I thought that the selection of Brian James Gonnella’s panda’s were very sweet, too –

The shop has some lovely handcrafted and vintage wearable ornaments, too.  The display itself, along with the rest of the shop, is very appealing.

Stop in and say hello.

Urban Gypsy
3101 Brereton St.
Pittsburgh PA 15219

The Crown of Appalachia/Book of Life exhibit opened at Panza Gallery a couple weeks ago. I was pleased to attend the opening reception on July 3; a great addition to the holiday weekend. The exhibit is a solo presentation of two bodies of work from David Grim. The work is beautifully installed, giving both paths of exploration sufficient space. The one consistency between both bodies is their reference to journaling.

David Grim has been working on his Book of Life for the last few years. He has been carrying the same phone book to various life drawing sessions, recording the human figure on its pages with his pen. For this exhibit, the works from the phone book were scanned and printed out and mounted in one large installation. Some of the original works from a related series were framed and another two were presented as light pieces. Mr. Grim worked on this series with a very stringent set of parameters, using only pen and drawing only in the phone book. All of the drawings in the book of life are line drawings, forcing an exploration of the various expressive qualities of line. It is a compelling journey.

Crown of Appalachia is Mr. Grim’s alter, Merge Divide. The blog was begun in January 2010. Each post is accompanied by an image, reflective of events and places in the Pittsburgh region. The images range from narrative to abstract, but maintain a consistency of color and value.

Artist Statements:

David Grim-
Inspired by a childhood escape from religious conversion, The Book of Life presents the opportunity for me to reclaim the act of creation from an externalized “other”. Based on the concept of a holy tome containing the names of all those saved from eternal damnation, this project seeks to render humanity in its purest of form- defenseless and open. The intention of the displayed product is to raise questions regarding authority, transience, privacy, and the relationship between the artist and his subject.

Merge Divide-
Convinced that Pittsburgh is the figurative “Crown” of a vast tract of America marked by the Appalachians, I decided to commemorate my travels throughout the region with an online presence, including words and images. This marks my initial foray into the sense of a partially imaginary place that may indeed exist. I mean to convey the weird netherworld quality of this area in sociological and alchemical terms.

Crown of Appalachia/Book of Life
Through July 31, 2010
Saturday July 31- Closing Party (6-9PM)
Panza Gallery
115 Sedgwick Street in Millvale, PA.
412.821.0959
Hours: Wed.Thurs.Fri.10-5 Sat10-3

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Happening in July. I hope that you can join me.

On July 10th, be Galleries celebrates Lawrenceville’s thriving artistic community with the opening of Made in Lawrenceville (You’d be Surprised to Know), an exhibition featuring a wide range of art, materials, handmade goods, and other works created exclusively in Lawrenceville. The show will also exhibit fashion and textile design, soap-making, clay, printmaking, as well as more traditional painting and sculpture. The materials portion of the show will be curated by Janice Donatelli of Artemis Environmental while the art portion will be curated by be gallery owner Joy Borelli-Edwards. Come and experience the creative energy of Lawrenceville live and in person!

Made in Lawrenceville
be galleries
Opening reception July 10, 6PM
3583 Butler Street
Lawrenceville, PA 15201
412.687.2606
Tuesday – Friday 11 – 6 / Saturday 11 – 5

The Irma Freeman Center for the Imagination has an amazing textile-based exhibit up. The work, created by Joan Brindle, is richly ornamented and gorgeously presented. The works are based in narrative quilts, using a combination of techniques. A lot of depth, in the technique as well as the content of the work.

Irma Freeman Center for the Imagination
February 5 – March 13th
Gallery Hours are Saturdays 2 – 5 PM or by appointment
5006 Penn Ave
412-924-0634

New Works, by Carolyn Wenning, are on exhibit at Modern Formations. Ms. Wenning, always consistent in the quality of her work, has mounted an exceptional exhibit. There is a series of small, luscious works in the first room of the gallery that are a delight.

Modern Formations
Thursdays 7pm – 9pm
Saturdays 1pm – 4pm or by appointment
4919 Penn Avenue
412.362.0274

Also, check out “Picture Burgh” at Most Wanted fine Art – a collection of photos of the Pittsburgh scene scape by Jamie Sauer & Dan Thompson. The exhibit will be up throughout the month of March.

Opening Fri. March 5th 6-10pm.
Most Wanted Fine Art
5015 Penn Ave.

A couple asides: Bob Ziller has begun his second month with Awesome Books (5111 Penn, formerly the Clay Penn). The bookstore is open regular hours and is definitely worth checking out. Everything from art books to women’s studies is available. The C Space Collective is going strong at 4823 Penn Ave.

Unfortunately, the gallery crawl was the closing reception for the exhibit. But I did want to point out that Gabe Felice had several small works in the show. Not the ones pictured above. The venue was entirely too packed to really get a shot. These were indicative of what was at the venue though. What I’ve seen of his work seems to be in this really small scale. Gabe Felice shows pretty regularly, so I’m sure you’ll have an opportunity to see it out there in Pittsburgh.

Urban Tree Forge & moxie DaDA
820 Liberty Avenue
Resolutions
Resolutions promotes moral courage and strength of mind. Artists have been chosen for their choice in materials and context of self-discovery, as well as their resolve to create and produce from within the urban landscape.

As always, Shaw Galleries had its wonderful collection of prints and maps on display. This month, Shaw is showing a series of pochoir prints created by Rouault. The exhibit is over on January 30, so try to stop by and see them. There is a short explanation of pochoir prints in a previous post.

Shaw Galleries
Rouault: Visages
805 Liberty Avenue
Features all 10 original pochoir prints from the late French Expressionist Georges Rouault’s very rare Visages Portfolio (Album of Faces).

The Gallery Crawl was too packed to get images from 707 Gallery of Anjali Srinivasan’s solo exhibit. The above image is from the artist’s website. Several people have already reviewed this exhibit, so I am just adding my voice to the many in urging you to go and see it. The work is lovely and I look forward to visiting the gallery again before the exhibit closes in February.

707 Penn Gallery
707 Penn Avenue
Particulate Behaviors: New Works by Anjali Srinivasan
The exhibit explores the threshold of olfactory sensation, optical phenomena and participatory environments, through installations and objects of spice, glass and emergent technologies.

Only a handful of galleries were open, however. Future Tenant, 707 and 709 Penn Avenue galleries were closed for installation. Some, unfortunately, were only open for the crawl. My first stop was the Stories exhibit, at 925 Penn Ave.

Stories is a first-time exhibit of Emphasis Interiors. The concept for the company is to incorporate art into the interior design process. Christine Dregalla  plans to produce more of these exhibits in different locations throughout the city. From the show statement –

Stories is an exhibit of art-filled interiors inspired by the narratives of our lives and the meaning we assign to the places we call home. Whether one is a thrilling mystery, an epic saga or an esoteric poem, a customized home reflects the lives unfolding there.

As you can see from the above image, Ms. Dregalla has admirably combined art as well as fine crafts into an interior presentation. Stories is available for viewing Wednesday – Fridays, through the end of January. There is a closing reception planned for February 1 as well as other events and artists talks throughout the month of January. Check here for details and contact information.

One of the venues that I visited on New Year’s Eve was 937 Liberty Ave. The third floor was open, with an interesting mix; there was a gospel band, tables of books and a collection of Teenie Harris’ photographs. I have seen some of Teenie Harris’ burlesque and cabaret photographs before, but never such an extensive collection of them in one place. These were particularly wonderful images,mostly take at the Little Paris Club in the Hill District. I checked the online database for some of the images from this exhibit, but only found the tamer ones.  I don’t have any images to show you, but the venue is open every Friday for Reverand Deryck Tines’ Lunchtime Gospel at 12:15. If you are downtown, try to swing by. It was an amazing collection of drag portraits.

My last stop for the day was SPACE gallery for the Behind Our Scenes exhibit. From the show statement –

Our goal for Behind Our Scenes was twofold. We wanted to both give the artists working ‘backstage’ in Pittsburgh’s art scene their own chance in the spotlight as well as provide an opportunity to celebrate and further unite this community of artists.

I know a lot of artists in the Pittsburgh area. For the life of me, I can’t think of a single soul that is supporting themselves solely on their pursuit of the creation of art. All of them are engaged in activities, including teaching, sales, construction or working in a non-profit, in order to pay their bills.

Artists don’t create in a vacuum; their art is influenced strongly by their experiences. In some ways, it is more difficult to express your own aesthetics and themes when your day is spent surrounded by the works generated by other artists. In some ways, working for a non-profit arts provider and still creating your own work is one of the most difficult things that you can do as an artist. Many of the artists in this exhibit are surrounded by strong work by masters for a majority of their time.

Another general note about the exhibit: There were a few works that incorporated audio, all of which were playing at the same time. It was a little distracting and difficult to isolate those works so that you could appreciate them on their own merits.

The above work, Nathan Hall’s Stalactite, is beautiful. It is this softly glimmering work, with a subtle sound component. I won’t try to project a philosophical interpretation on this. For me, it was purely an aesthetic enjoyment of a beautiful object.

Nicole Rosato displayed a series of portraits, If you were a place you’d be…, for this exhibit. There were twelve of these little gems. They are lovely.

This was a very energetic work by Jim Dugas.

Curt Riegelnegg Housing Plans for the New Fiscal Year, Page 1

Mr.  Riegelnegg had three works in this series. There was something very appealing about them.

Loved this Exquisite Corpse. It was created by Katherine Young, Jocelyn Horner and Molly Weaver, all of whom work at the Mattress Factory.

Space
Behind Our Scenes
December 11 – February 13, 2010

*Behind Our Scenes artists represent the following Pittsburgh art museums and galleries:The Carnegie Museum of Art, Oakland
The Mattress Factory, North Side
The Andy Warhol Museum, North Side
Fe Gallery, Lawrenceville
Future Tenant, Downtown
Wood Street Galleries, Downtown

Unblurred

Click on images for detail

I have a two-person show at Most Wanted Fine Art during the month of October. Above, far left, is an installation shot from the gallery. The works on display are from the Unreal Spaces series and are some of my newest works. T.I.N.A. is the artist that I am showing with (center image). His work is very political/commentary/social. Interesting is that he is using a pochoir technique for producing original multiples.  The exhibit is at –

MOST WANTED FINE ART – 5015 PENN AVE.
T.I.N.A. and Susan Constanse displaying their newest images just in time for the “G-20 reply”. Meet the artists Friday night! Please stop by the space or make an appointment Wed-Fri 1PM-6PM, search “MWFA” on www.youtube.com.

While I was on Penn Avenue for the October Unblurred event, I didn’t really get out to take a look at the other exhibits. I did pop across the street to Artica to say hello and was pleasantly surprised to find a collection of Vanessa German’s assemblages (far right).

Orange Balloons, an aRt-O-noMic open studio event

I like having open studios. It gives me a chance to show off my newest work. My studio is such a great big place that I always ask a few artists if they would like to bring some work in and set up in the studio for the day. This year, in addition to my wonderful studio mate, Christine Bethea, Michelle Gregio and Laurenty Josep will be joining us for the day.

How do you find us? We are near the Bloomfield end of the Bloomfield Bridge, next door to Iron Eden and across the street from Paul Lumber. Look for the orange balloons!

Orange Balloons, an aRt-O-noMic open studio event
Bloomfield, 4073 Liberty Ave – 2nd floor
Sunday, October 18, 2009: 12PM – 6PM

soulpurpose

This little show in 709 Gallery ended up being a really terrific survey. The work presented is from a wide range of artists whose practices include glass, painting, drawing, assemblage and collage. The exhibit was meant to showcase Pittsburgh artists to the dignitaries and luminaries visiting our fair city for the G-20 Summit. But that doesn’t mean that we, as citizens of this fair city, can’t enjoy the selection too.

Christiane Leach

Vanessa German (foreground)

Susan Constanse

Installation, left wall

Josh Hogan

Christine Bethea

soulpurpose, 709 Penn Gallery, Closing reception, November 6
The Trust’s Education and Community Engagement Department will also host a survey of 15 local artists in an exhibition and sale called “soulpurpose: Local Artists Showcase.” The exhibition at 709 Penn Gallery will run Friday, September 11, through Friday, November 6, 2009. Participating artists include: Leslie Ansley, Christine Bethea, Margaret Burley, Susan Constanse, John Flatz, Vanessa German, Rita Gregory, Gary Guydosh, Josh Hogan, LaVerne Kemp, Christiane Leach, Saihou Njie, Sandra Moore, Susan Ragland, Mark Traughber and Richelle Wilson.

So, last Friday was the official opening reception for Shaw Galleries, a newcomer to the cultural district in downtown. In addition to a number of fine prints and antique maps, Shaw Galleries also displayed cases of fine, small porcelain statues. It was a really lovely evening and so wonderful to see a new venture launching on Liberty Avenue, particularly in advance of next week’s big event.

The above print, Max Ernst Untitled, was created using the pochoir process. I’ve seen book illustrations using this process and they are magnificent. The illustration can be quite elaborate, using stencils for each of the colors. Since there is no press involved, there is no edition size for the prits; all sheets produced for the run could be considered proofs. A quick definition of the pochoir printing process –

The pochoir process is the hand-coloring of an individual black outline. The was done with the help of a thin zinc or copper cut-out stencil guide. Each color is applied separately brushed by hand on each print, one stencil for each color. The paint used was watercolor and gouache. The only difference being watercolor paints (aquarelles) are transparent and gouache paints are opaque.

There is a great article along with examples here.

I loved this hand colored lithograph, shown below. The title? Glad you asked; it’s a mouthful. Thomas Blake’s  –

The Interior of the Fives Court
with Randall and Turner Sparring
to the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Patrons and Lovers of the Art of Self Defense

I’s all like allegorical n’@.

It was a really lovely event, even though I did get there late. The space is beautiful and the work is installed well. It’s a small venue, but there seems to be a lot to explore. Two flat file cases immediately drew my attention, along with a nice folio rack. So, if you are on Liberty Avenue checking out the cultural district, make sure you stop in and say hello to Mr. Kurt Shaw.

Our host, Kurt Shaw (sans bowtie)

Currently, Most Wanted Fine Arts has a photography group show with Kimberly Metcho, Jason Furda and Chris Sauer (from left to right below; click on thumbnails for a larger image).

Modern Formations is exhibiting –

“The Mr. Gerald Scoops Show” by Thad Dachille, portrays his imaginary cartoons coming to life. These new works, completed over the last year, continue to represent his interest in rendering imaginary cartoons with strange and sometimes vulgar personalities. More information on their site

The following work, Excited, is pretty representative of the works in the exhibit. Mr. Dachille has a great installation/assembly work in the back room. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a clear shot during the opening reception.

Artica is exhibiting –

AHA-Moments By Christine, a one-woman exhibition featuring the work of ARTica Gallery Director, Christine McCray-Bethea, who will showcase quirky, funky but always friendly salvage and fiber art from her African(American) Mask and Religion-at-glance series as well as her quilts and works on paper. More information here

Two samples of Ms. Bethea’s engaging salvage work (click on thumbnails for details images) –

Really, these are worth going to see. Artica is an eclectic blend of art and collectibles, so be prepared to spend some time poking around!Ms. Bethea consistently exhibits work from local artistsat Artica in addition to her feature. You never know what you will run into.

This was an August Unblurred, so several artists studios as well as other venues typically open were not exhibiting this month. With tha said, I was pleasantly surprised to see the works in all of the venues. Again, most venues are only open for Unblurred, but most are happy to make an appoingment with you.

Garfield Artworks is exhibiting –

GRRLS GRRLS GRRLS!

A collaborative installation presented by Emily Laychak, Stephanie Woods and girlfriends, expressing a visual commentary on the state of girlhood. More information on their site

I really like the above work. Unfortunately, i cannot credit the artist since I couldn’t locate an identifying tag. If it helps at all, Once I was wheeless, but then I found my wheels, was posted in proximity to this grouping. These very whimsical works were among the best at Garfield Artworks.

Imagebox had a great show this month, featuring another salvage artist, Robert Pfister. His work is very urban decay with all of the textures and color associated with the deterioration of abandoned metal (click on thumbnails for detailed images).

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening. The Penn Ave venues are really putting on some good exhibits. Hopefully we’ll see more galleries and venues with regular gallery hours.

Well, timing is everything. I saw the Boxheart exhibit about two weeks ago. I didn’t post about it last week because I wanted to talk about Three Rivers Arts Festival and I thought this show would be longer. My bad! In looking at Boxheart’s site, I realized that this show is ending on Saturday.

Boxheart’s Anniversary show is a great way to get to know the gallery’s artists. The range in the exhibit is wide but they have one thing in common; they are excellent. Boxheart doesn’t carry something for everyone, even with the range that is exhibited. You won’t find Pennsylvania landscapes. Rather, you’ll find contemporary, formal works next to expressionistic outsider works. That’s a helluva range when viewed together.

There were several really wonderful works that I was drawn to at the exhibit, mostly formal abstracts –

Joshua Hogan

Brenda Stumpf

Keith Garubba

Joren Dykstra

May 26 – June 20, 2009
9th Annual Anniversary Exhibition
Boxheart Gallery
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
P. 412 687 8858
F. 412 687 6338
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10 AM – 6 PM
Sunday: 1 PM – 5 PM