Exhibitions

THe FRoNT RooM - AMIR M. LYLES

THe BaCK RooM - JOSE MAZARIEGOS

THe GReaT GLaSS eLeVaToR - TINA BAYLOR

May 17 - Jun 14, 2025

Opening Reception Sat May 17, 6-9pm

Amir’s rich, layered collage/mixed media paintings will greet you in the front room. José’s captivating street photography from Philly and his native Guatemala, will hold you in the back room for a bit, and then... step into the wild world of self taught artist Tina Baylor in the GReaT GLaSS eLeVaToR, her watermelon people artwork will blow your mind.

AMIR M. LYLES

“S.P.O.F.F. pt.3 Lyles Styles”

S.P.O.F.F. pt.3 Lyles Styles

Street Pop Outsider Fine and Folk art are the genres i feel most attracted to when approaching my work. Sometimes a single piece may have elements of all those styles within it. It helps me to remain free in my thinking and art making, staying creative and exploring different ways to get a particular feeling across. This show consist of some new works, and some older works some of which have never been shown. Mixed media works in oils, acrylics paper, ink, and spray paint are used in the pieces in this collection.

About Amir

Amir M. Lyles was born on May 16, 1971 in Harlem, New York. Amir lived Uptown, in Harlem and the Bronx, until moving to Philadelphia, PA in 1996. Educated in the NYC public school system, Amir attended arts focused schools for both junior and senior high. Still, he credits his eldest brothers as his most influential instructors and considers himself otherwise self-taught. With an amazing talent in illustration, Amir is extremely versatile in media, as well as subject matter. Past and present life experience, cultural history and legacy, as well as so-called classical works heavily influence Amir's style.

JOSE MAZARIEGOS

“Aquí y Allá”

Dedicated to Alejandrina Mazariegos Santos

Photos taken from 2015-2024

“Aquí y allá” is a juxtaposition of photography of my time in Guatemala and Philadelphia and a dedication to my mom, who passed away in June 2023. On display are photos from Guatemala taken in 2023 and 2024 during the funeral and one-year anniversary of her passing. Prior to 2023, I had not returned to Guatemala since 2008, before I began teaching myself photography. In contrast, are photos taken in Philadelphia, the city I went to college, worked and now reside in. “Aquí y allá” is an exploration of two locations that, although vastly different, are both my homes.

The photos taken in Guatemala were taken with a combination of a digital mirrorless camera and 35mm film. The style is a combination of documentary and street photography, documenting the nine days of mourning and explorations of the country with my family. In processing the loss of my mom, photography was a way to keep busy and became a somewhat therapeutic process.

The photos taken in Philadelphia were also taken with a digital mirrorless camera and 35mm film. In Philadelphia I carry my camera with me most of the time I go out. I try to capture scenes, people or lighting that stand out to me. Whether it is going out to the park with my daughter, at events, on the street or during our weekend adventures, there is always beauty to capture in this city.

About Jose

Animator, Photographer, Videographer, Husband and Father, Jose Mazariegos, hails from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala via Trenton, New Jersey and currently resides in Philadelphia. An alum of the Art Institute of Philadelphia he studied multi-media arts and animation and has been working professionally as an animator for the last twenty-three years. He is a self-taught photographer, exhibiting a passion evident in the grace and beauty of his work, and 2025 marks his sixteenth year practicing the art form. A versatile artist, his subject matter, color choice and composition runs the gamut with a focus on portraits and landscapes. His favorite models include his lovely daughter, Marina Nicolasa, his cats, Mr. Cesar J. Cat, Raja and Sasha, as well as a plethora of craft beer. Never afraid to experiment he has employed a multitude of photographic techniques which are on display in this exhibit.

TINA BAYLOR

“Watermelon People”

Welcome to the wild, colorful world of Tina Baylor’s Watermelon People, where her characters are a mix of human/watermelon hybrids, full of life, emotions, passions... Tina works with many subject matters but this exhibition highlights this particular series of paintings in her preferred medium, acrylics. She’s inspired by Southern influences (even though she’s a Philadelphian) and her love of the importance of the fruit and she’s amazed and delighted at the current connection of her iconography with Palestinian human rights. Her mission is to inspire people to never give up and to be who they are, totally and fruitfully, like the watermelon.

“My expressive art is for the mind of free thinkers” TB

About Tina

Tina Baylor aka Delilah Blueness is a singer, musician, poet, writer, small business owner and a self taught artist. A driven Renaissance woman, Tina has many interests but has always loved to paint and sketch anything, on any surface available, she can be realistic and also surreal, as can be seen in some of her work. “The role art has played in my life up until now has been a form of escape, a form of self-expression that I could bend, twist, and heal souls with. I’m an Army brat, not one in my family gets art but I came out the opposite, a lover and not a fighter and my only purpose in life is to make art that can heal the world.”

Tina also enjoys volunteering in local schools and libraries to reach children positively with art. She has taught adult classes in the local library for computer troubleshooting. She is a proud single mother of one son and two daughters.