• 13:02
  it was more like geometrical. From a Swedish
• 13:06
  brand. Oh, nice. Who knew? I loved that. But
• 13:10
  it's just so fun because there's still creativity
• 13:12
  in it. Like, I do take your picture and use you
• 13:14
  guys as a reference when we're doing these live
• 13:17
  watercolors. But we still get to put our own
• 13:19
  flair into it because how am I going to interpret
• 13:22
  the way that the sequins are coming off of your
• 13:24
  dress or your leopard shirt? Was it leopard?
• 13:26
  Your leopard shirt. Like, how do you incorporate
• 13:29
  that and kind of bring out the personality in
• 13:31
  each of those watercolors? I still get to have
• 13:34
  that fun, you know, creativity and imagination
• 13:36
  while I'm doing this too. So that's really important
• 13:38
  to me. That's excellent. Excellent. And Kelly,
• 13:40
  how about yourself? What was your artistic journey?
• 13:43
  I studied at Gettysburg and then I spent some
• 13:46
  time in retail and anthropology and then in interior
• 13:51
  design and found a lot of inspiration in space
• 13:54
  and color and merchandise and things like that.
• 13:57
  And then more recently felt called to pivot and
• 14:01
  do art more full time. and had the opportunity
• 14:05
  last fall to study in, similar to Kelly in Florence.
• 14:10
  I took a six week painting, drawing, and art
• 14:14
  history class. It was amazing. It was a dream
• 14:19
  come true experience, just the culture and the
• 14:21
  history. Visiting, you know, the pizzi and beauty
• 14:25
  palace and all the museums Hard to leave instructors
• 14:29
  and the classmates from all over the world were
• 14:31
  so inspiring to learn from and learn with and
• 14:35
  so coming back from that experience sort of wanting
• 14:38
  to continue doing Continue doing art. I love
• 14:41
  the live events and work, you know, it's such
• 14:44
  a great way to interact with people and people
• 14:48
  who love art creatives and like you said giving
• 14:51
  a taste of what they're wearing or their personality.
• 14:57
  So yeah, continuing with that. And also commissions.
• 15:00
  I love working on commissions for people and
• 15:02
  bringing their ideas to life. It's fun. Yeah,
• 15:05
  talk through the difference between, right, like
• 15:09
  when you're in an event, it has to be, you're
• 15:12
  on a timer, right? It's quicker paced. You have
• 15:15
  to chug those out pretty quick. At Artish, I
• 15:19
  don't even know how many. you ended up having
• 15:21
  to do. Do you know how many you did at Artish?
• 15:23
  I think we had about 45, roughly. Because Artish
• 15:27
  really wasn't that long of an event. So we had
• 15:31
  done one previously for metastatic breast cancer.
• 15:35
  So we do those types of events where we collect
• 15:37
  the payments directly to instead of kind of being
• 15:39
  paid by whoever's doing the event. So it does
• 15:42
  slow us down a bit. And a lot of it is trial
• 15:45
  and error. So that's why I had my loveliest unpaid
• 15:50
  intern and fiance, Will. Boy, is he good at collecting
• 15:56
  money and taking photos. So we're lucky to have
• 16:00
  him too. But I think we would hope to get quicker
• 16:03
  and faster and more efficient with every event
• 16:06
  that we do. But it's been a lot of trial and
• 16:08
  error. And it has to change your process. And
• 16:12
  then when you get those chances to then take
• 16:14
  on a commission piece. then you get to put a
• 16:19
  little more effort in or a little more of your
• 16:22
  of your own flair or you get to take a little
• 16:24
  more time with it. It was something that I thought
• 16:27
  I'd be really nervous about doing the live events
• 16:29
  like the time pressure and sensitivity but I
• 16:31
  feel like I weirdly have like such a peace and
• 16:35
  joy in doing it and so I feel like that's such
• 16:37
  a sign to hopefully keep doing it. Oh yeah, definitely.
• 16:42
  It's really fun and especially even more fun
• 16:44
  with Kelly. We have a lot of fun together. Kelly's
• 16:49
  good at putting her head down and banging out
• 16:51
  the watercolors and them looking absolutely exquisite.
• 16:55
  And then I'm obviously the conversational person
• 16:57
  here. It's a perfect partnership. It's great.
• 17:05
  We've nailed it down so far. Where can the audience
• 17:09
  find you? over the summertime and into the future?
• 17:12
  Do you have more events coming up? Do you have
• 17:15
  more collaborations? I do, yeah. I actually have
• 17:18
  an art show coming up. It will have been passed
• 17:21
  for the time that this podcast will be coming
• 17:24
  out. However, the show will still be open. Excellent.
• 17:27
  So I figured it was okay to bring it up. Yeah,
• 17:29
  bring it up. Yeah, so it's also my birthday.
• 17:31
  So I'll be turning 29 on May 16th. And then I'm
• 17:34
  also going to be having my art show the same
• 17:36
  day. I figured why not make a big bang out of
• 17:39
  it. I'm so nervous about it. It's going to be
• 17:43
  great. It's my first solo show. called Ladies
• 17:46
  of Leisure. It's also gonna be incorporating
• 17:49
  a lot of the figure drawing and painting that
• 17:51
  I do. Just my appreciation for the body and poses
• 17:56
  and postures, but also a whimsical aspect to
• 17:59
  it. Like I'll have this one painting called,
• 18:02
  obviously this is a man, but William Penn. I
• 18:04
  love Philadelphia, so I'm doing another one of.
• 18:08
  of a watercolor that I originally did, but I'm
• 18:10
  doing it on a bigger scale in acrylic called
• 18:12
  Silly Pen, where he'll be holding a martini,
• 18:15
  he'll be standing on olives and on a really bigger
• 18:18
  scale, and then I'll also be doing one of Rocky.
• 18:21
  That name is still a work in progress of where
• 18:24
  I'll be naming him. But yeah, so that's probably
• 18:26
  the biggest one that I have to promote is just
• 18:29
  my little summer art show. That's amazing. Where
• 18:31
  will that be at? Yeah, it'll be at Frameworks
• 18:33
  Gallery. It is on 21st and Walnut. We'll put
• 18:37
  that in the show notes. Perfect. And how long
• 18:39
  will you be there for? But it should be up for
• 18:41
  about two months. Very exciting. Kelly, anything
• 18:46
  for yourself? I think just keeping going with
• 18:49
  commissions. And I love doing that. So a lot
• 18:52
  of dogs, houses, families. And that's on the
• 18:57
  sort of painting side. I love working in oils
• 19:00
  on canvas, but then also illustrations as well.
• 19:02
  So that's with gouache and marker. So yeah, continuing
• 19:07
  those. And then I have so many ideas, too, from
• 19:11
  my time in Florence. So getting those ideas out
• 19:17
  onto paper, onto canvas, and hopefully making
• 19:20
  a collection of that. So that's still in the
• 19:22
  works. Beautiful. We have some rapid fire questions
• 19:25
  for both of you. If you could describe the Philly
• 19:30
  art scene in one word, what would it be? Colorful.
• 19:34
  That's what I was going to say. Vibrant. If you
• 19:39
  could have any piece of art in your home, what
• 19:43
  would it be? I do love the Impressionists. Or
• 19:48
  I think it would be really fun to have like an
• 19:51
  original illustration of like Charles Schultz,
• 19:57
  you know. Yes! I love Lucy. Something like that
• 20:02
  would be fun, as well. Awesome. That's amazing.
• 20:04
  In a really fun frame, something like that. Yeah.
• 20:07
  I love that. I wish I thought of that, like something
• 20:09
  more exciting. I'd probably go with Degas, the
• 20:12
  ballet rehearsal, just because it's such a near
• 20:14
  and dear piece to my heart, so. Current artist
• 20:18
  that people are sleeping on. There's an artist
• 20:20
  in Philly that I really like, Lauren Walcott.
• 20:23
  She does really lovely paintings. OK, can we
• 20:25
  bend the rule a little bit on movie artists?
• 20:27
  Sure, we can. Yes. There's this girl that I follow
• 20:30
  on TikTok, and her name is Madison, and she has
• 20:35
  created this group called Before Dinner. And
• 20:38
  it's, sorry, it's dessert before dinner, but
• 20:41
  the code is underscore before dinner. And she
• 20:44
  does this group meeting for girls that love creation
• 20:48
  crafts. and they meet together on some Sundays.
• 20:52
  The one that I wanted to go to the first meetup
• 20:54
  was a day after Artish, and so I was so exhausted.
• 20:58
  But she is an artist. She does a lot of crochet
• 21:02
  and different art pieces. But I just think it's
• 21:04
  so cool what she's doing is getting all these
• 21:06
  other like -minded females and males together
• 21:09
  to be able to craft together. And I just think
• 21:12
  that that's really cool. And I think that's an
• 21:14
  art in itself. So I wanted to give her a little
• 21:16
  shout out. Very cool. I love that. That's great.
• 21:19
  Favorite beverage of the moment? Love me a good
• 21:23
  mocktail. I have been doing tart cherry juice
• 21:26
  with club soda and a splash of lemon. I have
• 21:31
  it every night at five o 'clock hits. It's my
• 21:34
  cocktail. It's a mocktail. It's my kick. I love
• 21:38
  it. I've been really loving the matches. Nice.
• 21:44
  Excellent. I have two more questions. Okay. Surprise,
• 21:48
  surprise. Cheese steaks with whiz or without?
• 21:52
  With whiz. I think with. Yeah. With whiz. Are
• 21:59
  you a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, or Samantha?
• 22:02
  I could be any on any given day. I don't know.
• 22:08
  Sometimes I'm a Miranda, which kind of I hate.
• 22:11
  But then sometimes I'm a Samantha. And then sometimes
• 22:14
  a Charlotte. And sometimes a Carrie. You know
• 22:16
  what? I think on any given day I could be any
• 22:18
  of them. What do you think? I think that's true.
• 22:24
  I feel like if I picked Carrie, it would be like
• 22:26
  self. It's very trendy to hate Carrie right now.
• 22:29
  I kind of hate Carrie, but I also identify with
• 22:32
  her on so many different levels. So I feel like
• 22:35
  I'm setting myself in a trap for picking Carrie.
• 22:40
  I don't know. No comment. Kelly has no comment.
• 22:49
  We're going to audience find you two together
• 22:52
  and or separately. I'll take this one. So you
• 22:56
  can find me on my Instagram or my website. My
• 22:59
  Instagram is called CaliCoPaints. CaliCoPaints.
• 23:03
  Yes. We'll link it. Yeah, link it. And then also
• 23:06
  my website CaliCo .net where you can find me
• 23:09
  for inquiries or anything like that. I'm at KellyHarperCrosby
• 23:12
  .com and Cal Cross on Instagram. Okay, guys,
• 23:18
  we're wrapping up this conversation. Thank you
• 23:20
  so much for joining us. Thank you so much for
• 23:23
  having us. They were absolutely amazing and I
• 23:42
  continue to follow both of them through their
• 23:45
  artistic journey and it seems that Callie is
• 23:49
  down in Avalon all the time sharing her art at
• 23:53
  the Princeton. So if anybody is down the shore
• 23:55
  this summer, check out Callie on the deck of
• 23:59
  the Princeton. Sounds good. And any plans this
• 24:02
  weekend? Oh yeah. I mean, Philly is coming out
• 24:07
  to party. For the 16 days leading up to Independence
• 24:11
  Day, Philly has hosted Wawa Welcome America.
• 24:15
  It's included city -wide, family -friendly programming,
• 24:19
  some live music. There are free museum days built
• 24:22
  in. There's festivals and there's going to be
• 24:26
  a huge July 4th parade with a lot of pyrotechnics.
• 24:31
  There will even be a concert. on the Benjamin
• 24:36
  Franklin Parkway that would allow people into
• 24:39
  the block party, which will have food trucks,
• 24:42
  vendors, performances, even Hello Cool J will
• 24:47
  be there. And it's going to end the night with
• 24:49
  their absolutely amazing 4th of July fireworks
• 24:53
  display around 9 .30 PM on Friday, which will
• 24:58
  be right behind the amazing, iconic Philadelphia
• 25:02
  Art Museum. So if you guys are in the city, if
• 25:06
  you're going to be around, check it out, check
• 25:09
  out the art, check out the museums. It's going
• 25:12
  to be an incredible weekend of performances and
• 25:17
  being able just to live our best Philly moments,
• 25:21
  celebrating independence. Makes me want a hot
• 25:24
  dog real bad. Have a safe and happy 4th of July
• 25:29
  long weekend. And with that, Philly has heart.
• 25:56
  When they go to the plane also why why why why
• 26:00
  why do that to yourself, right? I don't understand
• 26:04
  Ryan keep it in Delaware