A conversation with Stephen Tanis and Floss Barber
Café Floss
Stephen Tanis is a painter and Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware where he taught both painting and drawing in the Department of Art for nearly thirty years. He received a BFA from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Tanis has been the recipient of three individual artist fellowships from the Delaware State Arts Council: the first for painting, the second for works-on-paper, and the third, a Masters fellowship in 2002 for painting. In that same year, Tanis received a Delaware Governor’s Award in the Arts. He has also...
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A conversation with Ed Brown and Floss Barber
Café Floss
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A conversation with Cecil Baker and Floss Barber
Café Floss
Born and raised in Argentina, Cecil Baker came to the United States in 1959 to attend Williams College. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and went on to get his Master of Architecture degree, studying under Louis Kahn, at the University of Pennsylvania. Cecil brings to each project a unique vision, grounded firmly in his design ideals of serenity and distinct simplicity. He inspires Clients to envision their projects in a new light, and through the partnership that develops, creativity and inventiveness flourish. Cecil finds joy in cultivating every phase of a project, and as a result, his hand can...
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A conversation with Emanuel Kelly and Floss Barber
Café Floss
Emanuel Kelly, FAIA, was raised in West Philadelphia and has been managing the design, documentation, and construction of architectural, urban design, and planning projects for thirty-six years. He graduated with a degree in architecture from Drexel University in 1971 and received his master’s degree in city planning and urban design from Harvard University in 1974. He returned to Philadelphia in 1976 and, along with Vincent Maiello, AIA, established the architectural and planning firm Kelly/Maiello, Inc. Over the course of his many years in the city his firm has worked on a number of...
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A conversation with Jeanne Ruddy and Floss Barber
Café Floss
Jeanne Ruddy is an American dancer, choreographer, artistic director, educator, writer and founder and collaborator of multiple dance projects. She danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York City and later began the Jeanne Ruddy Dance Company in Philadelphia, PA.
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A conversation with Eileen Neff and Floss Barber
Café Floss
Having formally studied literature and painting, Eileen Neff has been working with photo-based images and installations since 1981. Her work draws on both historic and contemporary concepts of picturing the natural and constructed world, as well as being an investigation of studio practice itself. And increasingly, it has developed in relation to the sites where she’s exhibited, engaging forms of display and presentation as another, critical layer of consideration. The kind of heightened attention afforded by travel has also been a regular marker in Neff’s work, adding to...
info_outlineBorn and raised in Argentina, Cecil Baker came to the United States in 1959 to attend Williams College. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and went on to get his Master of Architecture degree, studying under Louis Kahn, at the University of Pennsylvania. Cecil brings to each project a unique vision, grounded firmly in his design ideals of serenity and distinct simplicity. He inspires Clients to envision their projects in a new light, and through the partnership that develops, creativity and inventiveness flourish. Cecil finds joy in cultivating every phase of a project, and as a result, his hand can be detected in the largest of gestures to the smallest of details.
Prior to the formation of Cecil Baker + Partners in 1982 he had, with three architect friends, established BRHB Developers, a building and development enterprise whose goal was to put into practice the planning principles that had been the core of his architectural experience, and in the process prove that good design and profitability are compatible. BRHB Developers built and marketed a portfolio of 279 apartments and single family residences. Cecil continues to be a partner in this real estate entity.
In 2012, Cecil was appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia to serve on the City Planning Commission's Civic Design Review Committee. Cecil is a past Board Member and Vice President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA. He has been regional representative on the national AIA’s Standing Committee on Housing. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University and lectured at other institutions of higher learning.
Cecil's firm is the recipient of more than fifty regional and national design awards. In 2008 he was named to the Hall of Fame by Residential Architect. Cecil lives with his wife, Fairley, in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia.