Pittsburgh Art Events: 9/3-4/10

Friday:

I realize that this post may come a little too late for you to incorporate the information into your weekend plans, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyhow. September Unblurred should be worth attending, so it would be a shame if I let it come and go unmentioned.

Sam Thorp and Eric Luden will be on display at Most Wanted Fine Art (5015 Penn). If past shows are any indication, there should be images of smokin' babes rendered in clean lines and vibrant colors. And Dean Cercone has been popping up around town with his announcements of a solo at Garfield Artworks (4931 Penn). Not only is this wunderkind mightily prolific, but he is also consistently entertaining. Of course that means that having a look-see is mandatory.

Meanwhile Crystala Armagost and Ashley Andrykovitch are sharing their sense of loss with the opening of "Deaf and Death" at Modern Formations (4919 Penn). Anyone who has caught rumors lately of this much-esteemed venue's closing over the last few months will be more than excited by the prospect of a new show. Make sure that you stop by to let Jen Q. know how much you appreciate all her efforts.

The proprietors of Boxheart and Moxie Dada are once again bringing Mox Box to Penn Avenue with a party at the Glass Lofts (5491 Penn). The folks have focused their energies toward directing local artwork to interior designers, corporate offices, and home-makers... and the results are on display for you to walk through.

Check out the Pittsburgh Beautification Project's garage (4810 Penn Ave), and participate in the making of cooperative public art to benefit the Kullu Valley Bike Project, which is raising funds for a bike shop run by children in orphanages in India. Get on one of the bipedal machines provided, and spread paint on to large sheets of paper. The results will be cut up and sold via auction at the Shadow Lounge in October.

And I realize that one doesn't usually consider Bloomfield as within the purview of Unblurred, but apparently Tattoo Noir (4514 Liberty) is piggy-backing on the event. Kati Zmenkowski and Michael Galone are sharing their ink-inspired works there from 7-9PM.

Saturday:

Come by Zombo Gallery (4900 Hatfield St., Lawrenceville) for the second night of a weekend-only show featuring custom-made vinyl toys, curated by Nat Chamberlin and Brian "Bullets" Holton. There are 23 participating artists, and DJ Keebs will be on hand providing musical accompaniment.

Pittsburgh Art Events: 5/7-8/10.

c. David Grim (taken 4/6/08)

Friday

Regular readers of my round-ups will note the striking absence of performance from my listings. That's not indicative of any lack of respect for the stage arts, but rather due to my focus on the static and visual. Anyway, I wanted to note the "Vaudeville Circus" that the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts is having to benefit the Delta Foundation. There well be music and dance, and (of course) circus performances. It starts at 7PM and costs $10.

If film is your preference, you might want to check out the Silk Screen Asian-American Film Festival down at the William Penn Hotel (530 William Penn Place). Apparently you will be treated to food and "magical performances by some of the region's finest Asian artists". There's a nice-looking website here providing details.

Former co-owner of La Vie Gallery Thommy Conroy is having yet another solo show at the Mendelson Gallery (5874 Ellsworth Avenue) in Shadyside (6-8PM). The artist has strayed from the historical material of Lincoln and Booth and turned toward "New romance". Knowing Thommy, I'm sure the work will be both heartening and charming.

And by now you've realized that this is the first Friday of May, and that means the return of Unblurred on Penn Avenue. Last month saw tons of people out on the street with a carnival-like atmosphere. Graduating seniors from Cal U. mark what might be the very last show at Fast Forward Gallery (3700 Penn Ave). Meanwhile Masha Vereshchenko has been dreaming about sharks, and you can see the paintings resulting from such night-time visions at Modern Formations (4919 Penn Ave.). As always,there's tons of stuff happening during this event. Just make sure you get there early enough (around 7PM if possible) to take full advantage.

Apparently there's a new gallery in Bloomfield called The Shop (4312 Main St.). I got notice via Facebook of its opening (7-11PM) for a group show including Michael Mangiafico, Gwendolyn Korvick, Heather Joy Puskarich, and Ed Pinto. I'm pretty sure that longtime local curator Laurie Mancuso has something to do with this venue, so I'll plan to work in a visit during the night's wanderings.

Saturday

There's a benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) at the Irma Freeman Center For Imagination starting at 8PM. There will be art plus food, desserts, wine, beer and live music featuring Billy The Kid & The Regulators. It's a good cause and a nice gallery, so if you haven't been there before, make it a point to stop by (and bring $20 for a donation).

If you still have money after the many temptations to spend it this weekend, $10 will get you into the latest installment of the Gestures series at the Mattress Factory (500 Sampsonia Way). This one's guest curated by Katherine Talcott and includes Danny Bracken, Dee Briggs, Matthew Conboy & Heather Pinson, Ryder Henry, Mary Mazziotti, Connie Merriman, Ben Schachter, Paul Schifino, Tugboat Printshop: Paul Roden & Valerie Lueth, Robert Villamagna and Larkin Werner. It runs from 7-9PM.

And finally, former public school art teacher and long-time sculptor James Rettinger will be unveiling his latest series of foreboding assemblage at the Panza Gallery (115 Sedgwick Street in Millvale) from 6-9PM. Check it out!

Pittsburgh Art Events 4/2/10.

c. David Grim (taken 4/5/08)

This weekend we can put our focus on Friday, due to the overwhelming concentration of art-related events happening. I didn't look too hard for things to do on Saturday, but nonetheless I didn't find any.

Friday

Here's an interesting concept- "Rock, Paper, Scissors"- in which three galleries host opening receptions built around one of those three themes. The Space Gallery downtown (8PM-Midnight) has the first, ostensibly focusing on the music aspect of the word. Artist Image Resource on the North Side (6-8PM) is doing the "paper", and I suppose that makes sense. And the Fe Gallery in Lawrenceville (7-9PM) has the "scissors". Just a few of the artists participating are George Davis, Jill Larson, Alexandra Watrous, Adam Welch, Bovey Lee, Randie Snow, Keny Marshal, and Laura Jean McLaughlin. The hours for each have been staggered, so that (should you wish) you can attend all three. Not only that, but Molly's Trolleys will be on hand to provide free transport between venues.

If you need a pick-me-up between destinations, the Crazy Mocha in Bloomfield (4525 Liberty) awaits with a wide variety of caffeinated pleasures, as well as a couple of walls worth of paintings by Greensburg-based artist Gabe Felice. Always a charmer, Gabe consistently puts out some of the most distinctive and interesting work available in Western PA. And this should be a good opportunity to meet him too, as he won't have any excuse (like three feet of snow) not to show up for this opening.

And yes indeedy.. Unblurred is here. The Geek Art/Green Innovators Festival will make its presence felt along Penn Avenue. Specifically, events will be held at the Sprout Fund headquarters (5423 Penn) and at the BCG Center (113 N. Pacific).

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination (5006 Penn) has "Antiquated & Future (or Imaginary) Technology" from 7-10PM. Fast>>Fwd Gallery is opening (5-10PM) the somewhat seasonally-ironical "PLENTY OF SLEEP WHEN WE’RE DEAD", featuring work by Mike Egan, Josh Iddings, Ron Copeland and Christian Breitkreutz. Garfield Artworks (4931 Penn) offers yet more adult-themed paintings by the ubiquitous Lauren Toohey. Tech-geek extraordinaire Jason Bannister has lots of robotic designs at the renamed Space:Collective (4823 Penn). Awesome Books (formerly the Clay Penn at 5111 Penn) will have a reading by Christiane Leach for her book release ("Spinning Standing Still") at 7PM. And Edge Studio (5411 Penn) has "Cunning Stunts:Exquisite Corpse"- 11 women addressing the concept of 'alter ego". Whew!

As if all that were not enough, Modern Formations (4919 Penn) rolls out their Annual Spring Salon exhibition, whereby viewers are asked to choose which artist displayed merits their own solo show at the gallery during the next year.

If you aren't totally exhausted with all the other offerings, stop by Remedy Lounge (10PM-Midnight) in Lawrenceville for an unveiling of the nuanced collage work of Rachel Hallas.

A Peculiar Find.

c. David Grim (taken 3/5/10)

Last weekend's Unblurred (the monthly art walk along the Penn Avenue corridor) turned out to be a lot of fun. It's not that I was particularly blown away by any specific show (although a lot of it ended up being worth seeing), but rather that I was accompanied by several artist friends during the evening.

If you ever get a chance to go gallery hopping with a group of visual artists, I heartily recommend it. The collective cynicism and varied tastes lead to interesting discussions. I don't think that we all agreed on any single exhibition of work, and that made it all the more amusing. But by far the highlight of the evening happened at a boutique on the periphery.

I had heard that this specific place was having a clearance sale to make room for new stuff, so I made sure to drag our little group inside. We had a quick look around before deciding to move on, and we were on our way out when one of us stopped and stared at a little painting on a nondescript rack. He exclaimed, "Hey, I did that. That's one of my paintings!", and turned it around to show us his signature. We marveled at that for a minute before leaving.

On our way out, we noticed that our friend was lingering and speaking in hushed tones to the owner. They looked up at us awkwardly as we waited. Of course, our friend walked through the exit, painting in hand. In response to our inquiries he mentioned that he bought the aforementioned painting for $25. It had originally sold for $800. We all got a kick out of that.

Pittsburgh Art Events 3/5-6/10

c. David Grim (taken 4/6/08)

There sure are a lot of fish fries and church socials this weekend in honor of Lent, but if your tastes run toward art, you have some additional options.

Friday

Yay. Once again we come to another Unblurred on Penn Avenue. Don't expect the maelstrom of snow that we experienced in February, but make sure that you wear a lot of warm clothing, because I hear it's going down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

A personal highlight for me will be "Focus Your Attention", the juried photography show at Fast>>Forward Gallery (3700 Penn Ave) from 6-10PM. I've got a couple of images in the show, but I haven't seen anything else to be included so I'm expecting some great surprises.

And Carolyn Wenning is unveiling her new work- not at her own SPACE (4823 Penn), but rather at Modern Formations (4919 Penn). She's making room at her gallery for Michael Benedetti, who is informed by his emplyoment in Pittsburgh factories.

We've also got local photographers Dan Thompson and Jamie Sauer at Most Wanted Fine Art (5015 Penn), a group show of environmentally-themed artwork at the Pittsburgh Glass Center (5472 Penn), Steven Miller at ImageBox (4933 Penn), and a special surprise at Bob Ziller's Awesome Books (5111 Penn, formerly the Clay Penn).

Down in Lawrenceville, Zombo Gallery brings back CZM for a display of fake vintage album covers. She's got a hard-on for 50's-60's abstract art, adverting, and science fiction imagery, so I'm sure it ought to be fairly "groovy" (if you're into that sort of thing). And up the street at Remedy Lounge you can check out the works of Ginger Green, which will be hanging in this alcohol-saturated environment starting at 8PM.

If you get a hankering to head downtown, drop by the 709 Penn Gallery for Jennifer Howison's "Nesting". You might have seen her small limbless hand-painted wooden dolls (reminiscent of the classic Fisher Price Little People), but this show consists of gouache paintings and original drawings. That runs from 6-9PM.

Saturday

I guess the Irish are getting an early start on their annual orgy of bacchanalia this weekend, as evidenced by the number of ethnically-themed options for getting soused. But of course that's nothing especially new for the 'Burgh, where oftentimes little excuse is needed for getting drunk enough to puke in public.

Meanwhile the aforementioned Zombo is helping to turn the Arsenal Bowling Lanes into a semi-permanent art gallery, with revolving shows on its walls. Take in the music of the Surf Zombies and the advertised Go-G0 girls between lanes starting at 6PM.

Panza Gallery rolls out its reception for two painters named Bill (Pfahl and Vrscack) from 6-9PM. Stop by and see the competent craft of two artists who have been working in their medium for decades.

If you want to take in a great night of Rock-n-Roll, stop by the Brillobox for a show (10PM) headlined by Slim Cessna's Pittburgh outfit (which includes his son George Cessna, Rob Levkulich and Ian Green). George is heading off to college, so you'll want to make sure to see him before he splits town.

Saturday and Sunday

While I'm not in the habit of mentioning music in this blog, I feel compelled to drop a note on Fantastic Voyagers 3- a quirky mini-fest of "mellow mutant music madness" curated by Mike Tamburo that's happening this weekend at the charming Morning Glory Coffeehouse in Morningside. There are 20 acts playing and the full-schedule can be found here. A $5-15 donation is requested.