One of the victories of both exhibitions is that they are a collaboration between the Fabric Workshop, a place where artists come to work and play with materials and ideas, and Ars Nova, a Philadelphia-based arts organization that—with the work of long-time Philadelphian John Coltrane as their talisman—emphasizes not just collaboration but improvisation as a powerful force for renewal, community-based and otherwise. For the opening, within the space created by her banners, Alvarado performed with Natural Information Society, the Chicago-based musical ensemble founded by her husband, Joshua Abrams, that creates, in the group’s own words, “long-form psychedelic environments informed by jazz, minimalism & traditional musics.” The performance was sponsored by Ars Nova.
The piece, called “Perseverance Flow,” began slowly, with Abrams playing rhythmically on a gimbri—a Sub-Saharan, three-stringed, skin-covered box—in his lap. Alvarado, on hand-pumped harmonium, let the reeds make chords that filled the room. Mikel Patrick Avery, on a drum kit, launched a bass drum’s beat through mists of percussion, and on bass clarinet, Jason Stein made sounds like swells and piercing winds. It was rhythms intersecting rhythms, and the room felt like an ocean, the seas shifting, tide coming in. But then, after an hour that felt like minutes, Alvarado’s chords led us home safe, the sounds calming, the room still vibrating, the chords resolved, the world a different place.
“The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry” and “Lisa Alvarado: Talismans for a Theater of Resilience” are both at the Fabric Workshop through April 2026.
