DJ Heat Wav spinning tunes for a previous Germantown Art & Sound. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)
Germantown Art & Sound (GAS) will officiate summertime in Germantown tonight, June 26, with nine visual artists for their second 2026 program.
The art show happens at Our House Culture Center, at 6380 Germantown Ave., from 7 to 10 p.m. This season’s lineup features Acevedo, Art by Dominic Moret, Ethan Flood, Hailey Stefanov, HJG Through My Eyes Photography, Ibi, Kristine Pham, Noir Pearle, and reva, from mercury!
Every artist brings their own distinct style and works, with no particular theme guiding the GAS Summer 2026 class.
Keeping the vibes high, DJ Heat___wav, also local to Germantown, will spin tunes. And don’t miss a beat when Indi Monet does live drumming for the first time in Art & Sound history.
The event is BYOB, but offers some complimentary wine while it lasts. Taqueria El Guero will also have a food truck on-site.
Ahead of tonight’s show, see a quick profile of two artists using real-life experiences and imagination to create new worlds through mixed media production.
Noir Pearle (she/her)
Shanea Neville, also known as Noir Pearle, started creating art in 2021, transitioning from photography to digital 3D modeling. This is not her first showcase, as she previously exhibited at the Spectacular Black Girl Art Show and smaller showcases around Philly.
To create, she gains inspiration from dance and movement, particularly contemporary & ballet, nature & outdoor observation, and illusion photography. Her art style is both dynamic and exploratory. Her signature pieces feature metal-sliced 3D models in intimate poses.
She told GIH she loves “the ambiguity of the slice models because I can do more like intimate poses or intimate works without it being tied to heteronormativity or race or like any of the things that sometimes filter or take people away from just enjoying the work.”
She emphasizes portraying Black bodies and people of color in empowering, dynamic ways with intentional lighting and contrast.
Her work focuses on depicting intimacy beyond sexuality, such as culturally relevant moments like a partner oiling another’s scalp.
“I love creating Black models, I love creating. I love adding the skin, I love doing the hair, I love doing the lighting. I love all of those things,” Pearle said.
Tonight, attendees will be able to buy small prints, framed 8×10 prints, and large canvas pieces. Her portfolio will be available for custom sizes and commissions.
reva, from mercury! (all pronouns)
reva moved to Philly over two years ago from North Jersey to pursue art and youth education.
Starting in performing arts and theater in school, they transitioned to digital art/graphic design, then shifted to hands-on mixed media a few years ago due to disappointment with the temporary nature of social media-based art.
To create her art, she looks to and blends Afrofuturism, mythology, fantasy, and radical Black Queer imagination. Out of that, she creates surreal, abstract worlds transcending time — blending past, present, and future.
As he explains: “When you’re imagining a world that you want to live in, sometimes you got to reach back in the past and think what worked, what didn’t work, or what did we forget… you got to look now and see what is working now… And then obviously the future. You want to imagine things that haven’t existed yet or combine everything to create something new… time is inherently a part of the radical Black Queer imagination.”
Her work explores themes of trauma, resilience, and overlooked narratives through a fantastical lens. Reva’s creation process involved mixed media collage featuring layers of found imagery, often from vintage magazines, abstract underwater imagery, and Black fantasy worlds.
She calls her work “a glamour spell,” as her vibrant color palette choices often contrast with the themes chosen. The artist also chooses to cover faces to invite deeper viewer engagement and protect privacy.
At tonight’s event, attendees will be able to purchase prints, original mixed media pieces, one-of-one found object collages, and sculptures.
Rasheed Z. Ajamu is a Germantown-born and raised Black journalist, reporting from a place-based lens to see how things affect life in Germantown. They strive to preserve the stories of Black natives in an ever-changing Philadelphia and Germantown social landscape.