Pittsburgh Art Events 7/11-12.

Rick Byerly ain't just shuckin' and jivin' (over on his Pittsburgh Gallery Blog) when he says that this weekend is a "hot spot" for art in the 'burgh. There's no possible way that you can see everything there is to see over the next couple of days. You're going to have to pick-and-choose just like the rest of us. Frankly I'm not even going to mention everything that's happening, but rather the things that I'm considering attending. So without further ado, here's the breakdown...

The biggest concentration of receptions tomorrow evening are part of the Downtown Gallery Crawl (5:30-9:00PM). I have to admit being underwhelmed by the last couple of these, but I have reason to believe that this one will be an improvement. It's not just personal bias that drives me to recommend a stop down at 709 Penn Avenue for the Sylvania show. You'll get to see a preview of some of the artists who will be appearing in the next Unicorn Mountain publication (tentatively entitled Black Forest). I'm going to be in it, I have a photo in the exhibition, and there is a good amount of strong work to peruse. Plus all the hipsters will be there. Yum! If you do show up, ask me where the "after-party" is that Curt's been talking about for a month (if he's not just blowing smoke, of course).

Of course you're going to want to plan to hit SPACE Gallery for curator Robert Raczka's You Are Here. It's a group show including 11 artists riffing on the concept of place. Meanwhile Wood Street Galleries, Inc. is always worth a quick run-through. OK... I meant to say "seldom", but what the hell? The image posted for this exhibition is actually intriguing. And Jairan Sadeghi has a SOLO at 707 Penn. I dig her illustrative musings enough to own a piece. If you are into high-falutin' chamber music, you can see Chatham Baroque at Future Tenant.

If you don't want to mess with the "Golden Triangle", you should definitely head over to Millvale for 91-year old artist Sid Kweller's opening at Panza Gallery (6-9PM). Apparently it's the Merry Green Dog creator's birthday, so stop by and say "Hi". While you're at it, you should have a refreshing draft beer with the estimable Mark Panza, owner and operator of the gallery. For the first time in awhile he's scheduled a reception that's not on his band practice night. He won't be distracted.

Then there's your opportunity to see Eric White's display of 'monoprints' over at Modern Formations in Garfield (7-10PM). With all the other stuff going on, you'd think the artist could come up with a more compelling tagline for his show than "An Exploration of Technique". That work is usually done in the studio well before showing its results in public. But I have confidence in proprietor Jen Q.'s tastes, so it's likely to be worth a visit. While you are at it, why don't you check out her fancy new website.

Finally we have the 11th installment of the Gestures series over at the Mattress Factory. It's called Meet the Made and the opening reception is 6-8PM tomorrow night. Not only will the participating artists be displaying their creations, but they will be working on them too- in real time. Appearing will be my buddy Christopher Lisowski, along with Kim Beck, Adam Schreckhise and 13 others. This is tied in with the whole Robot250 initiative. Meet your future masters!


Take a pause for the cause overnight, because Saturday has its own enticements. I've already mentioned Urbanic: Sightlines and Microcosms over at Moxie Dada. I mentioned a "soft opening" last week that never happened (thanks, Kyle!). Anyway the official reception is definitely two evenings hence, from 7-10PM. I'm tempted to boycott it, but I expect it to be too good to miss.

And I'll be doing my damnedest to get over to the Zombo Gallery's first anniversary celebration (Stubble and Smoke) featuring the illustrations of noted cartoonist Wayno. My presence is still up-in-the-air though, as this happens to occur simultaneous to my gay friend's annual outdoor summer tiki party- and after all... how could I possibly miss that?! And while we are on the subject of private affairs... Saturday night also offers Jason D.'s bash complete with Spelling Bee- but if you don't know what I'm talking about, I guess you aren't invited.

If none of this appeals to you, you can try Doodah Days in the Allegheny Cemetery. Or brave the weekend carnage of SouthSide Exposed (Rick will be there). Or go crosstown to the monthly Bellevue Art Crawl. Have fun.

Things to Do This Weekend.

Here we go again. There were a couple of slack weekends in a row with not much happening in the Pittsburgh arts scene... so it's typical to have tons of events packed into two evenings. The most notable is likely the Downtown Gallery Crawl on Friday night- a seasonal get together featuring a look at galleries and other events in the Golden Triangle. Of course it is officially Spring, so there will be tons of folks out and about. Doors start to open for visitors around 5:30PM and usually remain open and busy until 8PM , or so.

I can't say I'm overly excited by anything advertised by this particular crawl. At the 707 and 709 Galleries (Penn avenue) we have the closing of Jazz in Pictures, and the opening of Live Green, View Blue, Paint The Town Red. The latter includes the winning design models of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust International Design Competition. Up the block at Future Tenant (819 Penn Avenue), they are midway through their I am a Heather exhibition. Sure, sometimes it seems like everything has been done before. But who can truly say that they have seen a show of work entirely inspired by girls named "Heather"? Apparently someone within the CMU student curatorial staff has a thing for bad 80's movies.

The Wood Street Galleries has Text/Memory, installations by Jim Campbell & Mark Scheeff. Campbell makes "electronic art", while Scheeff apparently fucks around with robots (more information here). Something tells me I've seen this show before, but that seems impossible since tomorrow is the official opening. Perhaps the powers-that-be down at Wood Street need to diversify their interests a bit. A block down the street at SPACE Gallery (812 Liberty), Murray Horne has put together an exhibition (Pittsburgh Now) including a selection of artists he is evidently excited by. I'm not sure what these creators have in common besides the fact that five of them have (or have had) some ties to Carnegie Mellon University. That's certainly no novelty downtown.

Finally I will be making a point to stop by Artists Upstairs (937 Liberty) to see Dilated Dialogues (sic). It's reportedly "a photographic conversation between Americans who capture images abroad and foreign-born artists working here." There's no way to tell for sure (since I'm unfamiliar with virtually all of the artists at this Crawl), but it seems like this may be my personal highlight of the evening. If not, I can always take my butt down to the Culinary Institute and gorge myself on cheap chef-in-training-made delicacies.

If none of this appeals to your aesthetic sensibilities, the Mattress Factory is having an opening (7-10PM) called Inner and Outer Space, which features nine contemporary artists who promise to offer new perceptions of space by defying two dimensional surfaces. It costs $10 if you aren't a member. Or alternatively you could check out the Fein Art Gallery (519 E. Ohio Street). This North Side Gallery is having a display of then-and-now photos documenting Pittsburgh history. It's a group show, and includes some images from my new friend Rick Byerly. It's called See How It Was, See How It Is, and its opening reception runs from 5-9PM.


Saturday offers a whole new set of diversions for your wandering eye. Artists Image Resource (518 Foreland Street on the North Side) offers an exhibition of the work of 2006 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts "Emerging Artist of the Year", Kim Beck. I couldn't find much information about this specific show (other than the hours of 7-9PM), but I really liked what I saw at the PCA and I'm going to make an effort not to miss this one.

There's also a closing of Sublimation, a collection of pieces by artists involved in the Brew House Distillery Program. Local favorite Brett Davis is one of the eight artists involved, and it's always interesting to see what he comes up with. Your last chance to see this show is at the South Side location of this co-op at 2100 Mary Street, from 3-5PM.

Of all the happenings this weekend, I am most eagerly anticipating Lawrenceville's Eleventh Annual Art All Night. I'll always be sentimental about this event, because it was throughout this series that I first displayed my photography. Just as its title suggests, you can see artwork by hundreds of different local creators, starting at 6PM on Saturday, and extending through the wee hours all the way until Sunday at 2PM. The show is neither juried nor censored so you get a wide variety of work to enjoy. There's also food, drink and live music throughout the night. This year they are advertising the location as their biggest ever- in the former Roomfull Express Warehouse on 57th Street in Lawrenceville. This is a party you (and 7000 other 'burghers) don't want to miss.