On May 29, KieranTimberlake hosted an evening of art and conversation in celebration of The Bottling House's newest exhibition, Sidewalk Meditations from Powelton Village, featuring ceramic mosaics by Philadelphia artist Jennifer Johnson.

In a panel discussion moderated by Penn Professor William W. Braham, the artist was joined by Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron and Founding Principal Stephen Kieran to explore themes from the exhibition, including Powelton Village's cultural memory, the rowhome typology, and neighborhood change within Philadelphia.

Jennifer Johnson's Sidewalk Meditations follows a decade of site-specific installations around Philadelphia, each shaped by extensive research into the physical and cultural history of a specific place over time. In 2022, the artist arrived at a question: Why not focus on where I live, the place I know best? Starting with her own house and block, Johnson embarked on a deep dive exploring and documenting her neighborhood, a process that has become a generative and ongoing place of discovery.  
 
At its core, Johnson's work is about human experiences in a place over time, and how their meaning shifts. She's interested in how architecture reveals lived experiences, and the feeling of discontinuity that arises between a “before” and an “after”—often a nebulous zone. For Johnson, the life cycle of a building becomes a metaphor for aging and human lifetime; there's nostalgia and longing for something lost or forgotten.

Steve Kieran's connection to the neighborhood can be traced to KieranTimberlake's first office in a Powelton Village rowhome. Since then, the firm has continued to embrace adaptive reuse and projects that complement a community's visual and cultural heritage, in Philadelphia and beyond.

The exhibition is on view through August 15. The Bottling House is open by appointment only. Please contact Sarah Kaizar for scheduling.