Kathryn Pannepacker is a textile/visual/community artist living in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from Penn State University and she apprenticed with 3rd generation French tapestry weaver, Jean Pierre Larochette and his partner, Yael Luri, in Berkeley, CA for four years in the 80’s. She was the lead artist with Josh Sarantitis, orchestrating weaving workshops at homeless shelters around Philadelphia for FINDING HOME, a textile mural project via the Mural Arts Program. Via Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Porch Light Initiative at the Kensington Storefront in Philadelphia, Kathryn and Lisa Kelley (and the help of many others) co-created an art/craft-making ‘sanctuary studio’ called Tuesday Tea & Textiles. Working with folks in active addiction, they believe that creating an environment of belonging, meaning and purpose, and via pop-up workshops and consistent engagement in Kensington, she and others continue their art-as- harm reduction and art-as-wellness-support mission! Kathryn exhibits locally, nationally and internationally, and has work in private and public collections.

I’ve been out and comfortable as a gay woman since college days with the full love and support of my family. I know this is not the case for so many. With my life and work, I am a voice for peace and dignity for all.

Virgil Marti creates hybrid objects and environments informed by a wide range of art-historical and pop-cultural references. He received a BFA from Washington University School of Fine Arts (1984), and an MFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art (1990). After completing his graduate degree, he attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Marti worked for many years as a master printer and project coordinator at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, and has taught at universities and colleges throughout the area. In 2012, he was resident faculty at Skowhegan. Marti's selected solo exhibitions include: Hothouse at the John Michael Kohler Art Center (2018), Virgil Marti / Matrix 167: Ode to a Hippie at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (2013), Grow Room at Participant Inc (2002), and Hot Tub at Thread Waxing Space (1998).

His curatorial and collaborative projects include Set Pieces: Curated by Virgil Marti From the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the ICA, Philadelphia (2010), and Directions: Virgil Marti/Pae White at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC (2007). Marti's work was included in: Less Is a Bore: Maximalist Art & Design at the ICA Boston (2019), Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie at the Barnes Foundation (2017), La Biennale de Montréal (2007), the Whitney Biennial (2004), and Flowers Observed, Flowers Transformed at the Andy Warhol Museum (2004). He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His work is in the permanent collections of the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the RISD Museum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He has lived and worked in Philadelphia since 1988.

When I was a young artist, I was busy trying to understand myself, my art, and my sexuality. The closet was still very much a thing. There was a mysterious virus going around which made human contact a scary proposition. I am no longer such a young artist. I am legally married. Maybe the closet is headed the way of phone booths and landlines?