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Material Culture is deeply honored to once again host the Tibetan Monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery, India. Please join us for the Construction and Dismantling of a Sacred Tibetan Buddhist Sand Mandala 5 DAYS: Wednesday, May 24 - Sunday, May 28 Free to the Public Wednesday, May 24 - Friday, May 26, 11am-5pm Saturday, May 27, 11am-4pm DISMANTLING: Sunday, May 28, 1-3pm During their stay with us, their lovely sacred crafts will also be offered for sale. The sale of these items and donations for their ceremonies and events go to funding the monastery in India. It is truly an honor to host the monks and support the important spiritual works which they dedicate their lives to.

MONIKA TURTLE TRUNK SHOW! @ MATERIAL CULTURE Copyright © 2017 MonikaTurtle, All rights reserved. After an adventurous eight year hiatus from the fashion industry, nationally recognized Philadelphia designer, Monika Turtle, will show her latest work of hand knits and textiles at Material Culture's new boutique shop, Merchant Monkey! Fri/Sat/Sun, February 3-5, 11am-5pm At Material Culture's New Boutique Shop, MERCHANT MONKEY Monika Turtle Studio - The company began in the early 1990's producing an artfully designed millinery & accessory line. With contemporary appeal and hand-crafted styling, the pieces sold in art-to-wear galleries and boutiques around the world. By mid-decade, the company was manufacturing Monika's signature line of women's clothing. Today, with the same dedication to crafting traditions, responsible production and lasting quality she will be presenting her beautiful new line of hand knits. New textures! New colors & styles - ponchos, shrugs, wraps & so much more! See what's arriving for Spring, browse thru the endless curiosities and don't forget to pop on into Colors by Padmini to fulfill your shopping experience. Visit MonikaTurtle.com

Join Us | Lecture and Book Signing by NY Times Bestselling Author and NBC/MSNBC Analyst, Malcolm Nance Lecture and Book Signing: 2PM, Saturday, January 28 Free, Open to the Public, Unlimited Free Parking Books Available for Purchase In The Plot to Hack America, published one month before the 2016 presidential election, New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC contributor Malcolm Nance not only identifies the hackers as Russian but digs deep into the biggest political scandal since Watergate. Malcolm Nance (born 1961, Philadelphia) is an American career cryptologic senior chief petty officer, author, scholar and media commentator on international terrorism, intelligence, insurgency and torture. He is an internationally recognized expert in the history, personalities and organization of al Qaeda and its affiliates including the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant ISIL; jihadi radicalization, Islamic extremism in Middle East, Southwest Asian and African terror groups, as well as counterinsurgency and asymmetric warfare. In 2007 Nance wrote an article for the counterinsurgency blog Small Wars Journal titled "Waterboarding is Torture... period." Republished in the Pentagon Early Bird, it set off a firestorm as the first credible description of the torture technique as used in SERE. The article strongly swayed the Pentagon against the use [...]

Watch "Buying Back the Bombs" Video The Secret War was waged in neutral Laos between 1964 and 1973.  An average of one bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. Of the 250 million bombs dropped, 80 million failed to detonate, leaving a deadly legacy that plagues the agrarian population today. The Philosopher's Style, by Beatrix Ost "Nothing is as it seams. Black and white is just a color. I design jewelry made from bombs detonated in Laos, turning horror into beauty." Since 2015, artist and fashion muse Beatrix Ost has brought design talent and vision to ARTICLE22’s New Luxe Line. With a shared ethos, Beatrix was inspired by the transformation story of Peacebomb.  Her personal transformation story was skin cancer that left a Z-shaped scar on her forehead. Embracing this personal horror, she turned it into beauty by tattooing it light purple.  Visit the Beatrix Ost dot com website  

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Just In Time For DNC, Visions of Obama by African Artists By Ellen Adair PHILADELPHIA, PA., July 20, 2016: In time for Philadelphia hosting the Democratic National Convention, Material Culture is presenting an exhibition titled “Dreams of My Brother: Visions of Obama by Folk and Popular African Artists.” In the tumult of this year’s presidential race, these views of our nation’s 44th President, collected by Material Culture in 2008 and 2009, serve as a reminder of our global interconnectedness, and demonstrate art’s role as a universal manifestation of humanity’s passion and hope. The exhibition, free and open to the public, will be on view at Material Culture from August 6 to November 8, 2016, from 11 AM to 5 PM. Read the Calendar/Exhibition Essay by George Jevremovic, November 4, 2009 George Jevremovic, the founder of Material Culture, relates that when he first traveled to West Africa in the 1990's in search of textiles and other artifacts, the most arresting pieces of art were in fact the ubiquitous painted signs of folk and popular artists. Dotted on roadsides, emblazoned on businesses, these painted works on canvas, board, metal or on the sides of buildings serve to [...]

DREAMS OF MY BROTHER: VISIONS OF OBAMA BY FOLK AND POPULAR AFRICAN ARTISTS August 6 to September 6, 2016 A Retrospective Exhibition of Works Collected in Africa in 2008-2009 Calendar/Exhibition Essay by George Jevremovic, November 4, 2009 WELCOME PROOF THAT THERE IS NO such thing as "the art world," only worlds of art, are the legions of folk and popular artists in Africa, from Ghana to Kenya, Togo to Mali, whose painted works on board, canvas, metal or wall surface —seen daily by an audience of millions — provide visual branding and identity to thousands of small businesses and enterprises: beauty salons, tailors, cinemas, grocery stores; on and on. From free-standing ma and pa's to itinerant vendors, late-night cafes to trucks for hire, herbalists to hairstylists, their commissioned works serve the common, practical purpose of advertising anywhere: to stand out and be noticed. For a first-time visitor, it can be exhilarating and shocking: global and local brands, African and non-African celebrities and international icons; all appropriated and rendered in a mosaic of popular and homegrown styles, languages and regional dialects; all competing for the attention of the passerby. Many are signed and dated or feature a studio's logo, and every [...]