Wild things in fine art: “Animal Imagery” at Snyderman-Works

Tired of cat videos but still want to enjoy animals as part of our arts and culture pantheon? Old City’s Snyderman-Works Galleries is opening Animal Imagery, a special group exhibition, featuring five artists from across the country, on December 5.

University of Georgia professor Ron Meyers joins New Mexico resident Gretchen Ewert, Kentucky native Renee Harris, Susan Aaron-Taylor, and Philadelphia artist Bernadette Curran for the show, featuring a range of mixed media, including ceramics, drawings, gold, and felt. The pieces evoke everything from tigers and antelope to fish, bears, bats, and hummingbirds.

Every facet of our relationship to animals is fair game: creatures we keep as pets, creatures we eat, the ones in our fairy tales, the ones we’ve worshipped, the ones we marvel at on the Discovery Channel on lazy Sundays, and the ones whose habitats we’re destroying with our relentless human encroachment and pollution.

Animal Imagery is running at Snyderman-Works Galleries, 303 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, from December 5, 2014 through January 31, 2015. There will be a First Friday reception on December 5 from 5:30-8:30pm. Regular hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-6pm. Gallery admission is free and open to the public.

At right: Tiger Teapot by Susan Aaron-Taylor, made of felt, wood, geodes, cabochons, and porcupine quills.