Pittsburgh's Mac Miller Boosts Into Big Time with Free Music and Internet buzz

Caveat--I have never listened to Mac Miller's music and know very little about this.

The Times has a good article about new artists breaking into the scene without the help of major record labels as Mac Miller joins Wiz Khalifa as a recent chart topping artist from Pittsburgh.

First, the good news: A new generation of rappers is actively trying to build a new business model in which releasing oodles of free material online builds a fan base that paves the way for revenue streams: touring, merchandise, even something as old-fashioned as a record deal.

“Blue Slide Park” (Rostrum) is the first independently released album to top the chart since Tha Dogg Pound’s “Dogg Food” (Death Row), in 1995. But Tha Dogg Pound was affiliated with Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, the heavy hitters of the day.

Later, the article, points out the importance conventional radio play still holds in giving careers staying power.

But once the loyalists have spent their money, then what? Be mindful of the drop in sales from Week 1 to Week 2 — these artists have so far had only moderate success on radio, which is where albums go to not die. In their second week on sale, Wale and Mr. Cole’s albums each sold just a quarter of their first-week numbers. Without the singles to guarantee them consistent exposure and, by extension, consistent sales, these first-week figures will be a historical blip, a trivia question 20 years from now.

Good read. Please share your thoughts.

Children's Science Center in Youngstown gets 1 Million Dollar Anonymous Gift

While Youngstown is showing some progress, money is still pretty hard to come by.
This sure sounds like great news for a new kids science center there.

Teenie Harris @ Carnegie Museum of Art

My first impression of the Carnegie's Teenie Harris show was anger, over the tiny number of 12 framed prints. Slowly, I've spent more time with the show and am gathering in the wisdom of what was done.

More than most photographers, Harris's work has a dual identity as both potentially fine art and clear journalistic, documentation. Harris himself, never considered himself an artist. When late in life, he said he felt his pictures belonged at the Carnegie, my guess is that he was making more of a statement about his subject matter than anything else. Clearly, he felt that Pittsburgh's African American community and the Hill District was deeply worthy of recognition and he was proud of doing that. We now largely know this community through his work.

I think, the curator said the museum has about 80,000 Harris negatives, of which only about 30,000 have been well researched. The format, built around a large room of projected images and a larger one showing small postcard sized photos in a huge grid, makes one aware of the huge output, and the immense richness of his subject. Of course, the high consistent quality reveals that Harris rarely took a bad photo.

Be back with more thoughts about this show, which requires and rewards spending time looking.

Where to Buy Handmade in Cleveland: Great Rundown In The Plain Dealer

An in depth article with lots of tips on buying handmade crafts in the Cleveland area was published in the style section. Choices include not just stores but indie craft fairs and lots of pop up shops.

Wall Street Journal Looks at Single Artist Museums Like The Warhol

Institutions dedicated to works by a single artist are growing in number with the new Clyfford Still Museum opening tomorrow. The WSJ, looks at some of the practical problems of keeping them interesting, fresh and continually relevant. Obviously, the Warhol stands out as one of the more successful.

"When the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh opened in 1994, it showed only the artist's work, largely in chronological fashion. However, "pretty early on," said Eric Shiner, the museum's current director, "people realized that they didn't want this museum to be a mausoleum but, rather, a vibrant place that is connected to what else is going on in contemporary art. You don't want visitors to say, 'Now, I can check that off the list. I don't need to go back.'"

Material Witness: Hannelore Baron, Donna Sharrett and Vanessa German @ Pavel Zoubok Gallery in NY

Wow, Pittsburgh artist, Vanessa German will sharing space in a big NY gallery with some pretty amazing and iconic artists. Hannelore Baron is an artist, whose work had a very visceral impact when I first saw it. Vanessa's does very much the same thing.

Link To Exhibit Page

"I surrender myself to the objects that call up to me. there are stories in the air and in the objects & materials I am building with, there is something about possession- in going into the place where the building can be done. I love to build. I love to troll my neighborhood for secret on-the-ground, or buried just-under-the-ground treasures that have to be, a word, in the sentence, of the stories that come insisting through my hands, through my blood."

Not to lay it on too thick but, Vanessa might be an authentic genius. Yes, she has had some success here in Pittsburgh, but I'm so glad she is being recognised in the wider world also.

Material Witness
November 17 - December 17, 2011

PAVEL ZOUBOK GALLERY
533 West 23rd street
New York, NY 10011

Several Great NY Shows Explore Artist's Collections

One pretty dominant trend in museums right now is toward subtle and often smart explorations of their own holdings. The Real/Surreal show at the Whitney was purely from it's collection, and The Brooklyn Museum's Youth and Beauty show leaned heavily towards things they owned.

The Metropolitan has two utterly amazing shows looking at some of the works left to the museum by pioneering photographer and art dealer, Alfred Stieglitz.

Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012

The exhibition features some two hundred major works with hefty helpings of Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Vasily Kandinsky Constantin Brancusi and other more unknown artists.

Smaller but at least as interesting is a related show of Stieglitz's photography collection.

Photographic Treasures from the Collection of Alfred Stieglitz October 11, 2011–February 26, 2012

I actually didn't know about much of this work from a group of photographers dedicated to pushing the creative and spiritual range of photography as a real art form.

Anne Brigman, Alvin Langdon Coburn, F. Holland Day, Gertrude Käsebier, Joseph Keiley, Heinrich Kühn, Edward Steichen, Clarence White are all in this show.

The Museum of Modern Art, also has a good ehibit, looking at some of the personal drawing collections that helped form the museum. Many of the people were not artists, but a few are. Hanging selections next to a profile of each collector helps one see the personal vision and taste of each.

Gifted: Collectors and Drawings at MoMA, 1929–1983 October 19, 2011–February 13, 2012

One important part was the collection of Kay Sage.

Another major show was at Gagosian Gallery, uptown.

The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg November 3 - December 23, 2011

Assemble - Call for artists

Nov 22-28th Call for Artists/Makers/Technologists- Opening this December 3rd, join us for the first annual HyperLocal Show + Art Bazaar at Assemble, a community space for arts + technology.

For this show- we are inviting makers/artists/technologists who live in a 5 to 10 block radius from Assemble to submit one work that they have made. Size is not an issue. Work includes everything but food or edible material. New media art, robots, sculpture are encouraged and so are crafts.

This is open to ALL AGES.

Please drop off your work at Assemble between 4-9pm from Nov22- 28th

With your submission include your NAME/ Address/ AGE/ PRICE / WHY YOU LIKE TO MAKE THINGS. We request that the artists kindly donate 20% sales back to Assemble. Come buy your neighbors art! For more information:: email assemblepgh[at]gmail.com

Assemble
5125 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15224-1636

A Wealth of Exhibits on the Upper East Side (Pun Intended)

Image above "The Starecase" by Thomas Rowlandson isctually part of an exhibit at the Met (Infinite Jest Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine)but fits this post.
The Upper East Side, land of many 1 percenters, is home to a number of outstanding exhibits this fall. John Morris and I saw several of these on a recent trip to NYC.
The Braque exhibit at Aquavella Gallery is an stunning exhibit in an exquisite 19th or early 20th century townhouse space. Actually the elegant townhouse is reminiscent of the Rowlandson drawing above, without the huge crowds. Though if you go on a weekend, you may well have to wait outside for awhile. The exhibit a wonderful survey of Braque's work.
To quote the NY Times on the subject of blue chip gallery exhibits and the Aquavella exhibit:

other blue-chip galleries including Acquavella and Pace have been presenting them on and off for decades. “I’ll never forget in the early ’70s when we had a Matisse show,” William Acquavella recalled. “We had people waiting on line in the pouring rain.”
His gallery, just two blocks north of Gagosian’s Madison Avenue headquarters, is attracting crowds right now with “Georges Braque: Pioneer of Modernism,” which opened on Oct. 12. The show, which was organized by Dieter Buchhart, an Austrian curator, includes 42 paintings, many on loan from museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Tate in London. “It’s good advertising,” Mr. Acquavella said. “Braque is an amazing artist and hasn’t really gotten his due.”

A review of the exhibit can be found here
The Gagosian Gallery on Madison has a very large exhibit of the private collection of Robert Rauschenberg. Again to quote the Times, " [the exhibit]will give visitors an inside peek at the art that Rauschenberg lived with, both in Manhattan and at his home and studio on Captiva Island in Florida. There will be examples of work by some of his old friends, including John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly as well as others he collected over the decades by Magritte, Robert Mapplethorpe and Brice Marden. " This is a very large exhibit and fascinating. For more information go here
An article in the NY Times discusses these, and other exhibits at very high-end galleries this fall here They include the reminder that these exhibits are free, as opposed to the ever
increasing museum entrance charges (be they suggested or required) in Manhattan these days.
John and I also went to some other exhibits in the area....and it proved yet again that the degrees of separation in the artworld are not too far apart. A visit to Sheperd and Derom Gallery to see a group exhibit including work by George Nama (John's old teacher at Pratt) led to the gallery director's query, "He's here! Would you like to see him?". An added bonus for an afternoon of gallery going. For information on this gallery (which actually deals mostly in 19th century work, go here
For more information on the Rowlandson drawing of gallery goers taking a tumble at a Royal Academy exhibit circa 1800, see here

Handmade Arcade

Oh, I have been looking forward to this. It seems like, for the last several years, I have been occupied during the single day that Handmade Arcade is on. This year, I was free to attend. Although many of the vendors are local, and I have seen their work in other settings, it was really great to see everyone in one place.

The huge hall, filled with vendors and shoppers, was noisy with conversation and music. There were tons of hands on activities to keep little hands occupied. It was my first visit to the David L Lawrence Convention Center. I didn't stick around to explore, and don't know if it's possible to do that, but it warrants its own visit.

There were over 150 vendors at Handmade Arcade, I'm sure everyone has their favorites. Here's a few of mine --



I love hats. I have a beautiful old fedora, my dad's favorite hat, a variety of watch caps, and several By Suz originals. She makes some really funky accessories, as well as her hats. A selection is available for viewing at the Pittsburgh Artist Registry.



Grace Napoleon up-cycles clothing, making clothes out of clothes. She calls her dresses "party dresses for big girls". And so they are. There was a great variety of beautiful and quirky dresses and sweaters.

You can see more of the great designs on Folk Couture's Facebook page.



Great little stuffed toys. I loved these great clear colors, and the variety of toys from Phil Barbato. Especially the octopuses! More on his Etsy site.

Toys for grown ups. Or at least sort of grown up. Paper Robot Army,A paper doll disguised as a robot. Fully non-functioning and incapable of any minor computations.



These great little paper cuts were created by Renee Ruth. She had some beautiful prints available, based on these images. Watch for her Etsy store!



Loved the Cotton Factory sign! If you missed them at Handmade Arcade, catch them at Unblurred in December.



All kinds of fun little things, made from fun colors, from The Littlest Bean. above are pincussions, more in the slideshow.



Super great colors. Amber Coppings started out with a line of handwarming fingerless mittens, and expanded to year round accessories. More on her site.



More pretty colors! Yes, there were traditional jewelers, and vendors with beaded and assembled earrings. I was really drawn to the fiber pieces, though. These headbands were from Get Felt Up, more in the slideshow.



Gnome Enterprises had some very fun tee shirts. I'm not real big on team shirts, so these kind of fun images are a great alternative.

Although it is too late to attend the Handmade for the Holidays fair, the lovely folks at Handmade Arcade, and the vendors that brought their wares in today, do other events throughout the year. Keep up with them here. There were too many vendors to list here, and too many images! The post would be miles long, instead of just feet! Check out the slideshow.

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."

Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio: Film Screening @ Carnegie Museum of Art Tomorrow

I came across an exhibit of Mockbee's and his student's several years ago at Max Protetch Gallery in NYC. Many of the structures are planned to be easily built with materials easily available to the rural poor, like cut tin, spare tires and earth.

Even so, the resulting homes are filled with invention whimsy and dignity.

I would love to see this film and definitely would try if I was in Pittsburgh.

Saturday, November 12 · 2:30pm - 4:30pm
CMA Theater

Double Feature: New Pop Up Gallery in Cleveland's Gordon Square Art District

Who knows how long this will last, so check it out!

opening tonight from 8 p.m. to midnight.
1392 W 65th St


View Larger Map

Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties @ Brooklyn Museum

Malvina Hoffman: Martinique Woman


Florine Stetheimer: Natorium Undine

Spending a bit of time in NYC again, hoping very much that others will keep one up on shows in Pittsburgh.

The Brooklyn Museum has an awesome permanent collection, heavy on great American art, strong Egyptian and African holdings and lots of contemporary work. Sadly, much of this is marred by ugly and hugely distracting, educational labels and giant signs. Even worse are the loud video displays that make it very hard to spend time or think about what one is seeing. Even so, this is a must see place.

The Youth and Beauty show currently up has none of these problems and is wonderfully, curated and displayed.


George Bellows: Two Women

It's hard for any one show of a modest 64 or so works to fully represent an artistic era, but this seemed to. I was struck by the contrast between so much of the American Art from this period with what was happening in Europe. The twenties in Germany and Eastern Europe was a time of turmoil and political chaos. While, beauty, gaiety, and infatuation with technical inventions is evident, it tends to be tempered by the scars, anger and questions left by the great war.

Much of American Art, in contrast is just very happy, sincere and optimistic. Our time of doubt comes in the 30's

Artists of the period dealt with the impact of European modernism; migration to cities, mass production, photography and the emerging role of women's liberation. The show reflects all of this. Several great works from the Harlem Renaissance are included.


Aaron Douglas: Charleston

An insanely great show, with works by Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Peter Blume, Joseph Stella, Thomas Hart Benton and many more. See it if you can.

Cleveland Institute of Art, Highlights Three Alumni, Mangold, Mieczkowski and Stanczak

Who knew Cleveland's CIA had such a long list of alumni who impacted modern and contemporary art? The list starts with Charles Burchfield and ends with artists like April Gornik and Dana Schutz.

A current exhibit at the school's galleries focuses on three abstract artists who are each becoming more relevant.

Julian Stanczak and Ed Mieczkowski, formed the backbone of what was in the mid sixties considered the important Op art school. Both taught at the CIA for decades. Ed was from Pittsburgh and later recieved an MFA from Carnegie Mellon.

CIA exhibit website.

Story on Cleveland.Com

Red, A Drama Based on Mark Rothko Comes to Pittsburgh's Public Theater

Seems like the Abstract Expressionists are really in vogue, a major de Kooning retrospective at MOMA; a whole museum dedicated to Clifford Still and shows dedicated to lesser know artist's like Richard Pousette-Dart.

Rothko's more minimal and lyrical work is not always put in this box, but he very much shared their sincere belief in the power and spiritual nature of art.

Seems like this a major subject of the play.

Rothko, who flourished during the abstract expressionist movement, found himself rejecting the arrival of Pop Art in the late 1950s, particularly one of its practitioners.

"You really think Andy Warhol will be hanging in museums in a hundred years?" Rothko asks Ken dismissively.

"Andy Warhol's like the 'great' third [human] character in the play," said Mr. Logan. "He represented a lot of the things Rothko rejected. He felt that artists needed to know where they belonged in the continuum of artists.

Great Post On Rust Wire On how Surface Parking Kills Cleveland's Downtown

Something like this seems so obvious to me since I don't drive thus tend to see cities on a slower, more intimate level. Rust Wire has a speculation that the core problem with Cleveland's downtown comes from the vast area dedicated to surface parking lots. (As well as atractive but large, "keep off the grass" parks.)

Comparing aerial views of Cleveland and much more successful downtown like Toronto shows just how much space is dedicated to cars.

I'll be really honest, when I visited Cleveland, we pretty much drove everywhere in the downtown. It just wasn't nice to walk.


If this theory is sound, it means that the huge single use venues like football stadiums not only deplete tax dollars, but create masses of parking that subtract life from the city when (95%of the time) they are not used.

Two Great Henry Koerner Paintings in Real/Surreal @ Whitney Museum

The Whitney has a series of six consecutive shows curated from their collection. Real/Surreal highlights works that can be loosely be grouped this way. Henry Koerner's work fits right in, drawing small crowds of avid viewers.

Surrealism was not born in America but by the late 30's a large group of artists here were exploring the various poetic and dreamlike possibilities it opened up. One feels that many were already strongly inclined in this direction.

Several highlights in this show, include works by Rockwell Kent, Paul Cadmus, George Tooker, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Cornell, Charles Burchfield and Kay Sage.

REAL/SURREAL
OCTOBER 6, 2011–FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Whitney Museum of American Art

Handmade Arcade

by Suz

Lots and lots and lots of really cool stuff, all in one place. Handmade Arcade has everything, from accessories to music. A lot of local artists try their hand at creating gift items for this spectacular show, so the wares should be really varied. Also, some of the artists will be doing hands on tables, so bonus for making some stuff!

Some of my favorite DIY creators are going to be presenting for the day. Amber Coppings with her XMittens and Suz Pisano with all of her quirky accessories. Here's the complete vendor list. I plan to have images this Saturday from my visit.

HANDMADE ARCADE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2011
11 AM - 7 PM
EARLY BIRDIE ENTRANCE AT 10 AM
Free admission

The Small Benefits Of Density: New York Suburbs Spend Over A Week Without Power

Visiting my mom in NYC, I notice an urban benefit that's common in NY, but actually pretty rare, not stadiums, but buried power lines that make outages extremely unlikely.

Ever since 1888, when a blizzard knocked out the power on Wall Street, the vast bulk of NYC invested in buried power lines, a cost pretty easily offset by the intense level of development in the city.

A recent storm brought home once again the almost third world nature of suburban overhead power lines. Several inches of heavy wet snow, brought down close to 1000 trees in Central Park alone, but by a day or two later, most of the trouble was forgotten and the city lost barely a beat.

Not so in the surrounding area, where in many cases, very similar conditions created an catastrophic loss of power leaving many wealthy and smug suburbanites rushing to book warm cozy, New York hotels to escape days in the cold and dark.

In New Jersey, repair crews recieved physical threats from angry customers. Power is still out after almost ten days for some in Connecticut!

"Connecticut Light & Power, the state's largest utility, announced Sunday night that it would miss its goal of restoring power to 99 percent of its 1.2 million customers by midnight. Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey apologized, saying that power might not be restored to everyone until Wednesday. About 6,000 of the outages were new and unrelated to the snowstorm, he said.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has called the delays unacceptable and said the state is keeping its legal options open in case there are grounds for recourse in the courts once the circumstances are examined."

More than a few are finally seeing how great reliable, underground utilities are. The problem is that at low density levels, there is just no way to offset the massive expense.

Just a thought, but cities looking into attracting residents and businesses might consider doing something New York did in 1888.

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

Unblurred November

My tour of Unblurred started out at Dance Alloy, with an open rehearsal of the Staycee Pearl dance company production of Octavia. Open rehearsals offer a great opportunity to get a glimpse into the process of creation, and the communication between choreographer and dancer as they work to balance the vision of the piece. This was such a great way to start the evening. The dancers flowed across the stage, trading phrases in groups and speaking alone. Watching the rehearsal doesn't tell the whole story, though, and I am looking forward to seeing the entire production.

The narrative was just outside of my reach at the rehearsal. The dancers were like ideagrams, building these complex characters that implied a story. From a visual standpoint only, the scene was varied, with a lot of levels engaged. Also, I really admire the effortless athleticism of dance.

Octavia will be presented at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in December. Tickets, etc. Also, Facebook event page.


Lizzy De Vita (at Assemble)

Assemble is a really changing space. The first time I went in, it had been turned into a warren of rooms. Each time, the configuration of the space changes, sometimes through he simple expedience of hanging a tarp, sometimes through judicious installation, which is the case with their current exhibit.

Lizzy De Vita has a solo at Assemble. The works cover several mediums, including site specific installation. There are also two multimedia pieces installed in the gallery, as well as a participation piece where the general public was invited to paint one of the gallery walls.

Assemble
Lizzy De Vita



LaVerne Kemp was a special guest at Artica for November Unblurred, and her work will be available through at least the end of the year. Special shopping tip: Artica is a great place to go for collectibles and quirky little gifts. Tucked in among the tea sets you'll find work from many local artists, including Christine Bethea's masks, assembled from found objects.

Artica
LaVerne Kemp


Mike Budai at Mr. Roboto Project

The Mr. Roboto Project took over a space on Penn Ave. A few months ago. The space is a combination of music venue, gallery and meeting space, so there's always something happening there. Currently, Mike Budai has installed dozens of small framed works throughout the space. His work has been seen all over tow, in the form of hand-pulled event posters.

Mike Budai has a Myspace page where you can view his work. He had a roomful of these great line drawings at the Mr. Roboto Project.


Jason Sauer's Sing me Home at Most Wanted Fine Art.

When I arrived at Most Wanted Fine Art, it was to the gentle strumming of a guitarist who was covering a favorite singer: John Prine (Souvenir). The guitarist was previewing the upcoming concert by Grand Snafu. Very nice!

Anyway, a few of Jason Sauer's works were on exhibit. Great assemblage, lots of energy to these pieces.

Most Wanted Fine Art


Michael Patrick (left) Nathan Mould (right)

New kids on the block - Artisan Tattoo/Gallery. This seems to be a pretty popular pairing, by the way; housing art in tattoo parlors. The artists on exhibit for November are all tattoo artists whose custom tattoo work will be available at Artisan when it officially opens in December.

Artisan Tattoo/Gallery and Jason Angst


Steph Neary Speaking Tar

“Butterfly Kingdom: The Artwork of Christian Breitkreutz and Steph Neary”
The works in the exhibit are quirky, ironic and tongue in cheek. Also, mostly small-format pieces. The colors are vivid, as is the wit. Definitely worth checking out.

Modernformations


Katy Dement, at the Pittsburgh Beautification Project


Dean Cercone, at the Pittsburgh Beautification Project

A little bit of everything. A handful of artists have studios in this cavernous space on Penn Ave. It is not generally open to the public, with the exception of Unblurred. The space hosts guest artists, and the regular denizens are there to talk about current projects and give you a glimpse into their studio practice. It's a very active space, and lots of fun to visit.

Pittsburgh Beautification Project studios

It was a really great evening. As always, I am sure I missed as much as I got to during November's Unblurred.
Notes of interest
While I was up at Dance Alloy, I stopped into the Tee Rex event that the Cotton Factory puts on. Lots of great Tee's, and some special guest vendors. It appears the event is held every first Friday, at 5440 Penn Ave.

The Glass center continues with its Ten More Years on Penn exhibit, scheduled through February 11.

Watch for Awesome Books in the Cultural District as part of Project Pop Up!

Things to watch for on your next Penn Ave tour - Guest artist and craftsman, offering wares at the galleries. Estate sales in buildings that are generally closed. Franktuary! A shortage of pizza by the slice at Spak Brothers.

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.


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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

Art Fag City Looks @ Michigan's ArtPrize

Art Fag City is pretty great, but very NYC oriented art blog. It's main writer, Paddy Johnson took a road trip to experience ArtPrize.

"Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it. People who normally would never have any interest in art are now flocking to buildings to catch a glimpse of the work. Almost all of it is for sale, though nothing can be bought until after the competition closes (ArtPrize takes ownership the winning work). It’s exactly what I have always wanted for art, but of course, for one thing: People have bad taste. Of the ten finalists I will see today, I expect to like only one or two pieces. Amidst this year’s top crop, are the father-son living sculpture, a sci-fi eco-system sculpture, and a chainsawed log into a grizzly bear. Also, a giant preying mantis with a butterfly and a metal dog."

Interesting on a whole bunch of levels. First, off it's used mostly unknown artists to create an event with a huge financial and tourist impact in a severely depressed state. For the same reason, it's now heavily supported by a local business community and other non traditional arts funders.

The downside, as Paddy says, is realising just how bad, your neighbors taste is. But as she also points out, this may change as a wider public becomes more exposed and interested in art.

Tonight: Downtown Gallery Crawl, Tomorrow Wood Fired Words

A particularly packed full Gallery Crawl of exhibits and events occurs tonight.
For information go here
Then tomorrow, Wood Fired Words in Braddock at Unsmoke Systems.
Wood-Fired Words

A literary event curated by Sherrie Flick of the Gist Street Reading Series

Saturday, October 1st
7pm – 10pm. Reading at 8pm.
Admission is $5.
Wood-fired pizza & BYOB drinks.

The 3rd annual Wood-Fired Words will feature a fiction reading by Josh Barkan, Braddock’s first Into the Furnace Writer-in-Residence. The event will also include live music by The Emily Pinkerton Trio, The East End Book Exchange pop-up used bookstore, paintings from the “Meet the News Team” series by John Fleenor, and wood-fired pizza baked in Braddock’s community pizza oven.

Into the Furnace is a new writer-in-residence program in Braddock, PA. The selected writer is housed in a two-room suite in the former St. Michael’s parochial school convent, which is located beside UnSmoke Systems Artspace, across the street from the Edgar Thompson Works, and beside the community pizza oven. Into the Furnace offers an adventuresome creative person, whose work and work ethic can benefit from the energy Braddock has to offer, up to 9 months of creative work time at our urban residency.

Josh Barkan begins his Into the Furnace writing residency in September 2011. He was awarded a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has taught writing at Harvard, New York University, and Boston University and is the author of the short-story collection Before Hiroshima. His first novel, Blind Speed, was named a finalist for the 2009 Paterson Fiction Prize. He spent much of his childhood abroad, living in Kenya, Tanzania, France and India. After attending Yale University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, he spent a year teaching in Japan and received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His writing has appeared in Esquire and as a contributor to The Boston Book Review. He lives in New York City and Mexico City.

Sherrie Flick is author of a novel, Reconsidering Happiness (Bison Books), and the flash fiction chapbook I Call This Flirting (Flume). Select anthologies include Flash Fiction Forward (Norton), New Sudden Fiction (Norton), and The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. She has received fellowships from Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Ucross Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She recently served as January-term writer-in-residence at Salem College. A recipient of a 2011 Work of Art Award for Artistic Vibrancy from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, she teaches at Chatham University and (for 10 years) served as Artistic Director for the Gist Street Reading Series. Sherrie was instrumental in the creation of the Into the Furnace writing residency program.

Born in the heart of the Midwest, songwriter Emily Pinkerton has crafted a style with roots that stretch from Appalachia to the Andes. High, haunting vocals soar over pulsating guitar and banjo riffs that draw from a decade of travel between her hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana and her second home in Valparaíso, Chile. Her bandmates include Jose Layo Puentes, Lucas Savage and Daniel Marcus.

The East End Book Exchange was founded in the summer of 2011 on two simple ideas: love of books and love of Pittsburgh. It is a pop-up used bookstore dedicated to connecting booklovers and books in the heart of Pittsburgh’s East End. Each weekend, The East End Book Exchange appears in a community space or local business in a different neighborhood.

John Fleenor is a painter living in Pittsburgh with his wife, Helen, and his daughter, Zephy. His “Meet the News Team” series features portraits of 25 news anchors from stations across the country. Fleenor created this series during a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2009.

Wood-Fired Words is supported by Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PA Partners), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PA Partners is administered in Allegheny County by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.
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