Mt. Airy Art Garage Pops Up

by 
Haley Velletri, for the Shuttle

Michael Albany photo
The Grand Opening banner — and the welcome mat — are out at Mt. Airy Art Garage’s temporary store at 6622 Germantown Ave.

Despite being forced to relocate at the end of summer 2016 to another location, the Mt. Airy Art Garage is continuing to deliver programming during this next year and a half of transition to a new permanent location. Partnerships with neighborhood organizations, schools and community members are showing us the way forward — new ways of thinking and looking at what we do and how we deepen our commitment to community and persevere in our mission. Mt. Airy USA has become a key partner, as have Lutheran Theological Seminary, Emlen and Houston schools, and a growing list of others. The future is bright!

And now we have a flagship pop-up location at 6622 Germantown Ave.! Stop by the Handcraft Gift Shop, our new hub for anyone who wishes to delight in original fine art and handcraft by local artists. We can even point out our new permanent home that will eventually be built right across the street.

We’re here to tell you we are back in action, popping up all over the community this fall and winter! Looking to collaborate with other quilters or photographers? It’s happening monthly at the Innovation Hub at 6700 Germantown Ave. — an awesome, creatively stimulating co-working space. 

MAAG will also be hosting our eighth annual Holiday Art Market at Lutheran Theological Seminary, 7301 Germantown Ave., for two weekends — Saturday and Sunday Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 16-17, from noon till 6 p.m. 

We currently have artists in residence at Emlen and Houston. We have launched the Community of Pride Mural Project, in which students will explore the question “What Makes Your Proud?” and express that visually. Our goal is to deepen a sense of community spirit and pride, using art as a means of communication. Those drawings will be incorporated into murals in each school.

Want to know more, join a class or exhibition, or help with future MAAG projects? Visit MAAG in person at 6622 Germantown Ave., or online at mtairyartgarage.org. You can also follow MAAG on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Track the tag #MAAGPopsUp to find out when MAAG will be near you! 

Haley Velletri is a MAAG board member.