Three Rivers Arts Festival - Part I

The Three Rivers Arts Festival is in full swing. I went down today to check out a few things. It started out to be a slightly humid day, but an hour into my visit, the sky broke open with torrents of rain, I mean buckets! Which is, of course, part of every Pittsburghers expectation for the festival. It ALWAYS rains during the festival. I got to the Artists Market just as everybody was putting their booths back together, so I couldn't get good booth images.

This is Kyle Ethan Fischer --


Kyle has only a few more days at the festival - his last day is June 16. If you can't make it to the festival to see his work at the festival, you can always catch him at his studio on Penn Avenue on First Fridays. I took a few images while I was at his booth.





His work is really amazing. And really, he is one of the high points of the artist market. I suppose that these kinds of fairs have fallen out of favor with artists. It seems that the artist market has pretty much the same selection every year, with only a few new faces. Part of how the Three Rivers Arts Festival is keeping things fresh is through their emerging artists program, of which Kyle Fischer is one. These festival newcomers are given subsidized booths for one week of the festival.

Another tactic that is working well for the festival is gallery row. A few galleries in Pittsburgh usually have a presence at the festival. This year, it is Ash Gallery, the Union Project and Planet Art Gallery. It was still spattering when I went down gallery row, so of course I did not even try for a booth shot. This is Allison Hoge, Ash Gallery --



This work had some really subtle shadings and layering. It appealed to me because of the variations in focus within the edges of the canvas. Most of the works presented by Allison Hoge at the festival had a very fiery appearance, predominantly a very hot red. Gorgeous work, really.

One of my favorite glass artist teams, Dale Sauers and Jason Amstutz, was at the festival this year, presenting blown and fused works ranging from vases to jewelry. They had a major booth catastrophe with the storm, almost losing their booth. The storm also flooded their containers and vessels. They were still cleaning up and reorganizing when I stopped by their booth. Dale, even with the water-logged purse and paperwork, was a pleasure. I'm sure I would have been in melt down mode. And Jason was stoically securing the tent, making sure that it was secure before the storm returned this afternoon.







Pittsburgh Celebrates 250 at PPG's Winter Garden - Icing on the Cake
Every Day: June 6-22 : 12 - 8 pm



I love the Winter Garden; it's a beautiful setting. The installation on the AAP exhibit was really sweet, as you can see in the above image. Best in show - David Watt's Comfort Cake, a confection of fuzzy perogies.



Next up - Contained