CONFLICT @ SPACE

Combat Drill, a photograph by Renee Rosensteel, is the image Space Pittsburgh chose to promote its exhibit CONFLICT, which runs through July 14.

Combat Drill was the perfect choice to represent the show. You’re initial interpretation of the image is that the event it’s capturing are taking place in a real combat zone. But when you see it in the context of the other photos it’s presented with, you can see that it’s only a training exercise and there is no real danger present.

Your initial reaction is in direct conflict with reality.

All the works at CONFLICT tie into this them.

Jason Cohn’s black and white series’, all dealing with socio-economic difficulty, clearly have telling stories behind them, but because you don’t know the story, it makes the imagery all the more moving.

Jason Cohn - VA Series

Chris Hondros’s image Liberian Fighter causes mixed emotions. The man depicted is ecstatically happy in the middle of a war zone. Hondros also has a very moving set of images from Iraqi framed by the window of a Humvee.

Chris Hondros - Liberian Fighter, 2003

You can see more of Hondros’s work here.

I recommend that you save Larry Rippel’s installation No War Here for last. No War Here is a critique of the mainstream media’s lack of war imagery.

Rippel’s work is the most overtly political at the exhibition, and is given greater context after you’ve looked at the other pieces.

Larry Rippel - Parade Magazine 2005-2007 No War Here installation

You can check out more work by Renee Rosensteel here.

Space Pittsburgh
812 Liberty Ave.
412-325-7723
www.spacepittsburgh.org

TELOMERE

I went to Soma Mestizo's CD release party last night. It was a gripping performance. Christiane D. is an extraordinary vocalist, Soy Sos was incredible. Okay, the entire band deserves kudos and roses for their show last night. Lucky you, there are still two more shows. Want a preview? Check out Soma's MySpace page. Details about the shows are below

There is a great article on the Tribune Review that gives some history about the band. It's hard to believe that it's ten years. This band has grown in so many unexpected directions. Check out this little video sample --



Details --

TELOMERE

Presented by the 4th River, a Project of the Three Rivers Arts Festival

Telomere cd release June 8th, 9th, 10th

121 7th Street, (above bossa nova) Pittsburgh, PA 15222

$ 5

Soma Mestizo is a band that defies classification or categorization, if forced to name it we say it is: deep, dark, sexy global genre busting, booty-shaking, head-filling magic music. This year’s 4th River Project introduces Soma Mestizo’s Telomere to Pittsburgh and the world.

The 4thRiver Project/Telomere release event will be a multi-media, multi-disciplined: music, art and dance experience featuring special guests, directed by Staycee Pearl. Lighting and Sound design by Douglas Duerring. The evening features, dancers: Amanda Schneider and Brandon Jones; video artistry by MEXED Missages, poet/mc: Jack Wilson; musician, Ketan Bakrania from Chai Ba Ba; Christiane's dress created by Kari Kramer of Ironiece. Dancer costumes provided by Suz Pisano.

June 8th through June 10th

Friday and Saturday, 2 shows, 7:30 pm, 10:00 pm - Sunday, one show 7:30 pm.

* 6.8: Friday Night: special guest, Ketan Bakrania and poet/mc Jack Wilson
* 6.9: Saturday Night: special guest Ketan Bakrania. 11:30 pm After party featuring Anthony Fugate and Jack Wilson. BYOB.
* 6.10: Sunday Night: special guest Ketan Bakrania.

Drink and Draw with Erin Carey

Nice session last Tuesday. Erin Carey is a trapeze artist with Zany Umbrella Circus. We were lucky to get her for this session. The Zany Umbrella Circus is touring in Jordan in a couple weeks. She is amazing to work with. Watch for her return in the fall for a gesture intensive at brillobox.

For more information about the drink and Draw sessions at brillobox, check out our MySpace page or email us. Our next session is June 12 with Sarah Bauer, Drag King.


Erin Carey
Renee Ruth Ickes
Steve Dines

Laura
Steve
Susan Constanse
Nancy Schuster

Tim Meehan
Dan Vogel

Pavement in Larryville

I was walking up Butler Street on Saturday evening when I heard the unmistakable sound of Motown tunes. Pavement, which is a really terrific shoe store, was having a sidewalk barbecue. As I walked up, Midnight Train to Georgia was playing and the owner was dancing in the aisles with a willing partner.

Did I go in? Well, of course I did.

Smoky music for smoky work.

Jason J Thomas

Text Messages @ Adam Baumgold

One nof my unrealistic goals for this blog was to keep people up to date on shows that my flat file artists are in. Both Martin Wilner and Jacob El Hanani will be in this show which I assume is of works including text and language. The show also includes the work of Pierogi founder Joe Amrhein.

BoxHeart in Bloomfield

It's a good exhibit. BoxHeart has work from all of their gallery artists up for this annual show. If you have a minute to swing by and check it out, do.

BoxHeart
7th Annual Anniversary Exhibition
Exhibition Dates: May 29 - June 23
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
P. 412 687 8858


Brenda Stumpf
Kim Curinga
Tracy Helgeson

A brief digression--
About a week ago, I read a post on Tracy's blog that she was sending new work to BoxHeart for this exhibit. Below, Tracy's box, unpacked and repacked for the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Post Modern Prometheus

I ran into this animated short on the blog of ex-yinzer and flat file artist, Rodney Godek and after seeing it I have to admit to feeling a little safer now that he isn't living here. I think that it's his solo creation.

Allure of Japanese Glass @ Pittsburgh Glass Center until Sept. 16

Sono Kago - Chiisana Niwa (small garden)

Several promising young Japanese artists are showing their work at Pittsburgh Glass Center’s first international exhibition, Allure of Japanese Glass.

Most of the artists have never exhibited in the United States, but are well known in Japan.

“It’s our intention,” said Janet McCall, PGC program manager, “to showcase these artists, introduce some new young faces and make the public aware of the creative energy that exists in glass in Japan,”

To help raise awareness PGC is offering several Japanese-related programs and classes for free to the public, which you can find out more about at www.pittsburghglasscenter.org

Kentaro Senuma - Vase g, o, p, c, b

Tomoe Shizumi - Mizuumi

Pittsburgh Glass Center
5472 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15206
412-365-2145

News and events at Digging Pitt Gallery

Stay current with events at the gallery through Digging Pitt Arts and on MySpace.



1. Closing reception on June 2!

2. Opening reception on June 16!

3. A brief hiatus

4. Digging Pitt wants you

5. Welcome to our new additions from California Universty of Pennsylvania


1. Closing reception on June 2!

June 2, 2007: 6-9pm

Marci Gehring: Flat Line (Side I) more information

Selene dePackh: The Graphic Tales of Prodiga diNero (Side II) more information

Spotlight on George Kollar - Side II more information

Photographic Showcase Exhibit @Digging Pitt Too more information



2. Opening reception on June 16!

June 16, 2007: 6-9pm

Maggy Aston: Drawings and Constructions - Side I more information

Inside Out Six: Selections from the Flat Files - Side II more information

Big F***ing Thing @Digging Pitt Too more information



3. A brief hiatus

Digging Pitt is taking a brief hiatus from June 3-June 15. Although we won't have regular gallery hours, we will be open by appointment. Call 412-605-0450 or email John to set up a time.



4. Digging Pitt wants you

Digging Pitt Gallery and Digging Pitt Too are looking for volunteers to help out at the gallery and at special events. Digging Pitt takes a 30% commission on sales, with the artist receiving 70%. Although Digging Pitt is not a non-profit, many of our events and initiatives serve the public and the arts community. If you want to help out, or if you have some other ideas, get in touch with us. Contact us by phone at 412-605-0450 or by email. more information


5. Welcome to our new additions from California Universty of Pennsylvania

Digging Pitt Gallery welcomes students from CUP in our flat file. Twenty-five students are participating in a new program to bring fresh young voices to our flat files. Students include in CUP's drawer 12 are:



Katt Berdine PA

Matt Brinkman PA

Angela Capuzzi PA

Erica Clipper PA

Kris Dowling PA

Brad Felix PA

Felicia Flick PA

Andrea Haselhuff PA

Andrew Herwig PA

Ashley Hickey PA

Justin Hill PA

Mick Kellerman PA

Laura Lapacik PA

Seth LeDonne PA

Kayla Leventry PA

Jessica Lotman PA

Kristen McNeil PA

Collin Medved PA

Robert Morrow PA

Jenna Mosse PA

Joe Mruk PA

Courtney Richards PA

Melanie Ruch PA

Hector Santos PA

Melissa Settle PA

Sherrie' Silvio PA

Dennis Stolke PA

Rachel Strind PA

Emily Wolfe PA

BARE III @ SPACE 101

SPACE 101 Gallery
The Brew House Association
2100 Mary Street
Pittsburgh PA 15203
412-381-7767

BARE III


SPACE 101 Gallery will be exhibiting BARE III. The exhibit takes place from June 8, 2007 – June 30, 2007. A free opening reception will take place from 7:00-10:00pm on June 8.

With a strong desire for better realism, the artists of the Renaissance began an intense study of the human body. Adopted by academies throughout Europe, using models became the traditional path taken by artists throughout the ages. Drawing from the figure continues to be at the center of visual art study.

In fact, figure drawing sessions are increasing in numbers in Pittsburgh and other cities. The sessions provide a community for professional artists and dedicated enthusiasts to come together and share vision and technique. Drop in model sessions, like Barely Brunch, are an opportunity to hone sight as well as drawing.

Once each month, for several years here at The Brew House, a group of people of all ages, from all walks of life have been coming together (in rain, snow, sleet, and sunny picnic weather) to draw the figure. A retired secretary, a practicing physician, college instructors, students in transition, graphic designers, illustrators, arts administrators, and even an attorney draw, paint, and even sculpt together. Using various techniques and methods, they indulge in an age-old tradition in an attempt to hone their skills, to capture the essence of the human form, to relax, and just to enjoy themselves.

Each one has selected a few special pieces done in these sessions over the years, as well as some successful gesture drawings, shown informally in the small gallery. The Brew House Association will be exhibiting work produced during the Barely Brunch open model sessions in June 2007. The model sessions are held in various sites throughout the Brew House and are open to all ages, mediums (except photography) and skill levels. The exhibit will take place in the SPACE 101 Gallery located on Pittsburgh’s Southside.

Artists
Pat Barefoot
Olwyn Best
Rich Brown
Susan Constanse
Steve Dines
Kristen Divers
Jon Fesz
Jill Fisher
Fran Fredrick
Kim Freithaler
Karen Hartman
Silvia McGavin
Seth Rich
Nancy Schuster
Paula Simon
Jenine Smith
David L. Smith
Heidi Wettlaufer
…and others

Iconicity @ La Vie

It was my pleasure to attend the opening for Iconicity on May 26. The work was really amazing. I could probably have loaded this blog wit a ton of images, but I kept it to just a few representative and extraordinary examples.

Contact information for La Vie is at the bottom of this post.

Eric Stern - Untitled (Ecstasy, Rapture, Euphoria)
Eric Stern - Untitled (Cloud Fill)
Eric Stern - Untitled (Occurrence)
Tommy Bones - white cloud minnow
Tommy Bones - Installation image
Alex Alessi - Old Mirror
Clare Parry - Construction of Arcology
La Vie

3609 Butler Street
North of 36th
Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00-6:00p.m.

412-253-7365

Enjoy the Literary Landscape

Uptown: Friday, June 1st, 7:30pm, The Gist Street Reading Series. Pittsburgh poet Deb Bogen's collection, Landscape with Silos, has been called “naked and necessary, unadorned and political, intelligent and generous” (Carol Frost). She’ll be reading tomorrow night along with Scott Hightower coming in from New York, and Francisco Aragón, from San Francisco by way of Indiana.

This monthly reading series, around since 2001, is so popular that our weekly City Paper won’t even list it anymore. “I’d just get angry calls the next day from people who couldn’t get in,” one editor complained. So, if you’re going to go, go early (although I’m told that June is actually not as crazy-crowded as the academic months). Reading starts at 8:00pm, hobnobbing starts at 7:30pm, doors open at 7:15.

Friday, June 1st, 7:30pm
Gist Street Reading Series
James Simon’s sculpture studio
305 Gist Street, 3rd Floor
Uptown, Pittsburgh
$5 bucks admission
BYOB
www.giststreet.org

Pittsburgh Folk Festival (May 25-27, 2007)

It was great to see so many people from Pittsburgh’s international community gathered in one place for the 51st annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival on Memorial Day Weekend. I’m often complaining about Pittsburgh’s lack of public space—spaces where strangers from different communities and walks of life can meet and mingle--but at $8.00 a ticket for the whole weekend, this festival came close to fulfilling the definition.

Representatives from Pittsburgh’s more recent Filipino, Turkish, Chinese, and Indian communities as well as longer-in “Americans” of Irish, Scottish, Italian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Carpatho-Rusyn, and Lebanese descent, and many other cultures and heritages (though notably, almost no one representing Africa--I saw one "Ghana" jewelry stand) celebrated their homelands in terms of dance, costume, cuisine, cultural displays, and arts and crafts. The food was delicious, the costumes were spectacular, the marketplace (including jewelry, pottery, books, fabric, clothes) was hard to resist, the dancing was of varying talent, but the good dancing was impressive, and a treat to watch.

From the top down, the photos above represent dancers in the style of: Bulgaria, China, Slovakia, Slovakia, and Lithuania.

Burlesque Drink and Draw

Well, Wednesday's Drink and Draw was great! Our lovely burlesque model was Olga.
The Wednesday session was the last time we'll do Wednesdays, at least for a while. We do have a summer of Tuesdays scheduled, so check in with us about upcoming sessions.
Terry Schuster
Nancy Schuster
Steve Dines
Katy Carlitz

Women in the arts

The New Hazlett Theater is beginning a year-long festival, celebrating the contributions of women to the arts in Pittsburgh. You can read the entire Pittsburgh Post Gazette article, announcing the inaugural fundraising event, but here is an excerpt that I found interesting --

The city lags behind the national average of women in executive roles at public companies -- holding 10.9 percent of the jobs, to the nation's 15.6 percent -- but makes a much better showing in the arts. Almost 60 percent of executive roles at Pittsburgh's cultural organizations are filled by women, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette study last year.

The festival, Women in the Arts: Founders, Pioneers, Instigators, continues with a multi-day symposium in September and performances in September, November, January and February.

This is a continuing theme this year in Pittsburgh. In March, 709 Gallery mounted the Women's Work exhibit. Just a month ago, an anonymous artist posted signs around the Carnegie Museum asking --

Where are the names of notable women on the facade of the Carnegie Museum? Some suggestions for inclusion are written on Easter eggs and hidden in and around the museum. How many can you find?

More information about this project, as well as a statement from the artist, were posted in the Digging Pittsburgh Arts blog. Coming up this October, Future Tenant will mount Power, another exhibit that is working to expose the contributions of women artists in Pittsburgh.

There's something in the air, isn't there?

Summer Reading Series Includes Open Mic

I was really happy to find out that summer Tuesdays, Hemingway's "Cafe" and Jim Cvetic will host poetry readings by various Pittsburgh poetry ensembles, with open mic afterwards. They'll be at 8:00pm, with Free admission, in the Back Room of this Oakland bar. Personally, I've always wished that there were more non-University events going on in Oakland, which seems centrally located and bus-served enough to warrant it. But it seems a lot of the best hangout places were driven out of business, or just out of Oakland, before I got here.

Tonight's reading will feature writers from the SQUIRREL HILL POETRY WORKSHOP: Marilyn Bates, Nancy Esther James, Marc Jampole,Pam O'Brien, Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, Joanne Samraney "and maybe more."

Next Tuesday, May 29th, Jan Beatty's infamous MADWOMEN IN THE ATTIC will read--Beatty plus several other women writers TBA. Beatty, pictured above, is an amazing poet, a native of the Burgh, the host of a local poetry radio show, and has a strong following here—no doubt in part because she does readings with frequency. Many of us, myself included, would like to get recognition without leaving our attic, but alas. It helps to put the body out there.

See Pittsburgh poetry listings (and more info on Jan Beatty's radio show) here: www.tpqonline.org

Tuesdays through July 31st
Various Poetry Readings with Open Mic
Hemingway’s Café
3911 Forbes Avenue
Oakland/Pittsburgh
8:00pm, Free
412.431.POEM

Pittsburgh's Toynbee Tiles

Swoon's work reminds me of another mysterious entity who's street interventions appear in Pittsburgh. You may have walked accross one downtown without noticing it. According to the Wikipedia, people first started noticing strange plaques ( some very disturbing ) embedded in the Philly crosswalks in the early 1980's and now they have turned up in an amazing number of cities in Both North and South America.

Here's a story in Chicago about them and one in Philly and one in Saint Louis.

Green Car Crash

For those of you wondering about it--- Warhol's Green Car Crash went for $71.7 million and the total Warhol sales for that night totaled $136.7 million.

Digging Pitt wants you...

Digging Pitt Gallery and Digging Pitt Too are looking for volunteers to help out at the gallery and at special events. Digging Pitt takes a 30% commission on sales, with the artist receiving 70%. Although Digging Pitt is not a non-profit, many of our events and initiatives serve the public and the arts community. If you want to help out, or if you have some other ideas, get in touch with us. Contact us by phone at 412-605-0450 or by email. We are looking for help in …

1) Special event help. Digging Pitt is trying to increase its visibility to the Pittsburgh public through events held away from the galleries. This could include sitting a table at a fair. It’s easy work, but with limited manpower, it is difficult for the gallery to participate in some really cool ventures. Some events of this nature include PYP events, tabletop shows at Unblurred and DIY events as well as fundraisers.

2) Assistance at opening and closing receptions. This is just helping out with food, smiling at patrons and making sure that interested parties know where to go to make a purchase.

3) Assistance with installation. We could use all levels of experience for this. As long as you can swing a hammer, we can use you!

4) Internet assistance for one of our many internet initiatives. We are looking for contributors for the Digging Pitt blogs and MySpace pages. Also, anybody that has some experience with Dreamweaver and can help out with the website. That would be tremendous!

5) Postcard and other printed material distribution. Hey, if you are going to that coffeeshop or venue anyway, why not take a few gallery cards with you?

brillobox drink and draw - May 15

Christine Allen is the best! She came up with great poses, but what was really challenging were the facial expressions. I'm so used to the neutral expressions that most models use -- this was a refreshing change.

Stay tuned, we are entering our next season and will be bringing in some new models. Some of the models we are looking at scheduling include a yoga teacher, a dancer, burlesque queen and some of the usual suspects.

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