Over the weekend...

It was a really packed weekend. So much happening and not enough time to do everything.

Saturday, 12:30pm

I attended a lecture given by Harry Schwalb at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts about the interest in drawing. Mr. Schwalb is a very engaging speaker. Since most of the audience were artists, the emphasis was on drawing techniques and on defining contemporary drawing. Mr. Schwalb brought examples of his own work as well as pieces from his personal collection to illustrate his points. This was more interesting than slides because you could actually see the techniques that he was referencing.



While I was there, I took a moment to look at the exhibits installed in the galleries. I have to get better about taking notes. This drawing in the second floor gallery was really exceptional. It was charcoal on stretched cavas, no protective covering. It looks like the artist used water to set the charcoal. but aside from that, it was a really beautiful piece.




Saturday, 8:00pm
Jean McClung had an extra ticket to the Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre performance at the Benedum. Prelude To Night was an exceptional work. Set to Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole and Alborado del Graciosa, the piece was haunting. The dancers were exceptional and the choreography kept the eye and the mind engaged. In the imagination sequence, the principal dancer, Penelope Gonzales, actually seemed to float and dive above the chorus dancers. A really inspirational performance.

Sunday, 2:00pm
My brother, Chuck Busha, and I have been touring Pittsburgh's abandoned industrial sites with our digital cameras for the last year or so. On Sunday, we thought we'd try a new site. The site we went to look at was not abandoned, however, and we ended up walking down the railroad tracks to an auto wrecking yard. There really wasn't much to shoot, but we did find this old motorcycle standing next to the tracks. His photographs are posted online at Shutterpoint. We've been having a lot of fun doing this. A lot of the images I take on these excursions go into digital collages, which can be viewed in my portfolio.

Sunday, 4:30pm
My niece, Alex, was in a student exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She has been taking Saturday art classes at the museum since she was in fourth grade. She is in eighth grade this year and has one more year left on her scholarship. She had a small painting and a sculpture of a dragonfly in the exhibit. She does digital photography, too. Her work is posted on the DeviantArt site.

It was a really great weekend.