Giant Teddy Bear Public On Park Ave

Came across this huge sculpture on Park Ave and 53rd St, which is there temporarily and interestingly--is for sale.

Personally, this openly capitalist merger of public art and the marketplace doesn't bother me at all and only reflects the city's prime role as a grand theater to display anything. Also, the work is just weird enough to take the edge off a building that's more than a little too full of itself.

The guard standing by it adds just the right touch of strange. Did this thing sell?

Big Box Retail In an Urban NY: Can A City Have Both?

This post may irritate many old school New Yorkers and traditional urbanists who decry the growing chain store and large scale retail trends in NYC. These images may dispel the myth that a city can't really have a normal, urban, walkable street grid and attract large scale retail chains.

Not every major chain operates in Manhattan--Costco, Ikea, Target and Walmart are at this time only in the outer boroughs or New Jersey. However, there is at least one major K Mart at Astor place, and chains like Staples, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Marshalls, TJ Max, H&M and Whole Foods are very common in the city. There is even a large Home Depot in a beautiful historic building in the heart of Chelsea. Add to this many locally famous stores with large scale formats like B&H Photo, Pearl Paint, Zabars, Fairway, Utrecht, The Strand Bookstore and ABC Carpet and Home.

A great strength of New York has been to make people and retailers adopt to it's urban nature-love it or leave it. Pittsburgh, currently seems a bit too ecstatic to see any major retail at all in the heart of some it's most critical areas--like East Liberty and downtown. The issue as we see it --is retail or housing or offices. Why not create the kind of dense mixed use buildings which combine many uses like we see in these pictures? Perhaps, then we would need fewer cars to get from one place to another.

P.S. There are no parking garages in the back, under or across the street from these buildings.

When Did New York Become New York? The Street Grid

Many, if not most think New York's huge, deep, wide harbor and early founding ensured it's spot as a great city; but clearly things could have gone quite differently. The cosmopolitan and highly convenient character of at least, Manhattan is the product of a far sighted design-conceived just a little over 200 years ago.

From The New York Times,

"The grid certified by the city’s street commissioners on March 22, 1811, spurred development by establishing seven miles of regular, predictable street access. It also laid the groundwork for nearly 2,000 acres of landfill that would be added to the island over the next two centuries. The commissioners concluded that New York “is to be composed principally of the habitations of men, and that straight-sided and right-angled houses are the most cheap to build and the most convenient to live in.”

The grid, which incorporated some existing roads, would also prove surprisingly resilient. It accommodated motor vehicles (after sidewalks and stoops were pruned). It allowed planners to superimpose Central Park in the 19th century and superblocks like those of Stuyvesant Town and Lincoln Center in the 20th. In the 21st, the grid was extended west to include apartment houses on Riverside Boulevard."

Again--you might consider this a "duh moment"--the grid concept was very ancient, perhaps dating to the very first cities. "The urban grid goes back beyond Hippodamus of Miletus, the Greek urban planner, who, like the street commissioners, viewed the matrix as a manifestation of “the rationality of civilized life.” New York’s grid inspired planners elsewhere. But nowhere, wrote Edward K. Spann, an urban historian, “was the triumph of the grid as decisive as in America’s greatest city.”" Manhattan's long shape and reasonably flat landscape also suggested this layout.

One is struck, walking around Manhattan at just how few times the simple structure of the grid is violated--usually for a very good reason- a large public building like The Central Library; Grand Central Station; the old Penn Station or parks. Even in these cases, almost all these buildings or parks are easily traversed by footpaths.

The grid places the resident's ability to navigate and interact above the needs of the occasional visitor--who can always use public transit. This has limited Manhattan as a location for certain very large research facilities and has restrained the fantasies of architects, but it has provided widest degree of social interaction and the highest degree of convenience to New Yorkers.

Weapons Of Mass Creation Festival In Cleveland Brings Together Designers, Bands In Free Form Festival

From Freshwater

Equal parts conference, art exhibit and music festival, Weapons of Mass Creation is the brainchild of Jeff Finley, a partner in the Cleveland-based agency Go Media. He launched the gathering last year as a way of uniting the local creative community.

"We want people to come to Weapons of Mass Creation to share their ideas," Finley explains. "Most are designers or work in the industry in some way."

This year's Fest features a line-up of 20 speakers, 20 designers and 20 bands, who will fill the two days and nights with compelling thoughts, images and sounds. Talks will be held at Gordon Square's Reinberger Auditorium, exhibits at Wall Eye Gallery, and bands at Happy Dog.

The WMC Fest website

Where: Cleveland, OH in the Gordon Square Arts District on Detroit Ave.

Admission: $5-$15/day

Speakers:
Reinberger Auditorium
5209 Detroit Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44102
NOON-8pm, $10/day

Art/Design Show:
Wall Eye Gallery
5304 Detroit Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44102
NOON-8pm, FREE Admission

Bands:
Happy Dog
5801 Detroit Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44102
NOON-11pm, $5/day

Anybody going to or checking this thing out? Really looks amazing.

Stettheimer Doll House, A Great Look At New York's Cosmpolitan Upper Class

The Museum Of the City Of New York is an under visited gem on upper Fifth Ave, which in spite of undergoing renovations offered lots of surprises--and seemingly no opposition to picture taking. I didn't go expecting to run into an artifact attached to one of my new favorite artists-Florine Stettheimer.

"When it became clear that World War I was approaching, the Stettheimers returned to the United States and moved to a house on New York’s Upper West Side. Shortly, their home became the premier New York salon, a center of the city’s artistic and intellectual life. Regular guests of the Stettheimer sisters included artists such as Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, and writers and critics, including Henry McBride and Carl Van Vechten. The sisters also regularly threw parties at rented mansions on the New Jersey shore or in the country, taking their friends away from the city for long weekends."

The sisters were wealthy but put their time to good use--the doll house itself being mostly built and furnished by Florine's siter Carrie over 19 years. The second sister, Ettie was the grand conversationalist and a committed writer. Florine herself created paintings filled with imaginative, light, colorful fantasies loosely based on her life. She considered the works to be personal and had wished them destroyed. Not fitting into any obvious style, from the period, they have only in recent years been taken more seriously. A great post about Florine's work.

"In addition to the considerable artistry with which Carrie Stettheimer managed the Stettheimer household, planning imaginative meals including such unlikely dishes as feather soup, she created a replica of the sisters’ home in miniature—a remarkable two story, sixteen-room dollhouse that recreated the Stettheimer’s own imaginatively decorated rooms. Carrie Stettheimer worked on this project for more than twenty-five years, filling the dollhouse with detailed miniature reproductions of period furniture and replica light fixtures and lampshades. She recreated her sisters’ rooms—Ettie’s was painted in bright red and blue and outfitted with Chinese furniture; Florine’s was draped in cellophane and lace. Artist friends made small copies of their paintings and sculptures for the dollhouse including the miniature copy Marcel Duchamp made of his Nude Descending a Staircase. Carrie Stettheimer’s dollhouse is on permanent display at the Museum of the City of New York."

Sol LeWitt Mini Outdoor Sculpture Retrospective In City Hall Park

In recent years the city and the various private conservancy groups have put together temporary sculpture and other public art installations in many of New York's private parks--creating often fascinating interactions among a larger group of people who might never go into a museum.

This mini retrospective of Sol Lewitt sculpture is in City Hall Park. The final shots are of the more typical "art world", crowd that was there for the opening where mayor Bloomberg spoke, which I didn't stick around for.

While open space in Manhattan is at an extreme premium, one of the great things is that a good deal of it is available for parks. In Pittsburgh, this would almost certainly be a parking lot.

Things to do in the Burgh this Weekend

My own long weekend is going to be close to home, as I have Stella the adorable pitbull staying with me. She is recuperating from ACL sugery. But I will get out some...there's lots to do. In additional to more traditional Memorial Day activities, consider:
Fleeting Pages (Popup Bookstore at old Border's Books site). This is the last weekend...I am not sure when they close, but it is sometime next week.They have tons of books and zines, and lots of talks and activities.This venture has gotten a lot of press, including national press, and deservedly so. For events, look at left side of page here
Movie: Bill Cunningham New York. Will make me sad as I just left NYC after a 5 day visit. But I have been looking forward to this movie for a while. It is about the long time style and event photographer for the NYT.....whose transportation is a bike,and who is still working hard every day...in his early 80s! Because he loves what he does. It appears to be his whole life, and he seems very happy indeed. A review from CP can be found here AND BETTER YET SEE TRAILER HERE
Movie:The Princess of Montpensier. A drama set in 16th century France. Got a nice write up in the NYT,here
The Shadyside Nursery. A new plant and flower nursey has sprouted across from the 5801 Bar/Restaurant. It is near the corner of Elmer and Maryland,as if towards the busway. Nice to see a new small business in the area, and the prices seemed quite reasonable.They don't seem to have a web presence yet.
TONIGHT and Saturday Hip Hop at the Shadow Longue. Artists from DC, Philly and Pittsburgh. Cornell WEst, Crstal Seth, etc. Comes highly recommended so I am going.....tonight,9pm and 12 midnight. More info here

When Did New York Become New York? The Apartment Building

I'm gonna try to do a series of posts about NY-in no particular order many of which will be illustrated with images I took. They are sort of meditations and not fully supported with links--however the general facts are mostly right.

Many, or most would say that New York was destined by history and geography to be a great city--but at various points decisions were made about how land was used; space was organised that affected every aspect of it's history.

Early New York was very much a port and manufacturing city--insanely dense, dirty, overcrowded yet filled with opportunity. In 1857, Central Park was laid out--in what was at the time a fairly remote northern stretch of land. Soon, the elaborate mansions and townhouses of America's richest families, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Whitney, Frick, Duke, lined Fifth and Park Avenues.

Just judging from the ones left, the area must have been very beautiful. Then in a period of often not much more than 20 years, the very wealthy folks who had spent so much cash and care on these homes decided--to tear them down, or in some cases donate them to create museums or schools. The motivation of course, was largely about making more money-not that they needed it. Most could have stayed and resisted the northern progress of the city upward as the subway lines were built-instead they saw the market for a new type of building--the elaborate, elegant building types that line Park and Fifth Ave today, offering a luxuriant but practical lifestyle to a larger group of the aspiring rich and upper class. Similar neighborhoods developed along the upper west side--creating the density to support great shopping streets--and the cosmopolitan, businesslike character we now associate with NY.

In the years afterward, when NY was physically assaulted and undermined by bad planners--this large group of New Yorkers-largely stayed in the city.

Mobile App Unveiled Highlighting Cleveland History

The story on Cleveland.Com

"It also includes "tours" of the city's neighborhoods, industrial areas and historical sites.

"We're trying to curate the city as a living museum," said CSU history professor Mark Tebeau. "Cleveland has such a rich past and we're trying to expose that past layer by layer."

Available videos range from old newsreel footage of the National Air Races at Cleveland Hopkins Airport to a 1930s film clip of Herman Pirchner, owner of the Alpine Village restaurant downtown, setting a world record by carrying 50 steins of beer at one time."

Even more interesting is that this App which connects to videos and oral histories from more than 700 Clevelanders is not just the product of one college, library, museum or institution-though it looks like Cleveland State spearheaded it.

Building content for the new app has been a community-wide project, said Tebeau, noting that teachers across the region, along with students, nonprofits and historical societies have all contributed.

And that mass contribution, said Nancy Proctor, head of mobile strategy and initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is what makes the Cleveland Historical app unique.

Check out the free app on clevelandhistorical.org

Several Posts About New York, History, Transit and Urbanism On The Way

Hope it isn't too annoying to Pittsburgh and Cleveland readers if a bunch of reflections about my trip in NY show up here. My stated goal here was always to not just talk about any one place but create a forum to contrast, compare and learn about all cities both inside and outside the region. Also, this was supposed to be a group blog in which many people are posting about events, opinions and experiences.

New York is sort of the Rosetta Stone of American urbanism, in that at least in part it learned many of the basic rules of being a city and applied them very well.

For starters--one must admit that some part of the city's success as a financial center in recent years has had a lot to do with corrupt, insider political connections and that a large number of it's largest banks should have failed.

Even so the city's dominance in so many fields; finance, insurance, real estate, law, accounting, publishing, film, music, theater, food, fashion, design, journalism architecture, Art, medicine, education, consulting, tourism and it's ability to both evolve and attract new people and regenerate itself over a long period is something few U.S. cities can claim.

BTW, NYC was until fairly recently also a very, very large manufacturing city and is now an important location for technology companies.

Some would say, New York's deep large harbor; solid rock for large scale skyscrapers and early settlement gave it a huge leg up, but clearly something about the way the city formed--the early adoption of a clear simple street grid, investments in transit played a huge role.

I will post some of my thoughts-as someone who knows the city pretty well. Obviously, I see some lessons to be learned in both it's life, and near death experience in the late 20th century.

More Answers and Questions About Keith Haring In Pittsburgh: Did He Paint a Bathroom at The Center For the Arts?

From the Keith Haring Archives website.

"...I went to a huge retrospective by Pierre Alechinsky at the Carnegie Museum of Art. It was the first time that I had seen someone who was older and established doing something that was vaguely similar to my little abstract drawings. It gave me this whole new boost of confidence."3

"...I used the library at Carnegie all the time. I was reading a lot. I was really into Dubuffet at the time... the last works that he did were very similar to the little shaped things I was doing...."

The drawings from this time do relate strongly to Dubuffet's late graphic style--which in his case were painted on large sculptures and shaped environments.

Later Haring heard a talk Christo gave in Pittsburgh about his projects that was even more eye opening.

"...The thing I responded to most was [Christo's] belief that art could reach all kinds of people, as opposed to the traditional view, which has art as this elitist thing..."

In the end, Haring's time in Pittsburgh was capped by a solo show at the Pittsburgh Art's and Craft Center-as The Center For The Arts was then known.

Still, I have so many questions. Someone responded on twitter, saying he worked as a janitor at The Center and was actually given permission to paint a bathroom there, which was later painted over. Is this true? Has anyone read Haring's journals? Looks like I should.

Jaume Plensa, Echo in New York's Madison Square Park

Well, I'm in NY visiting my mom, trying to reconnect with the art world and generally enjoying the city--which is easy to do without a car here.

One thing NYC really lacks is a formal public sculpture garden of any size. (sorry Socrates Sculpture Park doesn't really qualify)

In recent years the city has really made up for this through a range of permanent and temporary site specific public art projects spread throughout the city.

This is the giant ethereal head, Jaume Plensa placed in Madison Square Park, creating an unreal dreamlike peaceful experience in the heart of the city.

"Clearly, though, more than poetry has gone into “Echo,” his 44-foot-high sculpture of a girl’s head, which was raised in Madison Square Park last week. (With a budget of $620,000, it is the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s costliest project to date.) The work is made from an amalgam of polyester resin, white pigment and marble dust, and its glittering neck rises straight from the grass, creating an otherworldly beacon amid the furor of the Flatiron district."

NY Times article

Keith Haring Show @ NY's Barbara Gladstone Gallery Sheds Light On The Artist's Stay In Pittsburgh

Gladstone's 21st space had a very pleasant surprise. The show was centered around two large Haring drawings from of his mature style (1982)--but the real interesting part was the long tables of notebook drawings dated from 1978 in the period he was an unknown 19 year old "drop out" from the Ivy School of Commercial Art in Pittsburgh and the time he first arrived in New York City.

notes on the margins--

"At the Nexus Cafe/ Pittsburgh 1977"

"The First Drawing At The Mattress Factory"

"January 1978 in Steel City Snowstorm"

"At the laundromat on Atwood again."

"At The Carnegie Museum of Art"

"Study Two-Forbes Field Revisited"

"Bieber Bus Drawing to NY City"

Haring's stay in Pittsburgh was short, but given that his overall growth was so rapid, it looks like a period worthy of a fuller exploration. Don't get me wrong, these works have a value and interest that goes beyond their historical value.

Upon graduation from high school in 1976, Haring enrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, a commercial arts school. He soon realized that he had little interest in becoming a commercial graphic artist and, after two semesters, dropped out. While in Pittsburgh, Haring continued to study and work on his own and in 1978 had a solo exhibition of his work at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center.

Keith Haring

Gladstone Gallery

530 West 21st New York

May 4 - July 1, 2011

Update--someone responded with a tweet saying that Haring did a work in a Pittsburgh bathroom that was painted over. Anyone know anything about this?

Milton Glaser Talks About Fear Of Failure

Milton Glaser – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

This video has been rolling around twitter a lot over the last few days.

By way of background, Milton Glaser is a legendary graphic design innovator but his thoughts about the sources of creative stagnation and why artists must constantly deal with and confront them is likely of value to all.

As this blogger wrote--watch the whole video.

Should We Have A Panther Hollow Design Competition?

New York's High Line project took a space that was already there but that was rarely noticed or thought about and used it to transform and add to the way people thought about a whole part of Manhattan.

So, does Pittsburgh have a single space which with potentially small amount of effort and rethinking could be transformed in a huge way? An obvious concept is extending the waterfront parks--but this is already being thought about. Fixing and Allegheny Center is also a transformative project but no easy task.

However, the deep ravine in the center of Oakland is a place where the creation of a few amazing buildings which creatively use the rim, or a series of interesting paths or well who knows--could change the entire way we think about Oakland and all the neighborhoods that border the Hollow. Should Pittsburgh really try to ignore and evade some of the most interesting parts of it's geography in the way it's design does now?

As you can see from these images, soil erosion along large chunks of the rim is creating issues that must be dealt with anyway and soon.

What I have in mind is to hold some kind of design competition allowing an open ended contemplation of any and all ideas people might have for buildings, paths, ecological designs for any and all parts of The Hollow.

My personal guess is that many students at CMU, Pitt or the other schools in Oakland have drawn up an idea or two. Needless to say, this could easily then be tied to an exhibition at The Carnegie Museum Of Art and or The Miller Gallery. The Carnegie and area museums also have many paintings and historic objects that relate to this iconic yet mostly ignored urban space which could provide context.

No guarantee of executing or using any of the designs would be implied but most likely some type of cash prizes would be granted. Public voting on designs might also be considered. Using any of these ideas--would be a separate issue. The goal would be to invite all Pittsburghers and designers from around the world to publicly meditate on this unique space we should think about more.

Editorial in The NY Times About The High Line and What Makes A Great Public Park

The buzz about New York's new High Line Park is promting a large number of cities to think about new copycat projects. Mostly, this is awesome--but most seem to lack an understanding of what makes this space so amazing.

A great public space doesn't create a city- by definition-an urban park is not about just a well designed park--or about a well designed city, but about the sensitive interaction between the two.

"And herein lies the problem. The High Line may be a landscaping project, but a good part of its success is due to its architectural setting, which, like the 12th Arrondissement, is crowded with interesting old and new buildings. The park courses through the meatpacking district and Chelsea, heavily populated, high-energy residential neighborhoods. Very few American cities — and Manhattan is the densest urban area in the country — can offer the same combination of history and density.

In other words, while the High Line’s success may seem to be an instance of “build it and they will come,” in New York, as in Paris, “they” are already there — living in the surrounding neighborhoods, working in the close-packed office buildings, touristing.

Moreover, while the High Line may have become a fashionable distraction for out-of-town visitors, it succeeds because it offers a green outlet to its many neighbors, who, like Parisians, live in small apartments. In no other American city do residents rely so much on communal green space, rather than backyards, for relaxation."

What's so great about the High Line is that it doesn't require new construction--or parking or the tear down of any existing buildings or block a working street grid, yet allows New Yorkers to experience the area in a new way. It adds but doesn't subtract. But this synergistic relationship can't just be brought into existence anywhere.

For example, the promenade isn't just a great park, actively used when a game or major event is happening. It's also not just active when area offices are open or just in the evenings and weekends--when residents and tourists use it. It lives and changes through the day because it's located in a place with many different land uses--in a city well served by public transit.

I will be back with more thoughts about this.

New Yorkers Turn Union Square Warhol Statue Into an Evolving Shrine

Just south of Pittsburgh, lies Andy Warhol's actual grave which attracts a steady stream of fairly dedicated fans paying personal tribute--still, something quite different and open ended happened when the new-glam Andy Statue was placed in a central downtown, New York Square for all to respond and add to.

"The statue, which looks a bit like the young Mr. Warhol dipped in silver paint, is fast becoming a favorite downtown attraction. One visitor said she thought it was one of those painted humans who startle tourists in Times Square. She kept waiting for The Andy to move.

For Warholians, a more loyal army of fans, the statue is a shrine. And within days after it appeared, they began adapting the monument in that organic way that is so much a part of the city ethos. One day there was a box of Brillo pads at The Andy’s feet. Last weekend there were cans of Campbell’s tomato soup, including one that had “Andy for President” added to the label."

My earlier post about the statue.

Karen, The Small Press Librarian and Her Boyfriend, Tom Talk About Small Press and Bookstores

Thursday night, Fleeting Pages held a public reading of writers experiences working in bookstores--real writers--who use words beyond great and "awesome" to describe everything. The readings were awesome and hopefully they will be up soon.

A supporter came by to tape the event and do some interviews related to the creation and importance of Fleeting Pages--and bookstores in general.

Here Karen Lillis and her longtime boyfriend Tom who have long experience in all sides of the literary world talk about it.

Fleeting Pages Founder, Jodi Morrison Talks About Fleeting Pages

Here's a great video taped last night in which Jodi Morrison, the main force behind the East Liberty Pop Up bookstore, Fleeting Pages talks about the store, what it's doing and the motivation behind it.

If you haven't gotten over there yet, you are missing something--actually you should visit as often as you can since the inventory and long list of events continues to grow. Quite literally, almost anything could happen here for as long as it lasts.

No Joke--this is just what's going on tomorrow

12 – 2 pm: Workshop: Making Your Own Zines and Minicomics – by Bill Volk; A crash course on cartoon storytelling, presentation, and basic bookbinding. How to put your words and pictures in print, make them read clearly, and get in touch with others who do the same. Free.

3pm- Workshop- Want to learn how seIf-publishing happens? ‘Publish, Perish or Languish? NOT!’ Three of my self-published titles are in stock at Fleeting Pages: The Alchymical Zoodiac, Stitchburgh, and The Little Sheep Who Couldn’t Sleep. Come and get your signed copy! Everyone welcome!

8pm- Film: the WORLD PREMIER of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE’s 348th movie: “Selectric Piano; Po, Li, Ou; & Anagrammatic Variations” tENT’s friend in Greensboro, NC, Mark Dixon, took an IBM Selectric Typewriter & repurposed it so that typing each key has a one-to-one correspondence to an 88-key keyboard which is played as a result of the typing. This device is called the “Selectric Piano”.

tENT wrote 4 highly abstruse & formally exacting texts that 2 typists
then typed using the Selectric. The combination of these texts + the (M)Usic
their typing produces + the overall claustrophobia of the situation
is quasi-documented in this experimental feature.

A teaser for it can be witnessed here:”Mark Dixon’s Selectric Piano”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x6AJ6ssJsk

Idora Park Carousel Update

Photo by Brent Burket

Well, the bittersweet moment has come for lovers of one of the last remaining pieces of Youngstown's lost Idora Park.

The wealthy woman who bought the wonderful, historic carousel and painstakingly restored it has finally gotten her wish and is placing it in a concrete and glass pavilion almost under The Brooklyn Bridge.

This should be a happy tale, but partly because the park is so small and needs no further attraction beyond the views of New York and the Brooklyn Bridge itself, many resent this addition--underlying this is a lot of subtext about gentrification. It's all worthy of a book or a documentary.

Here are my two earlier posts about the carousel and Idora Park.

See The Idora Park Carousel in New York

Letter From Youngstown : Can The Idora Park Carousel Return?