Mission Statement
Photo West Gallery is an exhibition space that offers Philadelphia area photographers an opportunity to engage diverse audiences by showing their work in a salon like setting. Its openings the second Friday of each month coincide with University City's Left of Center program. Exhibitions are intended to encourage lively and concentrated interactions where poets and performing artists are part of the mix to make photo openings a place where art boundaries are crossed. Teachers at local high schools are invited to bring their students on 2nd Fridays to meet the exhibiting artists and learn more about the works on display.
PhotoWest Gallery is just west of Drexel University and north of University of Pennsylvania, on the Lancaster Avenue edge of Powelton Village, a neighborhood rich in artists, performers, and residents engaged in Philadelphia's cultural and community life.
How shows come about:
Ideas for shows come from the Friends of the Gallery and from its director, Laurence Salzmann.
As a Philadelphia-based gallery we tend to favor local artists, but this is not a strict rule.
We favor shows that include works by 7-10 people; neither is this a strict rule.
We prefer shows that are organized around a theme.
As a photo gallery, we favor photography, but we do occasionally show non photographic work.
We encourage shows that promote community and social justice.
Home of Photo West Gallery from 2000 - 2023.
Friends of Photo West Gallery
Rather than a formal board of directors, we have a group of people who consider themselves Friends of Photo West Gallery. They act as consultants, advisors, and organizers for the gallery - bringing together exhibitions and events at the gallery, and in other ways contributing to the life of the gallery and the community that it serves.
Don Camp
Jason Francisco
W. Keith McManus
Stephen Perloff
Amie Postic
John Schlesinger
Lamont Steptoe
Blaise Tobia
Katie Tackman
Home of Photo West Gallery beginning in 2024.
Photo West Gallery
@ Salzmann Photography Center
3810 Lancaster Avenue
Philadephia, Pa.19104