Laurie Trock @ The Westmoreland

Laurie's new pop-up show @ The Westmoreland Museum's temporary space surprised me. Not entirely content to push her ethereal linear cuttings and installations, she moved towards painting.

Many works involve scanning hand made cutouts and tricking a laser cutter into shaving away layers of plywood to create inlays. The results are surprisingly sensitive and human.

But I am the Fire with Laurie Trok
Thursday January 02, 2014 - Sunday February 02, 2014
Westmoreland @rt 30
4764 State Route 30
Greensburg, PA 15601

Hours
Wednesday - Friday 12 PM - 7 PM
Saturdays & Sundays 10 AM - 5 PM 

The new space is a 30,000 former furniture store several miles out of town, and does not seem reasonably accessible without a car.

Westmoreland Museum Of American Art Gets an $8 Million Grant From The Richard King Mellon Foundation

Me and Jean drove over to Greensburg to catch the last day of The Tides of Provincetown show. The Westmoreland is really worth the trip and will be getting a whole lot better with a planned museum expansion.

Press Release From The Museum.

"The Westmoreland Museum of American Art has received an $8million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation in support of their capital and endowment campaign. The campaign includes plans for an architecturally significant new wing, renovation of the existing building and a complete re-design of the grounds. The gift is the largest contribution to-date received by the Museum. Of the $8 million, the Foundation indicated that $2 million is to be reserved to shape a challenge to other donors later in the campaign. The fundraising goal of $35 million includes $15 million for construction, $15 million for endowment and $5 million to support Museum operations during the life of the campaign.

Planning for the expansion/renovation was initiated in 2009 in response to the continued growth of the Museum's collections, educational programming, and critically acclaimed exhibitions program. The Museum's 50-plus year old building was also in need of reconfiguration to serve the needs of an art museum operating in the 21st century. The Westmoreland is currently in the design and programming phase of planning"

I will be back to post about the show and my recent trip around Greensburg. A bit of advice, if you can help it, visit on a Weekday or Saturday since the town really shuts down on Sunday. The town itself is a treasure, that only shows hints of what it could be.

The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America's Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011) @ Westmoreland Museum

If you live anywhere in the main region this blog covers and have never been to The Westmoreland, you are really missing out; if you don't it's just one reason to swing by. I myself miss way to many shows there.

Put together, by New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut, this is the first major museum survey of the most important single artist colony in America. Included in the show are works by Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, and Charles Hawthorne, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, William Zorach, Michael Mazur, Robert DeNiro, Sr., and no doubt many other artists spanning the entire life of the colony up till today.

"The Provincetown Art Colony was largely established by Charles Hawthorne and quickly rose in importance as a major haven for the arts in the early 20th century. Hawthorne and the early students of Provincetown made significant contributions to American art through their exploration of movement and light. These small departures heralded the beginning of a new and modern approach to art. Later, the art colony, particularly under the direction of Hans Hofmann, broke from traditional European formats of study to create a system of learning that was uniquely American. The symbiotic relationship between Hofmann and Provincetown resulted in what is considered the best work of his career and the development of Provincetown as a world-class center for modern art. An esteemed string of abstract artists followed in his footsteps, finding inspiration in the famous "light" and environment of Provincetown. To this day, Provincetown remains a thriving arts colony with an impressive legacy of abstract artists. Contemporary artists still flock to this small seaside town for inspiration from the masters who worked there long ago as well as the indescribable energy that Provincetown exudes."

The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America's Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011)

Saturday October 29, 2011 - Sunday January 22, 2012

What is Going On @ Pittsburgh Regional Museums? Great Rundown in The PG

While, many of us feel the Post Gazette still ignores far to much of our grass roots local art scene, it does a pretty good job covering many of the major museum shows.

Here's a Fall Art's Preview of major regional shows @ The Carnegie, The Frick, The Butler, The Westmoreland and more. Very well laid out. As I said, I think if you haven't visited Pittsburgh yet, now might be a great time to spend a week here--or just a few days, if that's what you got.

Cleveland area museums are not included in this list.

Fall Arts Preview

Open Call: Westmoreland Museum Looking For Photos Of Tattoos

No, all these pictures will not be displayed in the gallery-but it's still a great opportunity to display this honest personal and often deeply creative artform.

Do you have a tattoo? Would you like to share its design with others?

In September, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art will host the exhibition Tattoo Witness of tattoo photographs by Pittsburgh artist Mark Perrott. We would like also like to show pictures of your tattoos in a special section of the exhibition.

Please send us a photo of your tattoo(s) and your story about why or where you got it to tattoowitness@gmail.com. If you prefer not to send via email, bring a photo of your tattoo (no larger than 8x10 inches) to the Museum or send it via postal mail to:

Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Tattoo Witness Photos
221 N. Main Street
Greensburg, PA 15601

Submission deadline: September 1, 2011
Photos chosen will also appear on our Facebook page.