Two Philadelphia artists come together to break new ground at the Colored Girls Museum

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Colored Girls Museum in Germantown is introducing a new exhibit, bringing together two of Philadelphia’s premier female artists, which the museum’s founder expects to be groundbreaking.

“If you hear the ground shaking in Philadelphia, then you’ll know why,” said Vashti DuBois.

DuBois, the founder, executive director and tireless champion of the Colored Girls Museum, explains the new exhibit is a collaboration with two of the city’s most well-regarded artists — Syd Carpenter and Martha Jackson Jarvis .

“It’s a trifecta now. One of Philadelphia’s own is brought back by another one of Philadelphia’s own to the Colored Girls Museum to create The Gateway.”

The Gateway incorporates the inside of the museum — a 140-year-old Victorian home at 4613 Newhall Street — with the fully curated garden, including colorful pottery and sculptures, that flanks the walkway leading to the museum’s front door.

“Syd Carpenter did the whole landscape outside. Living room design,” she said. “So that’s the new exterior living room of the Colored Girls Museum.”

And Carpenter, in turn, called on Jackson Jarvis to create a massive circular doorway made of solid steel.

“It’s magnetic,” DuBois said.

“If you notice, The Gateway and the plaza are talking with one another in the circular design.”

Together, DuBois says, the steel door and the garden pay special tribute — “to the long history of Black women in Philadelphia who have been the keepers of the land and then the ceramic artists who will be installing the vessels into the ground.”

The Gateway is Jackson Jarvis’ first public art work in Philadelphia. The museum will host an outdoor community ceremony to present it on Sept. 22.