On March 2, 2013, the Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will hold their annual Winter Gala celebrating the exhibition “Great and Mighty Things”: Outsider Art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection. The event attracts over six hundred (600) young professionals and art enthusiasts of all ages. Tickets are available on the Museum’s website. All are welcome to this event. Click here for more information regarding tickets.
Fox Rothschild LLP is a donor/sponsor of this much-anticipated annual event. The black-tie reception, entitled “A Great and Mighty Benefit,” will take place in the Museum’s Great Stair Hall. Guests will have the opportunity to stroll and mingle in the exhibition galleries where one of the country’s finest private collections of outsider art will be on view. The evening will begin with an exclusive VIP pre-gala reception and tour of the exhibition given by Museum trustee and collector Sheldon Bonovitz. VIP guests will also receive a gift bag and access to the Museum’s East Balcony, which will host a lounge, extended bar, and the best view of the city. The gala itself, which begins at 8:00 p.m., features dancing, live music, and a raffle and silent auction. Guests can win orchestra tickets, private dance lessons, a rafting adventure, and much more. Visitors will also have the opportunity to see themselves on the walls of the Museum, as images from a photo booth will project on a large screen in the Great Stair Hall.
The Outsider Art collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz is an interesting collection of self- taught American artists from 1930-1980. Highlights of the collection include works by William Edmondson (1874-1951). Edmondson was a retired janitor from Nashville, Tennessee, who took up carving tombstones and outdoor stone ornaments in his mid to late fifties. As he honed his craft, Edmondson’s created a sculpture garden in his backyard of hand carved limestone sculptures of birds, animals and figures. Six of Edmondson’s work will be on display with the collection. Click here for more information regarding the collection.