Photo Essay On Steeltown Anthem Of The Old Weston State Hospital

My blog, hopes to tune you into some of the great and strange sites and happenings in West Virginia too.

A guest post on Steeltown Anthem has a good photo tour of the old Weston State, Mental Hospital, now known as The Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. I've heard a few stories from someone who had to work there for a while and from what she said, the scale of suffering there was enormous.

From the pictures it looks like a pretty amazing place.

Website
HISTORIC TOURS OFFERED*
March 26th, 2011 – October 31st, 2011


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From the Second Story

Gary Duehr

Mr. Duehr makes it easy for the viewer to slip into narrative with this collection. That could be anybody, walking down the street on their way, coming back, or out for a stroll. The variety of narrative is in the gestural attitude; pensive, purposeful, hesitant, cowed. Because the viewpoint is from above, there is a sense of remote observation, and the narrative idles in a fleeting moment.

These are beautiful works. Subtle textures play in the grounds, and the central figures are blurred, creating a sense of collective experience. The color aesthetic is consistent, with saturated pigments played against pale grounds. In most of the collection, the figure is isolated in the field and contexts for space have very few indicators.

Preview the show on Box Heart's slideshow.

From the Second Story
Recent Works by Gary Duehr
October 4, - October 29, 2011
Box Heart
Gallery Hours:
Tuesdays: 11 AM - 6 PM
Wednesdays - Saturday: 10 AM - 6 PM
Sunday: 1 PM - 5 PM
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Three Days Of Concerts For Braddock In Braddock, The Hold Steady, Kurt Vile, Built To Spill & More, November 10-12

Will be rushing back from NYC to see the Hold Steady at The Braddock Carnegie Library!

All Tickets $25 with full amount going to support Braddock community based projects.

Thu. Nov 10, 2011 at 8:00pm__________________Andrew Bird with Kurt Vile and the Violators

Fri. Nov 11, 2011 at 8:00pm__________________Built to Spill with Atlas Sound

Sat. Nov 12, 2011 at 8:00pm _________________The Hold Steady with Titus Andronicus

This is a small but likely very good venue, so I recommend you get your tickets. Sorry, but I didn't post this till we had ours.

Tickets and details here.

New Greater Cleveland Aquarium to Occupy Old Powerhouse In The Flats

No particular comment from me here since I just don't know the project, neighborhood or city well enough. Large, single use "attractions" are something the city has a lot of but off hand, this sounds like a promising creative reuse of a fascinating building.

From Freshwater Cleveland

Turning the stalwart Powerhouse into a giant fish tank is no easy feat. Tasked with converting the 70,000-square-foot space is Marinescape, a New Zealand-based company that has designed and built aquariums all over the globe, including Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

Great Braddock Public Art: James Simon, Mosaic Garden

Pittsburgh artist, James Simon has three public works in Braddock, The "Welcome To Braddock" Sign, A new mosaic butterfly sculpture across from The Carnegie Library and this mosaic pond, which is my favorite.

I should have spent more time trying to capture this work, which you really have to walk through to experience in space.

Free Symposium On Protecting Pittsburgh's Film Hertitage @ Melwood Screening Room Tomorrow

I will try to attend this event, tomorrow @ Oakland's Melwood Screening Room.

From Pop City.

"Kicking off the 30th installment of the Three Rivers Film Festival, which starts on Nov. 4, the day-long event is co-presented by the University of Pittsburgh iSchool and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Guest panelists will discuss themes of place, community and memory in the production of moving images, as well as film history and preservation."

The syposium will include a screening of classic Pittsburgh films and documentaries.

Free Evening Event: 8:00 - 9:30pm

Register here.

Warhol Foundation Gives Up On Authenticating Warhols

The job of saying what work's were truly made by Warhol, has proved too distracting and big even for the very well endowed foundation funded from his estate. Not, to mention contentious since as one can imagine the amount of money at stake.

The Wall Street Journal has a good overview of the story.

Mr. Straus said a recent string of costly legal disputes with collectors contesting the board's findings influenced the board's decision to give up its role as the "final word" on the late artist's creative output.

One of the highest-profile disputes involved a London filmmaker, Joe Simon, who sued the board four years ago after it refused to vouch for his purported Warhol "Self-Portrait."

By the time Mr. Simon dropped his suit last November, the artist's foundation had spent more than $7 million defending the board's ruling, with help from major law firms like Boies, Schiller & Flexner.

Art News has a good down and dirty look at many of the conflicts of interest, and outright criminal acts by some art world insiders.

"Last July, after a lengthy investigation, owners of the so-called “Stockholm boxes” received the authentication board’s report outlining its findings. According to the report, Pontus Hultén, the highly respected director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, who died in 2006, lied to the board when he told them that an edition of about 105 boxes had been executed in 1968—allegedly with Warhol’s authorization—for a major show at the museum. Based on the false information Hultén provided, the board authenticated 94 of the boxes, and they were included in the 2004 catalogue raisonné."

Braddock, New Guild Studio Mural

Contrary, to rumor, Braddock has some real viable businesses, a few of which have moved in over the last few years.

One of these is, New Guild Studio, a small group of artists who create and restore, icons and other religious art. As you can see on their website, they do very beautiful work.

On our last visit we saw that they decorated their rather drab location with an amazing mural.

Awesome, Postcards From the Edge Benefit Show In NY Seeks Artists

Artist's get hit up all the time to donate work, something I'm not always in favor of.

The first reason to donate is of course that it's a good cause and organzation behind it. Another is that it's just a great event. IMHO, this is both.

You have your work in a bigtime NY gallery on the wall with many famous artists who commonly donate. Even better, people can't tell until they buy the work, who made it.

Postcards From the Edge is a Visual AIDS benefit show and sale of original, postcard-sized works on paper by established and emerging artists. All works are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works are signed on the back and exhibited so the artists' signatures cannot be seen. While buyers receive a list of all participating artists, they don't know who created which piece until purchased. All proceeds support the programs of Visual AIDS.

Visual AIDS utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving the legacy -- because AIDS IS NOT OVER!

DEADLINE: Postmark Friday, December 9, 2011 (NO late entries)

We invite artists to donate a 4" x 6" original work on paper for our Postcards From the Edge exhibition and benefit sale. Painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and mixed media are all welcome.

Artists must be 18 years or older to participate. Only one entry per artist.

Event Website.

Submission details

News Of The Sad/Weird: Theives In New Castle, Steal A Bridge

During the peak of the commodities bubble, people were stealing all kinds of things for scrap, utility poles and wire, copper pipes and even in some cases, public art.

Now, they stole a bridge.

The creative recycling fell off as prices collapsed during the recession, but it is back as people get desperate. And in North Beaver Township, Pennsylvania, theives have pulled off perhaps the biggest heist ever: an entire bridge, estimated to have $100,000 worth of steel.

More in The Post Gazette.

Cleveland Considers Dropping 8% Admission Tax on Small Clubs

People have wondered for years, why Cleveland's strong music heritage, central location, affordable living costs and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hasn't spawned a healthier music club scene.

Cleveland's 8% across the board admission tax might be a big factor.

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"The charge became an issue earlier this year after the city started hounding club owners to pay back taxes. The legislation would require owners to clean up those debts before receiving the exemption.

The Beachland Ballroom, in the Waterloo area, would squeeze in just under the law's cap. Owner Cindy Barber said in an interview last summer that she was under order to pay $400,000 -- three years' worth of taxes plus interest"

Four city council members are proposing dropping this tax for smaller clubs. As the article states, these are usually not the most profitable businesses to run.

Great Public Art In Braddock: Bob Qualters Murals

Had a fantastic visit to the Transformazium I need to post about. Every time I go, I notice more public art-most of which is very good.

These panels, are a few years old and were installed as part of what I think is new subsidised housing for seniors, right across from where the hospital was.

Look closely at the text around the borders and inside the pieces, full of memories and a strong sense of history and community.

I will be posting some more images, as well as a post about my transformazium visit, ASAP.

Project To Bring a Fish Farm To Youngstown's Idora Neighborhood

Idora has come up here before. It lost it's classic amusement park to a fire, it's carousel is now under The Brooklyn Bridge and many of it's houses have been abandoned.

Still recent efforts have created urban gardens and sustainable agriculture which both adds some life and employment while making the area healthier and more attractive.

See the details and consider supporting them on Kickstarter.

Open House, New York this Weekend. Why Don't We Do This?

Ever walk through a city and think, wow, I wish I could see that building from the inside?

Seems like a pretty obvious idea-pick a few days, and open up all kinds of unique buildings and interesting or historic places up for tours. New York, was actually a late adaptor of this concept, now done in over a hundred cities around the world.

"Renee Schacht, Executive Director of OHNY said in 2010: “We will be touring places and opening doors to sites that span the history of New York – from Staten Island’s Conference House, the only pre-Revolution manor house still standing to contemporary public and private spaces including The Centurion, a midtown Manhattan residential building designed by Pei Partnership Architects with I.M. Pei.”

More than 185,000 people participate in the event that includes over 300 sites, programs, events and tours, which in past years has drawn audiences from beyond the five boroughs to encompass all 50 states and many nations around the world."

In many cases, the event has grown beyond building tours to encompass all sorts of walking, bike and boat tours and more extreme forms of urban exploration. Take a hard hat tour of a building under construction or being rehabbed or perhaps an abandoned tunnel or bridge one can't normally go to. The value of this kind of thing sometimes leads to new thinking--remember that the High Line in NY was once an obscure abandoned space.

A few highlights I came up with.

Check out the 6000 sqare foot roof garden in Greenpoint Brooklyn.

Explore the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue on The Lower East Side.

Tour NY's oldest operating Whiskey Distillery in Bushwick

Learn about the design and engineering behind supertall skyscrapers.

Take a walk with a photographer down Industrial, Newtown Creek in Queens

See the Plans For The New Moynihan Station In The Old 34th Street Main post Office building

Take a canoe tour of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal

Tour the amazing Lobby of The Chrysler Building.

See historic and long abnadoned PS 90 in Central Harlem which is now being restored.

Tour a working Art Glass Studio in a Civil War Era warehouse in Redhook

Tour Brooklyn's historic Greenwood Cemetery by trolley.

I'll stop there. Doesn't Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Johnstown or other great places in our region have great historic buildings and places that would be great to link together in an event like this?

L.A. Stakes Its Claim as a World Art Center, The Benefits of Regional Collaboration

The Times has a good article about almost 170 exhibits in 130 institutions, highlighting the birth of what is now known as the L.A. art scene.

Funny thing is that the shows are spread from San Diego to Santa Barbara,(more than 200 miles) a vast region, making it a triumph of branding, so strong that for many Los Angeles and Southern California have become interchangeable places.

"Still, for many Los Angeles artists and critics, Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, is a long-needed accounting of the emergence of the region as an art capital in the same league as New York, Berlin and London. Indeed, Los Angeles these days has more than its share of ambitious museums, adventurous art galleries, wealthy collectors, top-notch art schools and — perhaps most important — young artists drawn here by relatively cheap rents, abundant light and an atmosphere that encourages experimentation."

The overall region has always done well at creating collaborations-like Supersonic-a huge annual joint regional MFA show.

I guess, I wonder why the Pittsburgh to Cleveland region which is also loaded with low costs and a wide variety of creative assets has done so little to create these kinds of connections or any kind of regional brand.

Great PG Article on Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, Many In Southwest PA

While the debate goes on about plans to build and repair huge new freeways, high speed rail lines and such, the Post Gazette has a great look at the obsolete, beautiful covered bridges in our state.

"At one point, the Keystone State had at least 1,500 covered bridges, and today more than 200 have stood the test of time. Found in 40 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, more covered bridges exist in Pennsylvania than in any other state, according to the Theodore Burr Covered Bridges Society of Pennsylvania, based in Lancaster, as well as several websites, including Wikipedia."

Somerset County 10
Westmoreland County 1
Washington County 23
Greene County 7 (Ranked by Martha Stewart as one of the best places in America for fall foliage)
Bedford County 14

"Mr. Aldom said that in the early 1800s, agriculture and industrialization were growing rapidly throughout the Northeast and rivers and estuaries were lifelines of both trade and communication. Farmers and industrialists needed bridges to efficiently move commerce, animals and people over the often rugged landscape.

Traditional European building methods (think: the stone bridge of sighs in Venice) wouldn't work in the comparatively harsh North American climate. The hot summers and frigid winters created freeze/thaw cycles that would overturn stone paving. So wood -- especially in a state full of timber -- became the building material of choice.

Pioneer builders chose to cover the bridges because less exposure to the elements meant the wooden superstructures would last longer."

A few counties have sugested tour maps and online guides--all listed in the article.

Film Black Swan on Friday 6:30 and Post Film Discussion

Interesting film series. ....Analytic Flicks. Open to the public! The first film is Black Swan, and the discussion will feature my very, very good friend (and fascinating writer and thinker) Dr. Marlene Goldsmith and a dancer Maria Caruso, Founder and Director of Bodiography Contemporary Ballet. This should be fascinating! And truly, this event is not just for anaylists and psychological types! $10.00 donation guggested, 5 dollars for students.See below for detailed info see below (note Dr. Wettstein is not on the panel).
2011-12 Analytic Flick Series: Open to the Public

Join the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center for our Analytic Flicks Series. We invite you to explore the human condition through film with a psychoanalyst and psychologist as your guide. This thought-provoking series will also include discussants who add to the sharing of perspectives.

Black Swan Friday, October 14, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
Bigelow Conference and Reception Center
4338 Bigelow Boulevard 15213

Join Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, Stacey Wettstein, Ph.D., Marlene Goldsmith, Ph.D. Psychologist and Maria Caruso, Founder and Director of Bodiography Contemporary Ballet

Quiet Glances: An Exhibit of Figurative Paintings by Claire Hardy will be on display.
$10 Donation Suggested /$5 Student Donation Suggested for Event

2.5 Continuing Education Units Available ($20 Administrative Fee)

Bevarages and Snacks Available (donations appreciated)

For more information contact administration@pghpsa.org or call (412) 661-4224

A simillar format will be offered for the other films in the series which include:

The Fighter, Friday, December 2, 2011

Bill Cunningham New York, Friday, April 13, 2012

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, Friday, June 1, 2012

All films will take place from 6:30-9 pm at the beautiful Bigelow Conference and Reception Center. Growing Old : A Journey Toward Self-Discovery Danielle Quinodoz

Friday, November 4 6:30-9pm

“People react differently to the process of aging. Some people shy away from old age for as long as they can and eventually spend it reflecting on times when they were physically and mentally stronger and more independent. For others old age is embraced as a new adventure and something to look forward to.”

- Danielle Quinodoz

Danielle Quinodoz, Swiss Psychoanalyst and Author will present, Growing Old: A Journey of Self-Discovery, in which she will examine the conscious and unconscious difficulties that limit therapists' ability to help individuals reconstruct their internal past while also listening sensitively to current and future needs. Helping individuals to see their lives through the chronology of different phases, may help them to express the joyful and painful aspects of their expereince and guide a journey of self-discovery. (Special thanks to Bill Cornell for his assistance in the arrangement of this event).

Friday, November 4, 2011 at WPIC Auditorium 6:30-9pm

2 Continuing Education Units Available ($35 for event w/ 2 credits)

General Public/ No CE $15

Scroll to bottom of page for registration form

Co-sponsored by Western Psychiatric Institute and Center

Saturday, March 3, 2011 Freud’s Last Session: Tony-Award-Winning Play and Featured Annual Fundraiser for PPC!

This exciting evening will feature a performance of the Tony Award play Freud’s Last Session at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in downtown Pittsburgh. The play is based on the book “The Question of God” by Armand M. Nichall Jr. The evening will begin with delicious hors d’oeuvres, elegant desserts, coffee or tea, as well as a full cash bar. A talk-back session will take place after the performance. You will have an outstanding intellectual, imaginative theatrical experience, superb food and an engaging talk-back - - all packed into a glorious, fun-filled evening to raise funds for PPC - - and only for $95! (No CE Units)



Required CME Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential

Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

through the joint sponsorship of the American Psychoanalytic Association and

(name of non-accredited provider). The American Psychoanalytic Association is

accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a

maximum of [number of credits] AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians

should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in

the activity.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the

planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial

relationships to disclose.

Psychologists Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center is approved by the American Psychological Assocaition to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center maintains responsibility for the program and its content.

University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work This program is offered for 2 hours of social work continuing education through co-sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, a Council on Social Work Education-accredited school and, therefore, a PA pre-approved provider of social continuing education. These credit hours satisfy requirements for LSW/LCSW, LPC and LMFT biennial license renewal.



To confirm that continuing education units are available for your profession please contact Maya Andlig at (412) 661-4224



Recent Events
The Symposium on Reducing Youth Violence June 16 & 17, 2011, at the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, 1815 Metropolitan Street in Pittsburgh, 15233. This two-day symposium focused on programs and strategies that reduce youth violence in Pittsburgh and other U.S. cities. It featured presentations by local and national experts followed by moderator-led discussions and Q & A sessions.

50th Anniversary Celebration on June 3 & 4, 2011. The Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center took a look into its past and its future on the occasion of its 50th year as a psychoanalytic educational institution. The celebration included a presentation, "The Remains of an Object: Graves, Ashes and Things Left Behind" by Salman Akhtar, M.D.

Analytic Flick: Babies on Wednesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh 15213. A 2010 documentary, "Babies" follows four infants in four countries: Mongolia, Namibia, Japan and the U.S.A. After the film, Eleanor Irwin, Ph.D., and Gary Swanson, M.D., lead a discussion on this early stage of human psychological development.

Past Events

Analytic Flick: The Story of the Weeping Camel on January 25, 2011.

Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) for Borderline and Narcissistic Personality Disorders," a training program offered on Saturday, November 13, 2010, in the Auditorium at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pitts-burgh, PA. 15213. Continuing education credits were available.

"The Mind and the Music of George Gershwin" by Richard Kogan, MD, on October 9, 2010, 7:30 p.m., in Levy Hall at Rodef Shalom Temple, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

About PPC's Programs & Events

PPC offers a variety of educational programs for mental health practitioners and the general public. Continuing education credits are often available for Social Workers, Counselors, Psychologists and Psychiatrists.

Mailing List

Please e-mail administration@pghpsa.org if you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive information about upcoming programs and events.


click here for black

Cleveland Museum's Rodin Bombing Mystery Tonight on The Travel Channel

The Cleveland Museum is home to a lot of great sculptures by Rodin, including one his most famous, The Thinker, outside the main entrance.

The Travel Channel show, Mysteries at the Museum, focuses on the mysteriously senseless bombing of The Thinker in 1970. Might be worth a look, if you have cable.

Pittsburgh Artist, Kim Beck Skywriting Project Over NY's High Line Tomorrow

Local artist, Kim Beck currently has three related creative projects going on in Chelsea-A solo show, at Mixed Greens Gallery, three site specific sculptures visible from the High Line and tomorrow, her skywriting project.

"The Sky Is the Limit/NYC consists of fleeting messages from advertising billboards and storefront signage written by a skywriting plane. Phrases like “Last Chance” or “Now Open” will gradually unfold, and then fade back into the air, inviting viewers to interpret the language in their own unique way. With the current uncertainty in the economy, The Sky Is the Limit/NYC is intended to play upon universal longings for hope and change by engaging the most potent symbol of longing in the landscape: the sky."

Sunday, Oct 9, between 4-7PM over the High Line

LaToya Ruby Frazier "Takes On Levi's" Video on Art 21

by Frazier
From Art 21

Following opinion is by me, John Morris and may not be shared by other contributors to the blog.

Art 21 has a good video documenting LaToya Ruby Frazier's performance protest against Levi's use of her hometown of Braddock in it's recent ad campaign.

I have often wondered why, in story after story done on Braddock, so much of it's reality doesn't come across. In the case of many, it's because of lack of knowledge, but a larger factor seems to be conscious efforts to distort the picture.

LaToya is from Braddock, spent most of her life there, to my knowledge and has built a body of brutal work about the hard life of many people there.

After watching the video, would one know that US Steel's Braddock Works is still very much up and running? It is and employes around 2000 people, a number not far from Braddock's total population. In fact, when UPMC, Braddock was open, the total number of jobs in the borough almost exceeded the number of people living there.

The tragic landscape of collapsing buildings in Braddock has to be the result of something a bit more complex.

Was the town's tiny size a factor?

Why did so few workers choose to live in Braddock? What role did stereotypes against living in industrial area's play?

Did the 40 year debate over the construction of an expressway requiring the destruction of over half the town's buildings have an impact? (Why do almost none of the national stories about Braddock not mention these plans?)

Is the fact that a large part of Braddock is within a river flood zone a factor? Can anything be done about this?

Has local political corruption been a factor?

Yes, perhaps Levi's campaign was silly, but at least they left some cash in the hands of a few people who are actively working in the town and a message of hopeful, if dreamy optimism. IMHO, much of LaToya's work about Braddock is at least as exploitive and leaves very little positive in it's wake.

September Gallery Crawl

It was a dark and rainy night. But that didn't deter Pittsburghers from making their way to the Cultural District for the Gallery Crawl.

Wonder of wonders, the most recent edition of the Gallery Crawl was not scheduled for the same Friday as Unblurred. Too often, I have had to make a choice on which to attend. Usually I end up on Penn Avenue in Friendship because the venues have much more limited hours and the exhibits have a shorter run. In case you have lost track, Unblurred is taking place on Friday, October 7.

Looped


You have probably seen Tom Mosser's work, walking down Smithfield Street in Downtown. His Two Andy's mural is located on the wall above Weiner World. This past month, Mosser's work has been displayed in the lobby of L'enfant Lofts.

In place are a few oil paintings, including the above work. There is a fine attention to color in these works, layered meticulously. On close examination, the canvas works have a low-relief of texture, heralding back to the concepts expressed by the Pointillist school. The over-blown depiction of the flower and the single eyes that comprise the paintings on exhibit allow for a lot of latitude in the color composition.

If you want to see Mr. Mosser's work, he has a very extensive website and his studio is at the Blackbird Lofts in Larryville. L'enfant Lofts, where he is exhibiting downtown, is a loft development in progress and does not has regular hours. You can, I'm sure, peek through the windows while you're walking on Penn Avenue.

Looped - Tom Mosser
L'enfant Lofts
806 Penn

Universal Expressions: Movement in Multiple Dimensions

Thomas Bigatel Open Wound Healing

This is an aptly named exhibit: the works by Thomas Bigatel express gesture very well. His palette, while focused within individual works, is broadly employed in the presented in the exhibit. His color choices seem impulsive, but are definitely guided by an experienced eye. Coupled with the gestural quality of his mark-making, the works are intense and kinetic.

I was particularly drawn to Open Wound Healing (pictured above). The subtle transitions of yellow to yellow-green is a calming counter to the contrasting blood-reds of the central motif. My sense of the piece was that it pulsated to the beat of a heart.

Universal Expressions has just recently opened and will remain on display through November 13.

Universal Expressions: Movement in Multiple Dimensions
Painting and Sculptures by Thomas Bigatel and Peter Johnson
Friday, September 23 - Sunday, November 13, 2011
709 Penn Gallery
709 Penn Ave
Gallery hours
Wednesday through Thursday, 11 Am to 6 PM,
Friday-Saturday 11Am to 8 PM, Sunday 11 to 5 PM. till 5 PM

Progression

707 Penn Gallery Progression

Harish Saluja includes painting in his many artistic passions. The Progression exhibit includes works from various series, showcasing Saluja's range of expression. The works are layered with detailed texture and shift between figurative and abstract. I was drawn very much to the interpretative Mandalas that were included in the exhibit.


Harish Saluja Mandala #4

From Mr. Saluja's site --

In his Mandala Series, his latest set of paintings, he has started incorporating figurative and semi-abstract images with abstraction. The result is a sumptuous, almost erotic celebration of joy. Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community, and connection. It is a symbol of man or woman in the world, a support for the meditating person. The Mandala is often illustrated as a palace with four gates, facing the four corners of the Earth. Before the meditating person arrives at the gates, he/she must, however, pass the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, and the circle with the eight tombs and the lotus circle.

I would further add that Mandala #4 has a quality of controlled danger to it, with its central circle of slashed red and the overlapping textures that demonstrate an intrusion of one circle into the next.

Harish Saluja - Progression
707 Penn Gallery
707 Penn Ave
Gallery hours
Wednesday through Thursday, 11 Am to 6 PM,
Friday-Saturday 11Am to 8 PM, Sunday 11 to 5 PM. till 5 PM

Shake It & Make It with Handmade Arcade!


The last Gallery Crawl saw a pop-up exhibit of Jason Sauer's work at 929 Liberty Avenue; this month, the lovely people of Handmade Arcade took over for an evening of DIY crafting and making. Tables were ranged around the room, a DJ was spinning some great tunes, and the space was packed with dozens of people. A continuous stream kept the Handmade Arcadians hopping, helping with making buttons, postcards and flowers. You could also leave a message for anyone that came in about the things you love to make.

The projects underway last evening --

"Greetings from Pittsburgh" (handmade postcards);
"Say you, Say me" (personalized pin-back buttons);
"ReFab & ReFunk" (junk flowers and mini sculptures).

Handmade Arcadians are gearing up for their big holiday show, coming in November. Hands on activities are part of the fair, so while you're doing your gift shopping, you can also plan on making a little something. I'm sure they will be posting a vendor list on their site, but in the meantime, put this on your calendar.

HANDMADE ARCADE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2011
11 AM - 7 PM
EARLY BIRDIE ENTRANCE AT 10 AM
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
• Free admission
• Over 150 vendors, local and from out-of-state
• Early Birdie passes
• Refreshments on-site
• Hands-on Handmade activities

Your Place at the Banquet


Rose Clancy Food For Thought Table

Your Place at the Banquet, curated by Rose Clancy, attempts to engage its audience in the poltics of sustenance. The exhibit extends beyond the gallery walls to include screenings and performances in satellite locations. From the exhibition site --

Your Place at the Banquet is a visual art exhibition and public awareness initiative that critically examines the mechanisms of our industrial food system and aims to empower people to sow the seeds of change through their daily choices and actions.

The exhibition features new work by Rose Clancy, H.E.A.P. HQ (Kevin Clancy, Dan Mooradian, Ali Reid), David Pohl, Tom Sarver, and Zayde Buti that seek to generate public awareness, critical discussion, and collective action around issues of food politics.

Curated by Rose Clancy. Participating artists include:
Rose Clancy, David Pohl, Tom Sarver, H.E.A.P. HQ and Zayde Buti.

Your Place at the Banquet
September 16 – October 15, 2011
Future Tenant
819 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Open Weekdays 11am-5pm