Interacting with Color Workshop with Fritz Horstman

Fritz Horstman leads a workshop on color theory at Parkway Central Library on Thursday, October 22, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. It's presented by Art-Reach in collaboration with the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and it's open to all ages, abilities, and artistic practices.

The session starts with a short presentation of Josef Albers's Interaction of Color and Horstman's own new book, Interacting with Color. From there, it moves into hands-on experiments with color phenomena like simultaneous contrast—how a color changes depending on what's around it—and the illusion of transparency. If you've ever wondered why the same shade of blue looks completely different against a yellow background than it does against a gray one, that's exactly the kind of thing you'll be playing with.

Horstman is the Education Director at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, where he's worked since 2004. His book, Interacting with Color: A Practical Guide to Josef Albers's Color Experiments, was published by Yale Press in 2024. He's also an artist who has organized exhibitions, lectured, and run workshops across Europe and the US, so he knows how to walk a room through these concepts without getting bogged down in the theory.

The workshop is held in the library's Art Department, which holds more than 60,000 books on art and design, the private library of collector John Frederick Lewis, the Philadelphia Comics Collection, a Zine Collection of over 1,000 titles, and a WPA-era Picture Collection. You'll find the session on the first floor, Room 131/132 in the Heim Center at 1901 Vine Street, between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway. Materials are provided for those attending in person, and there's online access available if you can't make it downtown. It's free, but registration is required.