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

Pittsburgh Biennial at the Warhol, Opening Reception 9/17/2011,Gertrude's/LOT

First, I will get my gripes out of the way. Why was the reception only two hours long and on a Saturday afternoon? Why not your typical evening reception thats 3 hours long? Having said that (and I just don't get it....WHY!? ....I almost missed the whole thing, cause I thought it was in the evening! And I would have loved to have been there longer. Plus, I was afraid I was going to be really late, because it looked like I had a flat tire...and I grabbed the wrong shoes, and my feet were killing me...and I was walking around in the parking lot in just tights with no shoes looking for my car....becuase I parked in such a rush.....WHY!?).
Anyway....having said that, the work is wonderful. Eric Shiner picked a marvelous group of artists. The work is terrific.
Standouts for me on the first go round (I'll go back soon):
Vanessa German, Large elaborate sculptural pieces.
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Photographs related to the Braddock Levis ad campaign. While I am not on the anti Levis ad side(Braddock needs money) she brings up some very valod points about this ad campaign, and about the relationship of other corporations to Braddock. Really interesting!
Kim Beck, Large backlit photo of her "The Skys the Limit" skywriting piece was installed in the cloud room. Perfect. This piece (the actual skywriting with the vintage plane) will be happening again in NYC over the HighLine in the beginning of October.

Elise Adibi, two new beautiful subtle yet very powerful nonobjective paintings from her new "Oxidation" series. The photo and detail are by pemission of the artist.

And there was the Milk Truck (artist, Jill Miller)......actually, I liked so many things..........

The Warhol seemed less concerned about picture taking this time around.....hence all the pictures. That, I liked!

Great Time To See Work By Pittsburgh Artists, Diane Samuels, Kim Beck and Mary Mazziotti in New York

Mary Mazziotti @ OK Harris
EXHIBITION: APRIL 9 – MAY 14, 2011



Mazziotti Rooster - 2011
embroidery and applique on textile
50 x 46 in. (127 x 117 cm)

"This series of embroidered and appliquéd textiles is presented as a memento mori for our nation. Each figure is worked in black felt and mounted on a vintage tablecloth that bears the wear and tear of use. They suggest the notion of a great empire, slipping from the strength of her glory years into an inevitable decline."

So sorry I will miss this show which revives the language of naive optimism often associated with early American and Mexican folk art-at the very time so many are questioning our nation's future.

Diane Samuels: A Noisless patient spider @Kim Foster Gallery
April 28 - June 4, 20

"Samuels’ drawing The Odyssey of a patch of street exactingly renders a 21 x 310-feet stretch of scarred asphalt onto a 92 x 33-inch sheet of paper. With the help of a magnifying glass, you discover that the drawing is made from handwriting that word for word transcribes the entire text of Homer’s Odyssey, the epic poem of war and homecoming. The cracked asphalt is the street in front of Samuels’ home. The text winds its way down one side of the sheet of paper returning up the other side, back to her home, and ends with the text’s call to bring a halt to the great leveler, War.

Before beginning to write, Samuels affixed a photo-mask of the street’s crevices and potholes over the paper. After the text was written, she peeled away the mask removing some of the text. Where the text was destroyed, the drawing was created. Accompanying the drawing is an archive of the lost and destroyed memories made from the text-covered photo-masks."

Kim Beck: Space Available on The NY High Line

March 4, 2011 - January, 2012. On rooftops along Washington Street, between West 13th and Gansevoort Streets.



Kim Beck presents three sculptures resembling the skeletal framework behind advertising billboards. These blank forms emulate the abounding indicators of the economic recession, such as empty storefronts and "For Sale" signs. Beck's sculptures have the illusion of depth when viewed from the front, but as visitors move past them, the side views reveal that they are completely flat, cut from perspective drawings and built like theater props.

Look Up: Look Out For Kim Beck's SKYWRITING Project

More than a few of you will doubt hiring a plane to print out huge mysterious sentences over the city of Pittsburgh qualifies as art. If you were looking for a way to take a huge number of people out of their normal comfort zone, this might be a good plan.

Kim sent me the messages, most of which seem related to a giant sales pitch of some kind but are loaded with enough double meanings to leave a lot of questions. I like that it's not just targeted to the normal art world/ museum crowd.

When/Where: Friday Oct. 1 at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Skywriting will last from 30-60 minutes depending on wind and air quality. The plane will fly over downtown Pittsburgh, the North Side and Oakland. Each letter will be one mile high and will be visible throughout the area. Follow http://www.twitter.com/idealcities for updates!

What I Learned On Artscan: Some Shows Of CMU Alumni In September

In spite of the current hype, the vibe I get from most Pittsburgh artists is one a general lack of opportunity and isolation from the global art world (and art market) in spite of living in a town with several college art programs. Pittsburgh is a nice place to live and work as an artist and also to get your legs with local show but it remains a tougher job to build a career here than need be.

CMU, has something called Artscan, which tries to list some of the shows and projects it's alumni and professors are in at any given time. I seriously doubt they list everything. One or two of these shows have just passed since they don't list in the summer and a few will open in October.

Here are some selections. One notices off the bat that almost everything current professors are doing gets exhaustive coverage. Mostly I will focus on some out of town shows people are in.

Kim Beck, Associate Professor of Art, was awarded the 2009 Prix Award of Distinction at Ars Electronica for her project with recent Visiting Faculty, Osman Khan, "when laughter trips at the threshold of the divine." She spoke in the Ars Electronica symposium and exhibits at the OK Center for Contemporary Arts in Linz Austria. Beck's work is also featured two shows in Baltimore, MD: a solo exhibition titled Ownership Society at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola College, as well as in In Our Nature a group show at the Maryland Art Place. There will be an Artist Talk / Reception Thursday, September 24, 4-6pm at Loyola, and a reception at Maryland Art Place the same evening from 6-8pm. Her work is also on view in Reanimation Library: Center City Branch at Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA. This summer she created an installation at Incident Report in Hudson, NY.

Bob Bingham, Professor of Art, Robin Hewlett (BFA '04), and Ally Reeves (MFA '08) are exhibiting the 'One Mile Garden' project at the Coleman Center for the Arts, in York, AL. The exhibit is a culmination of a two year project to catalyze a food production and distribution system in small town USA. The opening reception is September 25.

Susan Schwalb (BFA '65) exhibits her work in Re-Inventing Silverpoint: An Ancient Technique for the 21st Century at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY,

Deborah Kass (BFA '74) participates in The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women, a group show at Cheim & Read, NYC, through September 19.

Charles Ritchie (MFA '80) presents a solo exhibit Charles Ritchie: Books and Pages, 2004-2009 at Bravin Lee programs in NYC, opening October 23 - November 28

Laura Sharp Wilson (BFA '87) presented a solo show, Spiritual Showgirls, at Friesen Gallery in Sun Valley, ID, July 29 - August 31.

Castaneda/Reiman (BFA '92) present Sculptures of Paintings of Places We've Never Been, a solo show at DCKT in NYC through October 11.

Carolina Loyola Garcia (MFA '00) is working in collaboration with several artists and curator Ima Picó on Transfer Lounge, a project that opens September 17 - October 23 at Forja Arte Contemporáneo in Valencia, Spain and on October 2 at SPACE in Pittsburgh

Mark Baugh-Sasaki (BFA '04) was awarded a residency to create a permanent installation at I-Park in Connecticut, September 2-16. There will be an opening reception on September 19 and a catalog produced at the end of the residency

Full list here. List is only of CMU alumn, staff or faculty.