City of Immigrants: A Conversation on Philadelphia’s Global Heritage

Join us for a cross-disciplinary Philadelphia-focused panel discussion that reflects elements of our current exhibition, Mark Sfirri: La Famiglia. La Famiglia uses the generational nature of wood and trees to contemplate heritage and familial throughlines. This study includes the immigrant experience, where families separate and reunite, disintegrate, and rebuild while learning to exist in new and evolving worlds. We’ll dig into the history, present, and future of immigration and migration to the City of Brotherly Love with the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the artist Mark Sfirri.

Following the discussion, please enjoy a reception with light refreshments and wine. Mark will also give a tour of La Famiglia.

RSVP for this event here.

Panelists:

Justina Barrett, Chief Learning and Engagement Officer, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Justina Barrett serves as the Chief Learning and Engagement Officer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s largest archives of historical documents, founded in 1824. In this role, she oversees all public programming, K-12 educational activities, and external engagement efforts, including communications and partnerships. She works to showcase and make accessible HSP’s collection of over 21 million manuscripts, books, and graphic images. She brings to her role over two decades of museum education experience in art museums and historic houses. Justina earned a bachelor’s degree in history with teaching certification from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in early American material culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware.

Caroline O’Connell, Exhibitions Curator, American Philosophical Society

Caroline O’Connell is the Exhibitions Curator at the American Philosophical Society. Her work explores the intersections between design and material culture, with an emphasis on questions of provenance, civics, and public memory. She has held Curatorial positions at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and Waddesdon Manor, and has contributed to exhibitions and publications at various institutions. Caroline previously served as First Vice President of the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America (VSNY). She is an alum of the Attingham Summer School and holds an MA in Decorative Arts, Design History & Material Culture from Bard Graduate Center and a BA in Art History from Williams College.

Mark Sfirri, Artist

Mark Sfirri received his BFA and MFA in furniture design at Rhode Island School of Design. He is primarily a furniture maker and sculptor working in wood but is also a teacher, researcher, writer, collaborator, photographer, and printmaker. His specialty is multi-axis spindle turning, an area that he has been exploring since the early 1990s. He has lectured and demonstrated his techniques throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. His work is included in the permanent collection of twenty-eight public institutions including the Renwick Gallery, Yale Art Gallery, Museum of Art & Design, Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the James A. Michener Art Museum, among others.