Art Institute

Sidney Goodman, 77, one of the most acclaimed, influential, and respected artists Philadelphia has produced since the end of World War II, died Thursday, April 11. He suffered for the better part of a year from Parkinson's disease. A Philadelphia native, Mr. Goodman graduated from Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, in 1958. By the early 1960s, his boldly imaginative style of figurative painting had brought him national attention. When he was 27, Time magazine described him as "one of the most respected and sought-after of the new figure painters.

The union representing 100 instructors at the Art Institute of Philadelphia announced yesterday that it had successfully negotiated its first contract at the school and had won minimum raises of 9 1/2 percent over two years. A ratification vote on the tentative pact is scheduled for March 3. The teachers became affiliated with District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in March. The new group is expected to get a local union number today.

Ralph Mario Malatesta, 76, a longtime instructor at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home in Center City. For three decades, starting in the 1950s, Mr. Malatesta also worked as a staff or freelance commercial illustrator for a number of major retailers in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. A versatile craftsman with a keen eye for perspective, he produced stylish line drawings that highlighted the attractiveness and utility of everyday objects, from living-room furnishings to kitchen appliances.

Administrators and faculty at the Art Institute of Philadelphia face one of the toughest design problems in their history. And it isn't pretty. Some 100 instructors at the school have affiliated with a labor union and are asking for a contract in plain, artless black and white. There has been one job action already - when 90 percent of the faculty boycotted the traditional end-of-term meeting with the Institute's president in December - and the faculty's chief negotiator says there's a "possibility" another job action will occur if a contract isn't signed by March.

YOUR negative portrayal of the Art Institute of Philadelphia ("Colleges that Profit, Students Who Don't," March 25) is far outweighed by the successful and satisfactory experiences of more than 12,000 graduates. For 40 years, the Art Institute has offered opportunities for students desiring degrees that can lead to rewarding careers in applied and creative arts. Unlike traditional colleges, we track and publish placement statistics. Most recent data shows 87.6 percent of all 2009 Art Institute graduates were working in a field related to their program of study within six months of graduation.

Bob Koffler's abstracts are about feelings. In a recent series of 15 oil-on-linen and oil-on-canvas paintings, Koffler, who works out of his studio in Cheltenham, depicted how he felt walking through the Himalayan Mountains, as he did in 1988. The paintings, inspired by Buddhist imagery, are now on view at a faculty show at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where Koffler teaches figure drawing, painting, perspective, art history, anatomy, graphic design and advertising design.

School assembly. Lindsey, a cute tween redhead, takes stage behind microphone. Applause. Lindsey: "Today I'm going to talk about Patty. " Pan to Patty, who smiles timidly from behind glasses. Lindsey, matter of factly: "Patty's best characteristics? She's stupid. Stupid and ugly. " Patty grimaces. Lindsey: "Look at her. Greasy hair, dirty fingernails. It makes me want to vomit. " Pan to devastated Patty. Flashes on screen: "If you wouldn't say it in person, why say it online?

Amy Aldridge was bent over at the waist, sweaty and exhausted. In each hand, the 21-year-old soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet clutched an edge of her tutu's frothy white tulle while she gulped for air. Nutcracker audiences at the Academy of Music rarely see the Sugar Plum Fairy like this. But thanks to an unusual project undertaken by students at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, visitors to the Pennsylvania Ballet's Web site - http://www.paballet.org - should be able to peek behind the scenes of The Nutcracker to see Aldridge rehearsing the role.

The art world turns its attention back to Norristown today as the second - and, most likely, decisive - hearing on the future of the financially troubled Barnes Foundation opens in ornate Courtroom A of the Montgomery County Orphans' Court. The Barnes case "is a biggie," said Ildiko DeAngelis, director of museum studies at George Washington University and a former assistant general counsel at the Smithsonian Institution. "A lot of people are very worried about this generally," she said.

An effort by the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial to expand into a building near its South Philadelphia complex has run into serious difficulties, forcing an expensive alternative installation of an imminent exhibition and threatening an anticipated capital fund-raising campaign. Fleisher signed an agreement of sale to buy the Achille A. Ingenito Funeral Home in the 700 block of Christian Street in August last year. The $250,000 sale was supposed to close at the end of March. It didn't.

Sidney Goodman, 77, one of the most acclaimed, influential, and respected artists Philadelphia has produced since the end of World War II, died Thursday, April 11. He suffered for the better part of a year from Parkinson's disease. A Philadelphia native, Mr. Goodman graduated from Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, in 1958. By the early 1960s, his boldly imaginative style of figurative painting had brought him national attention. When he was 27, Time magazine described him as "one of the most respected and sought-after of the new figure painters.

Beth Kephart is the author of 14 books, and "Handling the Truth," a book about the making of memoir, is due out in August I take the Blue Route south and I-95 north. The day is gray and bitter, the lanes too aggressively pocked. Beyond me the Delaware River crawls, heavy with the exhaust of bedlam truckers and implacable with its reminisce of pirates, oil tanks, and whale bones. At the Allegheny/Castor Avenues exit I veer right, then left toward the heart of Port Richmond. This was collier country once - home to coal traders, but also shipbuilders, cargo holders, and dockhands.

Stephen Anthony "Tony" Gaye, 65, of Northern Liberties, a commercial and fine-art photographer who had studios in and around Philadelphia for about 30 years, died Thursday, Dec. 13, of a heart attack at his home. Mr. Gaye, who described himself as a "studio still-life photographer," was known for his work for advertisers and his fine-art work in galleries, said Frank Bolling, a longtime friend. "He did the photographs for the most recent Campbell's annual report," Bolling said.

An alleged Center City thief who police said posed as a fire inspector to burglarize the Academy of Music, Independence Visitor Center, and the Art Institute of Philadelphia showed promise as a white-collar criminal. That career, however, was cut short by a rookie mistake: signing his real name to a visitor log, police said. Christopher Kieter, 26, of the 200 block of South 13th Street, is charged with impersonating a public official, criminal trespass, theft, and related offenses.

JAMES JACKSON was 5 years old when he started to draw cartoons. They weren't the customary scratchings of a restless kid, but pictures that showed a budding talent ready to blossom. Jimmy Jackson parlayed that talent into a career as a graphic artist, much in demand by companies seeking clever websites, and businesses needing advertising art. He died Nov. 27 of complications of scleroderma, an autoimmune disease. He was 45 and lived in Blue Bell. Jimmy was also active in his church, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith.

Arcadia is both a region in the middle of the Greek Peloponnese and a mythical state of mind — a land where simple people lead virtuous lives marked by carefree tranquility, sensual pleasure, and harmony with nature.   The Arcadian dream comes to life in spectacular fashion at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in an exhibition built around a cluster of monumental paintings created just before and shortly after the turn of the last century. Curator Joseph J. Rishel conceived "Visions of Arcadia" to demonstrate how masters of early modernism, particularly Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse, responded to and extended one of the more traditional, popular themes in European art. In doing so, Rishel has pulled off an amazing coup.

Barton Lidice Benes, 69, a New York sculptor who worked in materials that he called artifacts of everyday life, expanded his definition of everyday as he went. He used the everyday mementos of childhood in his early work, and later made sculptures from chopped-up, everyday U.S. cash (purchased pre-shredded from the Federal Reserve). When friends started dying of AIDS, and Mr. Benes himself tested HIV-positive, he began working in everyday materials of the epidemic - pills and capsules, intravenous tubes, HIV-infected blood, and cremated human remains.

Art Museums & Institutions African American Heritage Museum 661 Jackson Rd., Newtonville, NJ; 609-704-5495. www.aahmsnj.org. Tue.-Fri. 10 am-3 pm. Brandywine River Museum Rte. 1 & Rte. 100, Chadds Ford; 610-388-2700. www.brandywinemuseum.org. = Brandywine Heritage Galleries. Andrew Wyeth Gallery. N.C. Wyeth Gallery. Bayard & Mary Sharp Gallery. Scribner's Magazine: The Early Years in Illustration. A Painter's View: The Andrew Wyeth Studio. Tours of the N.C. Wyeth House & Studio.

Nick Cave's art is vivacious, exciting, and transformative. Its unique sensibility emerges from the convergence of a number of aesthetic languages - African art, painting, fashion design, textile patterning and textures, dance, and, most identifiably, sculpture. The 15 "soundsuits" that he's showing at the Fabric Workshop and Museum evoke all of these genres, and yet they aren't simple extensions of any of them. Cave doesn't disguise his sources, but he blends them so skillfully that the results are completely sui generis.

Antiques/Art/Crafts Abington Friends School Craft Show Handcrafted items by more than 50 artisans & crafters. Abington Friends School, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown. 12/3. 10 am-3 pm. Amazulu Holiday Craft Show 2011 A two-day shopping experience. Putman Lofts, 1627 N. 2d St. 12/3, 12/4. Annual Gingerbread House Competition & Display More than 100 gingerbread creations are displayed throughout the holiday season in the Village Gazebo. Peddler's Village, Rtes.