Artist Profile

If you happen to drive by a warehouse on the corner of Penn Avenue and North Mathilda Street in Garfield - at 3 A.M. - you can probably catch Dean Cercone painting. As DUQ's Larkin Page-Jacobs reports, Cercone finds a way to make art, even when conditions are less than ideal.

Click here to listen to the story.

2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival

The Three Rivers Arts Festival begins tomorrow at Point State Park downtown, running through Sunday, June 12.

The entirely free annual event combines visual arts exhibitions and sales with musical performances and artistic interactions.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Festival Coordinator Marguerite Jarrett Marks says the Pittsburgh Symphony will be playing at the Festival for the first time in 34 years on Sunday night. Other notable musicians playing at the festival include the Blind Boys of Alabama, Tom Tom Club, and James McMurtry.

Some visual artists in attendance include James Grashow, who works exclusively with corrugated cardboard, and Showcase Noir, an exhibition and sale of artwork by African American artists and designers.

Marks says the festival has also achieved a LEED Gold certification for its green endeavors.

A complete list of events and installations can be found at the Three Rivers Arts Festival website.

60+ Artists in 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial

Community Group Looks to Keep Jazz on Radio

Representatives of "Jazz Lives in Pittsburgh," a group of jazz fans, educators and performers met with officials of Essential Public Media Thursday to discuss the future of jazz on 90.5 FM in Pittsburgh.
Essential Public Media is a partnership between WYEP-FM and Public Media Company, a non-profit created by Colorado-based Public Radio Capital and has signed an asset purchase agreement to buy the license for 90.5 from Duquesne University.
Jazz Lives in Pittsburgh Chairman Evan Pattak says he met with Marco Cardamone and Lee Ferraro, the board chair and general manager of WYEP respectively. Pattak say he was pleased that they met with his group but they received "mixed signals" about the future of locally-hosted jazz on 90.5. Pattak says he was told that there would be jazz but there was not a commitment to jazz on the main channel of 90.5...
"I can't say that. They indicated that some jazz would be part of the package. They also indicated they're exploring different technologies as a delivery system."

Pattak says no specifics were mentioned about the delivery system but that could mean on a secondary HD channel or via the Internet.

Pattak says they recognize that new ownership might want to change the programming which currently features more than 100 hours of jazz per week. So, he says they suggested 6 hours of jazz per day on the main 90.5 channel but received no commitment but that EPM would take it under advisement.

Silk Screen Opens Tonight

Silk Screen Executive Director Harish Saluja has been growing the festival since its inception six years ago. This year the ten-day event features thirty-two films from nearly a dozen countries. Many of the screenings also include a lecture or question and answer session. “The biggest value which we can add is to have a person from that film be present and do a presentation or a question and answer,” said Saluja. The goal is to eventually have a speaker at every session but according to Saluja the budget simply will not allow it this year.

The films will be shown at the Melwood Screening Room, The Harris Theater and the Regent Square Theater. The final film will be shown at the Andy Warhol museum and an opening night gala is set for the William Penn Hotel.

An international jury chose the films with the only criteria being that the movie had to have Asian ties and be good. “It is difficult to define what a good film is,” said Saluja, but paraphrasing a well known Supreme Court ruling, he said, “I know one when I see one.”

“There is nothing like this for hundreds of miles so our hope is that this will bring focus to Pittsburgh as an international city and as a place where we do respect and honor diversity,” said Saluja. The group also sees this as both a short term and long term economic booster. Hotel nights and meal purchases by out of town attendees help the economy immediately according to Saluja but he sees a much bigger picture. “The road to the future goes through Asia. India and China cannot be ignored. We need to know about these countries, do business with them, learn about them,” said Saluja, “One of the things we are not doing enough is to have a cultural understanding of these countries.”

Silk Screen in recent years has branched out beyond the springtime festival. The group sponsors several other Asian-related film screenings and social events throughout the year and has plans to build an Asia Culture and Commerce Center.

A full list of films can be found on here.

Indie Book Store “Fleeting Pages” Opens Saturday

Jodi Morrison has been thinking for a while about why some books get published and other don’t and who gets to decide. Then when the Borders bookstore chain closed hundreds of stores across the country she began to think about all the people who used to work in the stores and all that empty space. That was when she decided to rent out the old Borders store at 5958 Penn Circle South and invite writers to submit their independently published works for sale.

She says the submissions have been pouring in fast. “There is a large percentage of them from local writers but there is actually work coming in from all over the US and then we have quite a few from Canada, quite a few from the UK, a few from Australia as well,” says Morrison.

Morrison says she has been working nearly non-stop on the store she calls “Fleeting Pages,” which will open at 10:00 am Saturday morning. “You will find zines and comics and independently published fiction and nonfiction, poetry, memoir, graphic novels,” says Morrison. She says the first visitors may step into a bit of chaos as well. The store will be open 7 days a week through June 3rd.

Morrison sys she feels a month is about the right amount of time. It is about as long as the building owner was willing to rent it to a non-permanent tenant and it was about all she and her friends could afford, says Morrison. So far they have collectively racked up about $40,000 in charges on their credit cards.

Morrison is not a writer and will not have any work for sale. She says she is not just doing it for the writers, “I’ve been getting emails [from non writers] saying they don’t really understand what independently published work is or how it is different. It’s not a term they have been exposed to before so I’m hoping this becomes a level of exploration for them.”

All of the works will be sold on consignment. Submissions will be accepted for about a week after the store opens. Morrison says she only wants to make her money back but she says it will all be worth it even if she doesn’t. “I was considering graduate school at the same exact time and what I have been learning through this and the people I have been meeting and the work I’ve been getting exposed to, for me it has more value than a year of grad school,” says Morrison.

The space will also feature some visual art and several forums and workshops.

Three Rivers Arts Festival 2011

Since 1960 the Three Rivers Arts festival has brought variations of art to Pittsburgh, and this year, the tradition continues. The 2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival will take place at Point State Park, Hertz Gateway Center, and the Cultural District from June 3-12. President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Kevin McMahon, says that the free event benefits the local communities creatively and financially.

"The Cultural's Trust's mission is about arts but it's also about the local economy. Using the arts to help improve that economy and this festival alone provides an economic impact in excess of twenty million dollars," says Kevin.

Art in music form will come, in part, from the Pittsburgh Symphony and Orchestra. Its President and CEO, Lawrence Tamburri says they have a classical concert planned for their first appearance at the festival since 1977 on June 5th at 6:00. McMahon adds that they will be launching a Pittsburgh JazzLive International weekend which features jazz performances from around the world from June 3-5.

Other activities throughout the week include an Artists Market showcasing 280 international artists and the Juried Visual Arts Exhibition with more than 80 art pieces. More information about the event can be found at http://www.3riversartsfest.org/

Art All Night in Lawrenceville for the 14th Year

On Saturday, April 30th, Art All Night is returning for its 14th time. The 24-hour annual event is extending its hours to accommodate younger children and the overwhelming amount of people who attend. Tiffany Wilhelm, a publicity and promotions volunteer for the occasion says that the past two years have brought in about 12,000 people who gather for solidarity and art.

"The biggest overriding theme of the event itself is about community, about coming together, about creativity and all these things that make Lawrenceville and Pittsburgh special."

Wilhelm also says that each year the event has the same structure, but its the volunteers who come with suggestions that make the occasion different. This year, they are having live DJ mixing by local artists. She also notes that the event can be completely different depending on what time you arrive.

Children's activities start will be from 4-8 p.m. on Saturday and also from 10-2 p.m. on Sunday. Throughout the night will be live performances and art on display. Art All Night is spending its second year at the Iron City Brewery Property on 3340 Liberty Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

2 Pittsburgh Organizations Become Arts Partners

The Hill House Association, based in Pittsburgh's Hill District, today announced a joint venture that will put the arts programming of the Association's Kaufmann Center under the direction of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater of East Liberty. The partnership will allow the Kelly Strayhorn to implement its community theater program in the Kaufmann Center which has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation.
Hill House President and CEO Victor Roque says the Kelly Strayhorn is one of the most vibrant cultural amenities in the city....."Under the direction of Janera Solomon they have completely revived the concept of walking a few blocks to attend the theater. That's an urban cultural experience we'd like to replicate in the Hill District."
Executive Director Solomon says the Kelly Strayhorn gives artists theater time and space for preparation and rehearsal leading up to shows and performances and that has built strong relationships with local artists who typically don't have the space or resources to stage productions.
Solomon says they will try to determine what resonates most with Hill District residents...."Our initial efforts will focus on the interests and desires of those within walking distance of the theater (Kaufmann Center). Our vision over time is that this historic building and amazing community resource become a place where arts are explored and experienced as the everyday Hill District experience."

On Wednesday, March 16 there will be a dedication of the Kaufmann Center and an event called "Story Jam: The Hill District in Chapters," where the community is invited to tel land hear stories about the Hill in words, pictures and music. Two days later, 9-time Grammy award-winner John Legend will give a benefit performance.

PDP Looks Forward to Busy 2011

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership outlined an ambitious agenda for 2011 at its annual meeting Tuesday. It begins with the call to create two major documents. The PDP is in the final year of its current five-year plan and will be issuing a new outline for priorities that PDP Board President Rich Beynon says will guide the partnership and help keep it focused on the organization’s vision. The PDP is also launching a project to create a “State of Downtown Report.” Outgoing PDP President Mike Edwards says right now there is no “single source for data centric metrics” for the region’s core. He says, “The data will include residential population, office rental rates number of employees and other more ‘vitality’ type indicators including the number of new cafes, the number of conventions and visitors, the number of students.” Edwards says the data will help to provide a better understanding and a better telling of the story of an evolving downtown.

The list of 2011 goals for the PDP also includes sustaining its efforts to make downtown cleaner and safer and adding 15 more Paris to Pittsburgh projects. The Paris to Pittsburgh project is a grant-funded effort to help building and business owners spruce up their street-level facades.

“The concept is basically to bring the outside in, the inside out,” says Rich Beynon, “everything from window boxes to tables outside to redoing the store fronts themselves to have more openness, more glass, more inviting.”

Beynon says he hopes to also encourage more downtown living through loans to convert vacant upper floors and he says the PDP will be asking all of its members to including promotion of the golden triangle in general when they do build their marketing and outreach plans. The partnership will also work to raise awareness among the general public of the importance of mass transit funding for the vitality of downtown Pittsburgh.

In an effort to continue to improve the area around Market Square, the PDP has commissioned new artwork to help lead pedestrians down Market Street from 5th Avenue to Market Square. The group sees a revitalized Market Square as a key economic driver. Artist Carin Mincemoyer has created two sculptures that will hang on the light posts on the short block. Each sculpture will contain 40 eight-inch tall cut plastic diamond shapes that will each have their own LED. (See Right) Mincemoyer says she was inspired by the history of what we now call Market Square. It was once called the Diamond and Forbes Avenue was known as Diamond Street because of the diamond exchange that resided there for years. Those plastic, lighted diamonds will hang from a steel frame on the light posts.

“The structure of the sculptures is really inspired by the form of a diamond molecule,” says Mincemoyer, “so it is really about the interplay between the natural form of the diamond and the man-made shape of the diamond we are used to seeing.” The five-and-a-half foot high sculptures are intended to have a life of about 10 years.

Artist Profile

Past the gates of a nondescript industrial park in Manchester, down the stairs of a brick building to a chilly basement — a visitor can stumble into a forest of sculptures. These pieces are the work of Thaddeus Mosley who carves and chisels cherry wood and walnut into an array of abstract forms — some standing more than 8 feet tall. DUQ's Larkin Page-Jacobs recently paid Mosley a visit.
Click here to listen to the story.

Thek Retrospective Mounted

The artist Paul Thek burst onto the art scene in the 1960’s and enjoyed fame in the US and Europe for years but was largely forgotten by the time of his death in 1988. His life and his work are being revived by the Carnegie Museum of Art with the Exhibition ‘Paul Thek: Diver’ which opens Saturday. The show gets its name from a painting done on newspaper of a man diving into a body of water. (See left) Co-curator and Carnegie Museum of Art Director Lynn Zelevansky says Thek was drawn to the water and often used water in his works. Zelevansky says the diver work stood out to her and co-curator Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney museum in New York. “Throughout the show you will see different figures who are surrogates for Thek himself,” says Zelevansky, “The diver seems to Elisabeth and me to be a great symbol for who Thek was and what he was interested in and what he cared about.” She says the idea of going deeper in a fearless way was something to which he aspired.

The first thing a visitors sees is a room filled with Thek’s “meat” works. (right) Thek (pronounced Tek) created sculptures of realistic looking hunks of meat and severed human body parts but then gave many of them a surreal twist including metallic coverings, sprouts of grotesque hair and over sized flies. Most are mounted in plastic cases but one is mounted in a Brillo box given to him by Andy Warhol. “The story goes that he said to Warhol, ‘your Brillo boxes are really nice but they could use some meat’,” says Zelevansky. Thek was known to use his work to take shots at minimalism and pop art.

Part way through his career Thek fell in love with installation work. Only a few components of the installations remain but Zelevansky was able to find pictures of the installations and some video of Thek and his collaborators working on the pieces. The Exhibition also includes pages from Thek’s voluminous journals. (lower left)

By the mid 1980’s Thek had driven away most of his friends and in 1987 he was diagnosed with AIDS but he continued to work. The retrospective recreates Thek’s last show.

Zelevansky has been working on the show for more than five years. She says it is the realization of Thek’s dream to have a retrospective mounted in the US. The retrospective of Thek’s work will be on display through May before moving on to Los Angles. Throughout the run of the show, the museum will offer a long list of programs. Most of them are free. Cell phone tours of the show are also available.

Listen to a longer version of the story here.

This Musical City: AppalAsia

Mimi Jong plays the erhu, an ancient Chinese instrument. Jeff Berman and Sue Powers are steeped in the traditional music of Appalachia. In Pittsburgh they found common ground for two very different musical traditions and formed the group AppalAsia.
They visited the WDUQ studios recently to play some of their music and tell the story of how they got together. Listen to that story here.

Watch the first part of a video of AppalAsia at the WDUQ studios posted by Victor Beltran.
Watch the second part here.

Artist Profile

Kim Beck is interested in the urban details that are so obvious and mundane, they’re practically hidden in plain sight. DUQ's Larkin Page-Jacobs reports. Click here to listen to the story.

Artist Profile

Duane Rieder is one part photographer, one part vintner and one huge part Roberto Clemente fan. DUQ's Larkin Page-Jacobs says he’s managed to link these disparate passions and make them his life’s work.
Click here to listen to the story.

Artist Profile

Atticus Adams is sculptor of metal mesh, a two-dimensional raw material that's shapeless and ready to be formed. DUQ's Larkin Page-Jacobs sat down with Adams who says he experiments to see what he can learn from the material as it provides a creative direction of its own.

Click here to listen to the story.

Artist Profile

The Carrie Furnace was one of Andrew Carnegie’s original steel mills and sits on more than a hundred acres in Pittsburgh’s industrial heartland. The sculptor Tim Kaulen and a group of covert artists erected a sculpture in the abandoned mill…so Larkin Page-Jacobs set out to find it. Click here to listen to the story. 

Arts Show At The VA

An Arts Show at The VA of Pittsburgh showcased the skills of local veterans.

When Vietnam-era Army Veteran Richard Sobek won an award for his painting on Wednesday he wasn’t there to receive it – he has PTSD and when he’s in crowds, he is prone to panic attacks.

He came after the show, when the crowd had thinned out. Although he spent years working as a professional artist, he said he’s drawn to painting because its theraputic.

"For myself, when I draw, I take my mind off of my problems and pain and it puts you in a very quiet place cause yr doing nothing but focusing on every stroke, every brushstroke, every detail," he said.

Artwork helps a lot of the veterans in recovery says Marci Gaither, a psychologist at the VA who has organized the event for the last few years.

"Basically we just wanted to provide an opportunity for veterans to display some of their creative abilities and display a different part of themselves. Not just a veteran with mental illness but a veteran who is an artist," she said.

Different studies have shown that the creative process helps people cope with problems, develop interpersonal skills, reduce stress and increase their self-esteem.

Other artwork at the show also included woodworking, needlepoint, stained glass and photography. To have the work displayed, the veterans have to be receiving treatment at the VA – for either physical or mental issues. Many are there for both.

A permanent rotating art exhibit featuring the artwork of veterans will be installed at the VA Hospital on University Drive later this month.

Sky Art Floats Above Pittsburgh

Pittsburghers will look to the sky tonight and tomorrow to find messages in the air.

A small airplane will use white smoke to write common advertising phrases like “SPACE AVAILABLE,” “ALL SALES FINAL,” and “EVERYTHING MUST GO” in the city sky as part of Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Art Kim Beck’s “The Sky is the Limit” project.

The block letters will be written one mile high, and Beck says people should be able to see them all across the city at 6 o’clock tonight and 10 a.m. Saturday.

Beck says she expects a variety of reactions.

“I think some people will be utterly confused by it. I think some people will think it’s actually advertising something but then not know what the advertisement’s for, and then I think some people will make the leap and have an environmentalist read on it. Maybe somebody will read ‘Everything Must Go’ and it’ll have kind of a personal resonance.”

After the ‘performance’ is finished, Beck will install large pictures of the skywriting in storefronts downtown. Beck says while the skywriting will fade in an hour or less, the pictures will be a permanent reminder of the impermanent – another theme she calls central to the work.

Beck says she got the idea to depict advertising phrases from the overabundance of them during the recent economic recession. She says while they often mean “good deals” on the consumer’s end, they also mean a lost job or a company closing at the seller’s end.

Religious Art Exhibit Coming to History Center

From October 2nd through January 9th, the Senator John Heinz History Center will host "Vatican Splendors: A Journey Through Faith and Art", an exhibition of more than 200 items from the Vatican, along with more than fifty local artifacts of religious and historical significance.

History Center President and CEO Andy Masich says he agreed immediately to host the exhibit, not only because he knew the Vatican collection is world class, but because 60% of Western Pennsylvanians self-identify as Catholic, and people of any religion will find the art and history fascinating.

There will be a perfect copy of Michelangelo’s “Pieta”, which Masich says was used to restore the vandalized original in 1972, plus art works by Bernini and Giotto. Some items are 2,000 years old and some as recent as bronze casts of Pope John Paul 2's hands, which visitors will be able to touch.

Masich says the reliquaries are especially fascinating, both from the Vatican and from the Chapel of St. Anthony in Troy Hill, which houses the largest collection outside the Vatican.

Museum members, local parishes, and religious congregations can get discounted tickets now. They go on sale to the general public September 19th.