Photos of Braddock in 1980

I found this on YouTube, all shots taken by on person who lived in Braddock in 1980.

Been meaning to get back and do a more in depth series of posts about the Mon Valley.

Great Shots Of Braddock Benefit Concerts in Rolling Stone

Still kickin myself for missing Titus Andronicus and The Hold Steady play at the Carnegie Library. I stayed in NYC, to catch the Transformazium folks do a talk at The Queens Museum--and then somehow got the date wrong, missing both events!

Anyway, here are some nice shots from the three nights of concerts from Rolling Stone.

Jean, went and loved the show. Sadly and amazingly, she saw some empty seats.

Post Gazette Music Review of Built To Spill, Benefit Concert In Braddock

Tonight, Titus Andronicus and The Hold Steady take the stage in the last of three benefits at the Braddock Library. Seriously doubt it's not sold out.

Here's a nice review of Built to Spill's show in the Post Gazette with the critic honestly admitting he had never been in the town.

"The show I had to see was Built to Spill, because I love that band and somehow I've always missed them. I dig the Hold Steady too, but have seen them a bunch of times already.

What I realized getting there Friday night is that I thought Rankin was Braddock, so I drove around aimlessly for a while, not wanting to stop and ask the guys on the streetcorners, "Um, where is the library?" When I finally stumbled upon Braddock, I realized I hadn't been there before. Obviously, it's not the healthiest looking town and, other than the people going to the show, the streets were pretty deserted on a cold Saturday night."

Green Building Deconstruction Workshop With The Transformazium @ The Queens Museum

Oh the irony, I booked my trip back from NYC to see the Hold Steady play a benefit at The Braddock Library, only to find that the folks from North Braddock's Transformazium, Caledonia Curry,(AKA, Swoon) Leslie Stem, Dana Bishop Root, Ruthie Stringer will be talking at the Queens Museum the same day.

"Initially attracted to North Braddock because of the radically different set of resources it offered (in the form of abundant space and cheap real estate as well as a moody landscape of aesthetic decay), Transformazium rapidly realized a need to pause and examine the realities of their post-industrial neighborhood and build relationships with their new neighbors.

After doing a personalized tour of Detroit Disassembled, Transformazium will bring their experience living and working in a neighborhood that in many ways parallels neighborhoods in Detroit to QMA’s Detroit Project Room, and will use their Deconstruction activity book as a framework for generating questions, discussion, and reflection on the appeal of the post-industrial landscape, the challenges of relocation, the potential social and economic impact of Deconstruction on areas struggling with abandonment, and the possibilities for communication and exchange that can exist in a neighborhood."

Deconstruction: Coloring and Conversation with Transformazium
Saturday, November 12, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, 2011
The Queens Museum

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.

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.

New "Wild Style" Graffiti Murals in Braddock

I was unable to see a live painting event last month in Braddock. The mayor, who had been afraid of more conventional graffiti which might contribute to "vandalism" or gang activity-finally relented and allowed an old department store in town to become a canvas for old school spray paint.

In a town in which mostly white, and sometimes famous "street artists" had been celebrated for doing public art-rejecting the expression of many local artists must have created some resentment.

The building now has is a pretty awesome compilation of work by what looks like a solid crew of people--from both Pittsburgh and many other places. Many details, thank and compliment the mayor for allowing this to happen.

I remember this poem by the legendary graffiti artist, Lee Quiñones.

There was once a time

When the Lexington was a beautiful line

When children of the ghetto expressed with art, not with crime.

But then as evolution passed,

The Transit’s buffing did its blast.

Now the trains look like rusted trash.

Now we wonder if graffiti will ever last.

Long live a new Braddock in which the potential creative talents of everybody are used.

A Few Pictures From The Transformazium

The Transformazium











Lot across from Transformazium



Mysterious Building/Art Project on lot (A prototype for the Haiti project?)



Swoon piece outside Braddock's Unsmoke Systems

Yesterday, Artist Image Resource's Industrial Legacy symposium gave a bit more insight into some of Pittsburgh's DYI printmaking scene. Dana Bishop Root, of the Transformazium spoke about the Braddock Library Screen printing shop but didn't give an update on progress of Their space. Here are some images we took when we were by there more than a month ago.

Bigg Heff's Industry Tour Attempts to Create Opportunities and Connections In Braddock

Wow, I don't mean to make this an all Braddock station but I keep coming across things that seem interesting and relevant.

Not mentioned in the recent Times piece-and rarely spoken of in the media in any positive light is Club Elegance,(formerly Club 804) where several violent incidents have happened. The mayor has made it a personal mission to shut it down.

Might the place have some value as a potential connecting point? A former resident and several others have hooked up an event, aimed at helping local artists to interact with major label execs and show off their talents.

Featuring representatives from Def Jam, Interscope, Sony, Good Music, Fontana/Universal and EMI Records, the tour gives artists who pay a $100 entrance fee a chance to network with and perform for executives.

The tour also will take artists to local music studios and allow them to perform during a closing showcase at Club Elegance, 804 Braddock Ave. The showcase winner will receive several prizes, including the chance to perform in another city on the tour's next stop.

Read full article for details.

Balanced, Realistic View of Life In Braddock: Mayor of Rust

I stopped talking about or linking to the stream of Braddock stories a while ago, as they became more and more shallow, dreamy and unrealistic.

A new, long in depth story in the latest NY Times Magazine gives a better idea of the issues and personal/political dynamics that might be going on.

Still reading and rereading with hopes of doing a longer post.Don't hold your breath.

New Levi's Ad Campaign Focuses Cash and Attention On Braddock

Image of Levi's ad as seen on New York Times Website

Regular television viewers have seen plenty of the tough dedicated mayor of with the local zip code tattooed on his arm. So far I've been sort of ambivalent about the effects of all this. Often, Fetterman is photographed at Carrie Furnace, which isn't even in Braddock or really all that close while the actively working clanking, belching ET Works is rarely shown (actually I've never seen it in a national story about Braddock)

If one was going to shoot the mayor at nearby landmarks not in Braddock, why not Kennywood? Why not the busy, if ugly Homestead Waterfront mall? Even worse, most stories skip over the positive wonderful assets Braddock does have, like the Landmark Carnegie Library, or Unsmoke Systems or the thriving urban farm, the mayor helped start. Or that it's just a few short miles outside of Pittsburgh. The media is clearly portraying Braddock as a hopeless dying place, and Fetterman ("he went to Harvard") as saintly (white) hero for being there. The rest of the town's residents, are hardly seen.



This long PBS interview is pretty typical.

Of course, some positive press in the art world has followed Swoon, the famous, talented and attractive, young (white) street artist, helping to launch the Transformazium in North Braddock. This isn't to say the mayor and folks like Swoon, are not playing critical, interesting and likely leading roles, but this is clearly a team game. Anyone comparing the town they see today with what was there five years ago can see the sweat and care of lot's of people.

Now, a new Ad Campaign by Levi's will both bring more than a million dollars in cash for projects in Braddock, and hopefully put a more realistic spotlight on the town and the people working everyday to make it better.

"The town will also be featured in video clips and an hourlong show, sponsored by Levi's, to appear online and on the IFC and Sundance cable channels.

The idea to use the residents of a real community, shown trying to overcome tough times, was prompted by the introduction of a line of Levi's work wear, which includes jeans, corduroys, shirts and jackets. The print ads and billboards will carry headlines like "Ready to work," "Everybody's work is equally important" and "We are all workers."

"We wanted to engage consumers in a conversation about real work," said Doug Sweeny, vice president for Levi's brand marketing for the Americas at Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco.

"The apparel category can be about posing, about being somebody you're not," he added, whereas the Levi's brand promise is that "you always feel your true, authentic self when you put on a pair of Levi's jeans."

Pending further info, I give this a big thumbs up. The ads will begin appearing on TV next next week.

Gold In Braddock Opens May 1st.

A cut and paste post.

Show dates: May 1 – June 5, 2010
Gallery open weekends 12:00 to 5:00pm and by appointment.

Opening Night Party: May 1, 5:00 – 10:00pm
UnSmoke Systems, 1137 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104

See the artist and curator bios here.

"Gold in Braddock is an exhibition featuring artists working in all media from Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The artists have been invited to explore the theme of gold, including its physical, visual, monetary, social, historic, symbolic, decorative and sacred properties, in the town of Braddock, PA.

Braddock is a historic cradle of the steel industry in Western Pennsylvania. The population plummeted during the 1970s and 1980s with the closing of steel mills in the area. The community now has lost 90% of its population, buildings and businesses. It has gone from thriving boomtown to picture of post-industrial decay and vacancy. Braddock is trying to survive, but life there is not easy. Retail amenities hardly exist in Braddock, no prepared foods, no ATM, no coffee shop. There isn't a grocery store, or a video store. But there is an arts space. With the economic recession, and financial hardship across the country, Braddock’s survival provides a model of hope.

Over the last few years, the town of Braddock has begun to attract artists, artisans, and others looking for a place to live and work creatively. As a part of Braddock’s renewal program, the Mayor of Braddock, John Fetterman, has invited the "urban pioneer, artist, or misfit to be a part of a new experimental effort." Artists are a group of people who create value and their economic impact on neighborhoods has been well documented. For this show, seventeen accomplished artists have responded to the call issued by Mayor Fetterman “to leverage Braddock’s remaining assets with new ideas, energy, and individuals to spark a cultural and economic revitalization.” Artists are investing their ideas and energy in Gold in Braddock. All of the artists in the exhibition are making new work created specifically for this show. After visiting Braddock, artists from across the country will return to their own communities having collaborated on, and witnessed, the Braddock experiment.

Gold in Braddock exploits the polarity between the exterior context (the steel town) and the interior space (the art gallery) to raise questions and cause reflection. In the spirit of Braddock’s experimental environment, this show is also an experiment. It asks, what can art do in this context?

The show will also investigate possibilities for transformation. Like the alchemists, who tried to turn lead into gold, perhaps there is a way to transmute present circumstances into (metaphorical) gold. Gold is a metal that looks like an ordinary rock until humans extract, polish, manipulate and socially establish its beauty.

For more information please contact:
Elise Adibi, Organizing Artist, eliseadibi@gmail.com
Jeanine Hall, Director, UnSmoke Systems, hall.jeanine@gmail.com

Organized by artist Elise Adibi, in Partnership with Pittsburgh Filmmakers/ Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and UnSmoke Systems Artspace.

Participating artists: Elise Adibi, Keil Borrman, Pilar Conde, Jenelle Covino, Mark Dilks, Tracey Goodman, Violet Hopkins, Jon Lewis, Abby Manock, David Muenzer, Kate Nesin, Julian Pozzi, Jon Rajkovich, Annie Shaw, Sara Stracey, Josh Tonsfeldt and Dan Torop.

This show is made possible with generous support from the foundation community in Pittsburgh.

If you have thoughts or insight you want to share about art, music, film, urban design, architecture, transit or history in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints.

New Show @ New Space In Braddock: The Garage Opens April 17th

Finally, some more offbeat and exiting venues opening up in Braddock as more people take the initiative and fill the many spaces Braddock offers.

This one should be easy to spot--really a small garage just a block or so past Unsmoke Systems. Follow the flames and smoke baby! Does Gagosian have a view like this?

"The Garage is a new contemporary art space located in the community of Braddock, Pennsylvania. An abandoned double garage was restored for use as an exhibition space renovation being completed in July of 2009. The intent of the space is to provide a setting for contemporary artwork away from the institution and art market."

ST MORTYS RIDE DIED
FUNERAL COMMEMORATION
BRING CANDLES OR DEVOTIONAL OBJECTS TO ADD TO THE SHRINE

SATURDAY APRIL 17 2010 6pm - 9pm
THE GARAGE ART SPACE
1216 MAPLE WAY
BRADDOCK, PA 15104

Featuring work by Jennifer Myers and Daniel Luchman

As near as I can tell, these will be one night event shows put together by students and artists related to CMU.

More info can on this space can be found @ maplewaybraddock.com

Found out about this on The Pittsburgh Art Blog.

If you have thoughts or insight you want to share about the arts in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints. The forest and the trees.