Holiday art specials, happening this weekend!

Happy Hour Holiday at BoxHeart

The holiday show at BoxHeart this year features great gifts, sure. But it also features work from all of artists that are represented by BoxHeart. This show is a great way to get acquainted with these artists.

There are two opportunities to do just that this weekend. Tonight is a special holiday happy hour, when you can peruse the exhibit with other art lovers. Tomorrow, BoxHeart and the other shops in Bloomfield will be offering special holiday deals.

Holiday Happy Hour!
Friday, December 13th
6 - 8pm

Bloomfield Shop Walk
Saturday, December 14th
12 - 5pm

Superfriends!

If you're over on the Southside, Superfriends might be a really nice stop. It's a last-minute, pop-up type of event with several local artists.

Superfirends
December 14, 2-6pm
CWP warehouse
2315 wharton st.
pittsburgh pa 15203

XMittens and Ludmila's Emporium

Love love love XMittens! Amber Coppings is now working out of a studio in Larryville. Over the next two weekends she will be having special open studio/pop-up store events. If you're in the neighborhood, check this out and then visit Salud on Butler St for delicious Cuban fare.

XMittens and Ludmila's Emporium
Xmittens DIY Gift Set Weekend
December 14, 12-5 and December 15, 1-5
December 21-22, 12pm-5pm
Solstice Sale
5252 Butler St, 2nd floor
Pittsburgh PA 10201

Of course this isn't a complete list of all of the really cool holiday art events popping up all over Pittsburgh. If you want to share something that you are doing, you can email me the information at susanconstanse at gmail.com, or leave your information in the comments form. Wishing all of you a lustrous season!

Sherry Rusinack: Hats Off To The Insane @ Pittsburgh's Box Heart Gallery

I don't usually say this, but this is not just a great show to see but an amazing chance to buy great cheap art, with few works selling for more than $200 and many for as little as $35.
Works are being swapped out as things sell, creating an ongoing instillation of insanity.

If I had a gripe, its that I wish there was even more work by this prolific, intuitive artist on display. May get back with some shots.

Hats Off to the Insane: New Work by Sherry Rusinack
Box Heart Gallery
October 15--November 9
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Fragmentation: New Work by Seth Clark

Seth Clark Mass I (diptych)Collage, Charcoal, Gouache, Pastel, Acrylic, Graphite on Panel, 72" X 84"[/caption]

Really great show at BoxHeart this month. Seth Clark has a solo of his large collage works of deteriorating architecture.

The works are a contrast of serene, empty space with heavily layered paper combined with drawing media. Clark achieves an incredible depth in these works, I feel like my hand would sink into the surface of the collage. Honestly, I really wanted to riffle through those layers. I'm sure there are secret letters and old movie tickets hidden in the walls.

From the show description:

These images are created through an ambitious layering process. Clark collages with found paper to reflect the fragmented and complex tactility of decay. Once a dimensional foundation is achieved, various mixed media are used to bring definition and depth to these raw materials. The processes of collage and drawing alternate between themselves lending to a seamless blend of the two mediums. It often takes months for the subject to appear out of the many scraps of paper and scribble.

Seth Clark's Fragmentation exhibit is up through October 12 at BoxHeart. Well worth the time to go and see.

September 17 - October 12, 2013
Fragmentation
New Work by: Seth Clark
BoxHeart
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Meghan Olson at Box Heart Gallery

Meghan Olson at Box Heart Gallery

Meghan Olson's Platonic Folds and How To Make Sense of a Canyon exhibit at Box Heart is so peaceful. Mounted as vertical landscapes, the works have the feel of plains of grain, drifts of snow and gentle seas.

I imagine them in different rooms, with warm lamplight providing subtle tones of yellow and gold. Or in a room filled with winter light, and the folds almost disappear, marked only by the soft blue smudges of shadow. I could get lost in these, I think, my mind resting in these sweet and subtle shades.

But also, Ms. Olson displays a respect for her materials, with a careful choice of papers and presentation. The smaller prints, shown alongside the large paper hangings, are beautifully expressive, sparkling with confetti color.

From Box Heart's show description:

In this body of work, Olson uses common, often bland, materials to probe for movement and anomalistic meaning in a place, material, or form. The topographies depicted are not real or representative of a specific location or point in time. They exist like metaphors of lost thoughts and inconclusive ruminations. Rather than trying to find a particular magic model that will answer questions or explain things we universally may not know. Olson is interested in the data of the in-between, the reality that occurs when what we think we know and experience collide and exist; regardless of making perfect sense.

You can see more of Ms. Olson's work on Box Heart's onsite portfolio and in the collected images from the exhibit.

Platonic Folds and How To Make Sense of a Canyon
Printmaking and Mixed Media Works on Paper by Meghan Olson
March 5th - March 30th, 2013
Box Heart Gallery

Box Heart Gallery's Art Inter/National

Kuzana Ogg Tulsi

In an exhibit of exceptional works, there are always a few that really stand out. Frankly, this is more a matter of personal preference than it is an objective opinion. Since I am a painter myself, I am drawn towards this media.

The Art Inter/National at Box Heart has several very good painters represented on the gallery walls. I was particularly struck by Kuzana Ogg's work (pictured above) and I am thrilled that she was selected for a focus exhibit in February for Box Heart's Artist of the Year. Both of the paintings have a beautiful surface appeal, with glazes of color superimposed over a base of uniform marks. The final work seems highly polished, with a subtle gleam. The works seem to play on the themes of uniformity and randomness, reconciling their duality by exploring their complex relationship. I very much look forward to seeing the presentation of her exhibit in February.

Mehrdad Khataei
Lost at the Pigsty no. 3

Heather Kanazawa
Reflect

The exhibit is nicely balanced between nonobjective abstractions and representational works. For instance, Mehrdad Khataei (above, left) has two drawings that are at the other end of the spectrum from Ms. Ogg's work. The works are bold, expressive, and have an incredible energy. I have a love of confident marks, I think that's why I find this work so very engaging.

As I have said, I am drawn to painting. I found Heather Kanazawa's work (above, right) rather interesting, for its color as well as its hand. The contrast of value plays very well against the orchestration of muted color that dominates the small work. There's a lot of information packed into such a small work. But the marks are completely in proportion to the scale of the work.

These are just a few highlights from an exceptional show that includes ceramics, video, drawing, painting and encaustic works. The selections come from around the globe, and around the US. Make a point to get there over the next week, before the show comes down. I am sure you'll find something to love as much as I did.

The 12th Annual Art Inter/National Exhibition... here and abroad
Box Heart Gallery
January 8 - February 2, 2013
View artwork

Urbane - Paintings by Box Heart's 2013 Artist of the Year
KUZANA OGG
February 5 - March 2, 2013
Public Reception: Saturday, February 9th: 5-8pm