Toxic Por Vida

The trip to Carrie Furnace last weekend was at turns arduous and anxious. It was a long walk, about a half hour. The site was obviously dangerous. Not a trip I would reccommed to anybody that was uninsured.
This was over a long, relatively low, structure just inside the fence. You know, I don't read or speak Spanish. So, just to make sure, I translated the above through an online dictionary. The direct translation is Toxic By Life. Was that the intention of the writer? I could be wrong, but I think the intention was Toxic For Life. As it stands, however, it raises more questions, intentional or unintentional.

As we began exploring the structure, we heard a shifting sound. Debris spilled onto the floor through the vented structure of the roof. There were a few places where the floor was unstable. We walked most of the length of the structure. Climbing out, we found ourselves below a platform that surrounded the furnaces. We climbed up through the drifted dirt and debris, pulling ourselves up onto the platform.

We found ourselves between the furnaces and a cavernous structure. The following slideshow is a slight glimmer of the site.

There is always some tribute to our hometown at these sites. Usually, it's yinz, yinzer or some reference to the steeler nation. Here it is at Carrie Furnace

Signs of life. There were Dragonflys all over the site. I thought it was odd. One of my companions felt that because of the proximity of the Monongehela, it should be expected.

I had posted some videos lats week. Here's the link.

I want to go back.

Carrie Furnace

A little background about Carrie Furnace,

From Wikipedia - Carrie Furnace is a derelict structure which exists across the Monongahela river from Munhall and Homestead, Pa. It had formed a part of the Homestead Steel Works. The Carrie Furnaces were built in 1908 and they operated until 1978. All that is left of the site are furnaces #6 and #7, along with the hot metal bridge.

From Rivers of Steel - Built in 1907, the furnaces produced iron for the Homestead Works from 1907 to 1978. During the 1920s, 1930s,and 1940s, Carrie 6 and 7 consumed approximately four tons of raw materials comprised of iron ore, coke, and limestone for every ton of iron produced. The cooling system for the blast furnace required over five million gallons of water a day. These furnaces reached their peak production in the 1950s and 1960s when they were producing 1000 -1250 tons of iron a day.

A couple of clips from my day trip there. I wish I could include the smell. More to come, once I have sorted through all of the images.

Welcome to my neighborhood

Yes, well, the following was in my MySpace bulletins. The bulletin came from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, who also have a MySpace page --

We are writing you today to promote a new semi-annual event in Downtown Pittsburgh: 30 Below, a showcase of artists all age 30 or under. This is no ordinary art exhibit, but instead, an engaging week of exhibition and events that will attract a variety of ages to the downtown area. We are working to make this exhibit an exciting new attraction for the Pittsburgh art community.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Thank you!

Kaitlyn Wittig
Curator
724. 689. 3652

Emily Fear
Assistant Curator
412. 302. 9119

I'm not quite sure where they are coming from with this under-thirty thing. It's not like the under-30 crowd is under-represented in the downtown exhibition spaces. Future Tenant, for instance, is even run by college students. And the downtown gallery crawl is definitely geared to that age group. All you have to do is stand on the sidewalk outside any of the venues and you can partake of under-30, age-appropriate music. In fact, the entire event seems to be geared to lure the perceived evasive young hipster to the downtown scene.

Can you spell a-g-e-i-s-m?

Arts in educational settings

The New York Times previewed Project Zero's new book yesterday. The book, due for release soon, challenges the notion that arts education increases student academic achievement. What might be more accurate is to say that the benefits of arts education lie in other areas, and is related to quality of life issues.

In their view art education should be championed for its own sake, not because of a wishful sentiment that classes in painting, dance and music improve pupils’ math and reading skills and standardized test scores. (You can read the article here.)

Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland of Project Zero have a very good point. If it is desirable to increase proficiency in math, why not have more math studies? They seem to be championing art for its own sake instead of as academia's lame sister.

I have worked in arts education projects and community art projects for a number of years in several capacities. And you know? I can't really say what the long-term impact of these projects are. Typically, my contact with students is pretty much one-time only. I don't receive reports on changes in the students' achievement.

I think that where artists can contribute in educational settings is in projects that demonstrate synthesis. Arts studies can demonstrate the application of abstract knowledge. This type of project leadership is rarely undertaken, however. It can be complex to administrate. It is difficult to demonstrate the outcomes.

Hill House Soars

We had made kites over the month of March in preparation for a flight festival. We had something like forty blanks, and somehow that wasn't enough! We were at Kennard and Ammens fields and Arcena, which was the designated flight space for adults.

We met in the Hill House lobby, where Bourbon Street Catering had set up a wonderful array of cookies, cheeses and meats. Seriously good cookies. I particularly liked these little butter cookies with raspberry and almonds. Can you tell that I am completely at the mercy of my stomach?



The weather was sunny and warm. The Frustrationless Flyer kites that we used for the project are good in light wind, which is great because we had gusty, light wind in the afternoon. I tested this kite and it goes up really easily, I was able to launch mine with no assistance. I was at Kennard field and I am in love! It was a great place to fly and I can't wait to go back. Next time, I hope there's enough wind to launch my stunt kite.

Images from Kennard Field --



Here are some of the kites that were made during the Community Gallery Project

Persad

Okay, so I think every one should know about these things. So heads up, people.
Time to get behind the cause ...

The Women's Law Project and Persad Center present…

An Evening with Evan Wolfson

Thursday, April 19

Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

5941 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15206

6:30 pm Wine & Hors d'oeuvres Reception

7:00 pm Presentation and Q&A

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Evan Wolfson, author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry and Founder of Freedom to Marry, returns to Pittsburgh for this very special event. CLE credit available

For more information, or to RSVP, call The Women's Law Project at 412-227-0301 or via email at treynolds@womenslawproject.org

UPMC presents CELEBRATE LIFE, CELEBRATE ART

An Auction to Benefit Persad Center

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

The Patron Party

Friday, April 20^th - Society for Contemporary Craft, 7 - 10 p.m.

Enjoy a cocktail reception featuring Barefoot Wine, dinner by Kazansky's Catering, and a preview of selected artwork with an award ceremony for prize winning artists.

The Auction

Monday, May 14^th - Carnegie Museum of Art

5:30 for Patron Ticket Holders & 6:00 p.m. for General Admission

Featuring live music by the Renaissance City Women's Choir and Ben Opie, delicious food from over 15 area restaurants.

Celebrate Life, Celebrate Art, formerly known as Art for AIDS/Art for Change, is an annual art auction that benefits Persad Center. Over the past 18 years, the Celebrate Life, Celebrate Art benefit auction has generated over $2.7 million for Persad. Featuring a silent and verbal auction with original artwork from over 175 international, national, and regional artists. All proceeds support Persad's unique counseling, wellness, education, and research programs. Special thanks to 2007 sponsors: UPMC, National City Bank, The Giant Eagle Foundation, Ernst & Young, Mellon, Grubb & Ellis, The Mary Hillman Jennings Foundation, Mullen, The William T. Hillman Foundation, Red Bull North America, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Barefoot Wine, Comcast, Fried & Davis, LLC, Images, Pgh City Paper, and WYEP.

Additional information can be found at Persad Center's website

Graffitiburgh

Graffiti shot at Heppenstall, a defunct steel mill located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh

I was flipping through the Post Gazette and ran across this article about a tagger that was arrested and fined for his graffiti at $560,764.50 in property damages. Two points in the article are very interesting. Daniel Montano has a home here and in San Francisco. The other? To quote --

Only 50 percent of graffiti is reported in Pittsburgh. For years, the city was considered a blank slate for many in U.S. graffiti community. Enforcement was considered weak and the abundance of vacant warehouses and cramped hidden alleyways -- many of them in the Strip District -- offered a canvas for many miscreants wielding a spray can.

The Heppenstall complex and the Armstrong Cork buildings are both within walking distance of my home. I have visited both on several occasions. The Armstrong Cork building has been renovated and is now a loft and business complex. It has been getting more and more difficult to get into the Heppenstall complex. Recently, I noticed bulldozers on the site and there has been talk about turning the five or six block strip into a mixed usage complex. Both sites have been well-documented from deterioration to the proliferatrion of graffiti.

There is a huge divide of perception of grafitti, even among those that follow and create it. Most taggers seem to find havens, like these abandoned buildings, to express their creative energy. Some use whatever blank wall is available. I am of the former philosophy, believing that there are enough abandoned buildings to provide blank canvases that taggers can utilize without intruding on vital and operating properties.

Hill House Soars

We have been making kites over the month of March in preparation for a flight festival. Sites have been chosen for the day. We'll have kites available for decoration at the sites, so even if you don't already have one, you can pick one up there. Part of the project was conducted with the Community Gallery project although there were additional workshops for kids and adults.

We'll be meeting in the Hill House lobby, where you can pick up kites, snacks and a map to the sites.

I'll bet you're wondering when and where this extravaganza will take place ...

The Hill House Association lobby
1835 Centre Ave
April 21st,
Check in between 11:30am and 12:30pm

The weather forecast is good; sunny and 52, wind at 8mph. I tested this kite and it goes up really easily, I was able to launch mine with no assistance. But hey, if you have your own kite, bring that too!

Community Gallery project in the Hill District

We had the reception for the Community Gallery project on March 31. The projects were on display in the lobby. It was a lovely afternoon, with children and artists popping in and out. Terri Baltimore was there, along with Lissa Rosenthal from Pittsburgh Celebrates. The post from the kick off is here.

Kites from the project with Deanna Mance. For all of you kite enthusiasts out there, join us for the Soars event on April 21. I'll be making an announcement about this soon, but...
April 21
Hill House Association
1835 Centre Ave

Check in: 11:30am - 12:30pm
pick up kites and maps to the flight sites. Refreshments provided

We have three sites in the Hill district that we have designated as flight zones. And if you don't already have a kite, we will have some available for you at the Hill House.
These are from the assemblage project that Christine Bethea did with the students.
Some of the visitors enjoying the display.
A very crowded lobby! Everybody loves those giant puppets

QUESTY QUEST

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is an arts organization whose purpose is almost solely educational. And especially for youth. They have a beautiful facility in Manchester on Pittsburgh's Northside. They have been producing student arts programs for well over thirty years. I went to classes there when I was in high school. I can't begin to express my gratitude to this organization or to the instructor that mentored and encouraged me to pursue the arts.

The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild exhibits student work in a small gallery off the lobby of a building on Penn Avenue in downtown. This past Friday, the Guild opened Questy Quest, a combination of performance and static arts where passersby were encouraged to kill the beast with sporks. It was wonderfully riotous.

The detritus from the destruction, as well as the video, are on display through April 15.

QUESTY QUEST The Questiest Quest Ever Requested
A Mentors & Makers Exhibition at 800 Penn Avenue
March 23 - April 15

The Academy of the South Side

Starting next Sunday, March 25th, The Academy of the South Side will officially be starting the Spring, 2007 class schedule, featuring courses in Portrait Painting, Drawing, and Costumed Figure Painting.

All information on class schedules, syllabi, and pricing can be found on their website.

It looks like the Academy is trying to keep the classes small. This would be a great plce to learn some new stuff or brush up on your brush work.

Small works - Call for artists

CALL FOR ARTISTS - TOM MUSEUM SMALL WORKS SHOW - APRIL 2007

The Tom Museum will be holding a small works show for local artists in
April of 2007. All artists are eligible to enter one piece. All pieces
must be wall mountable and must not exceed 4"x4"x4". All works must be
dropped off in person April 5th and 6th from 11am to 3pm at The Tom
Museum. Pickup after the show will take place April 30th and May 1st
from 11am to 3pm at The Tom Museum. Space is available on a first
come, first served basis. A reception will take place Saturday, April
28th from 8pm to 10pm. Cost of entry is $10. THE MATTRESS FACTORY WILL
NOT BE HANDLING SMALL WORKS ARTWORK. ALL INQUIRES ABOUT THE SHOW MUST
BE MADE TO THE TOM MUSEUM. FOR MORE INFO CONTACT TOM.

Tom Sarver
Director, The Tom Museum
410 Sampsonia Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
www.tommuseum.com

Free fall

The Rand Corporation recently published a report, Arts and Culture in the Metropolis - Strategies for Sustainability, which is available online. The report, which compared Philadelphia with ten other urban areas comparable in size, includes Pittsurgh as part of the study. The report analyzes the systems of support for the arts.

There are a large number of foundations in Pittsburgh as well as Philadelphia, many of which support the arts in some form. Some support only education initiatives, some support public programs. The public progrms encompass visual, performing and literary arts.

Unfortunately, foundation support is declining. Many of these organizations are in a position of having to develop new arenas of support for their endeavors. Pittsburgh, with its low median income, lacks indigenous support. You can see this when you go to gallery exhibits. Direct support of artists, through the purchase of artwork, is sadly lacking. A red dot is an occasion to celebrate because of its so-rare occurence.

The current exhibit at SPACE gallery, Home Away, expresses this in a very indirect way. The curator and artists in the exhibit have not posted a pice list. And if you ask the gallery attendant for a price, your inquiry will be met with a flurry of embarassed activity as the attendant makes a number of phone calls tracking down the answer to your question.

The Post Gazette has an article about the Rand report with responses from Mr. McMahon, the President of the Cultural Trust. Some of the statistics quoted in the article give a very clear snapshot of the reasons for the lack of support. Like the highest per capita number of organizations per resident and the decided lack of cooperation among the organizations.

The solution for this dilemma is an elusive one. The Rand Corporation's conclusion that the arts would be well served if there was a strong central agency is a sound one. However, that conclusion is not neccessarily a solution. It would certainly help the arts organizations to have a strong central leadership and to coordinate their activites and promotions more closely. Individual support for the arts is what needs to be nurtured.

Pittsburgh Community Gallery Project Kick-Off Reception

Last week, I posted about this really terrific project that is happening in the Hill District and other Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Well, here are some images from the wonderful kick-off event at the Hill House on Saturday March 3. The grand finale will be a reception for the children at the Hill House on Saturday March 31.

The kids will be working with Deanna Mance, Biko, Tim Fabian and Christine Bethea on Saturdays through March. Tasha Watkins is assisting all of the artists at their workshops. And on April 7, we will be holding Pittsburgh Soars, a kite-flying extravaganza. Denys Candy from the Find the Rivers project has located three flying sites in the Hill District.

So get out your calendar and write down the dates!

A special guest, one of the puppets that Cheryl Cappezutti made for Pittsburgh Roars.
Evan Frazier (Hill House) and Lissa Rosenthal (Pittsburgh Roars)
Bill Peduto stopped by to say hello
Vanessa German's Migration project
Christine Bethea's Seussville on the Hill project
Suan Constanse Origami elephant herd