Pittsburgh, PA

The Silk Screen Film Festival is back in Pittsburgh from May 9th through the 18th. The festival showcases the cinematic achievements of filmmakers from all over the world, exploring the depths of the Asian-American experience.

The films will be shown at the Harris Theater, Melwood Screening Room, Regent Square Theater and at the Warhol. A complete film schedule can be found here, but I’d like to highlight a couple I think would be interesting.

Getting Home: Based on a true story. In Zhang Yang’s quasi-philosophical road comedy, working-class stiff Zhao (the famous Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan) is shocked when his drinking buddy and co-worker drops dead during a routine night out. Zhoa owes it to his long-time friend to transport his corpse to its final resting place. Director Zhang Yang also made the critically acclaimed Shower.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon: In her first feature film, director Joy Deitrich paints a nuanced portrait of a female Korean adoptee who must confront her damaged past. Estranged from her family due to a childhood indiscretion with her white brother, Jenny Mason seeks to regain a sense of home by exploring ties with the Asian Americans she meets in her new apartment building, until suddenly, her brother shows up at the door, stirring up long lost feelings that she has tried to bury.

Ploy: Director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s psychological drama wherein three strangers are locked inside one hotel room. It starts with subtle suspicions and builds up to jealousy, as the appearance of a young woman triggers devastating consequences for a married couple.

In addition to providing thoughtful and memorable films to the Pittsburgh region, Silk Screen also has these goals in mind:

* Educate communities – Asian American and mainstream, local and national - about Asian and Asian American history, culture, experiences and issues;
* Bring Asian cultural education experiences to area schools and universities;
* Support ongoing development of Asian and Asian American independent cinema;
* Foster understanding across lines of race, ethnicity, religion, age, and region by bringing together the various Asian communities and the population at large within the Pittsburgh region;
* Sustain growth and encourage excellence in Asian American culture and Pittsburgh’s place within it. As the Festival grows, to become a full celebration of Asian heritage, build a more dynamic and multicultural community, and make Silk Screen a traveling event across the Commonwealth.

Neat!

For more information on showtimes, ticket prices, etc visit Silk Screen’s website here.

Don’t forget to visit Zombo Gallery this weekend to check out Ian Green’s exhibition!

Pittsburgh, Silk Screen, Asian American, film, festival

The two subjects don’t normally coincide with each other, but they will tonight at PNC Park.

Here’s the official press release on this interesting combination:

Eight works of art are now on display on Pittsburgh-area billboards as a result of a collaboration between School of Art students at Carnegie Mellon University and Lamar Outdoor Advertising. This is the second time in as many years that School of Art students have had the opportunity to make their art visible to tens of thousands of people around Pittsburgh every day.

“Lamar Outdoor Advertising is providing a unique opportunity to our students,” said Visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Sperandio. “No other art students in the country are making new artworks as billboards, and certainly not on a scale like this.”

The project began last year, when Sperandio contacted Lamar Outdoor Advertising about using billboards as a way to train students in creating new graphic artwork for a general public. Lamar provided four 11′ by 24′ billboards in locations around Pittsburgh. This year, Lamar doubled its contribution to eight billboards, and Sperandio, along with School of Art associate professors Ayanah Moor and Kim Beck, have engaged their sophomore printmaking students in the task of making new artworks for billboards.

“The School of Art is really lucky to have the support of Lamar Outdoor. It’s not only an opportunity for our students to think about art-making beyond the traditional definitions, but a great way for them to experience corporate generosity first hand,” Beck said.

For the billboards, students designed new art specifically for a Pittsburgh audience. Forty students competed for the eight billboards. The winners were chosen by Elizabeth Thomas, the Phyllis Wattis MATRIX Curator in Berkeley, California.

“Carnegie Mellon has a long history of fostering the inter-relationship of art and public life. These collected works, which take advantage of scale, visibility and conventions of commerce, will no doubt provide Pittsburgh drivers with fodder for reflection, amusement and engagement,” said Thomas, former associate curator of contemporary art at the Carnegie Museum of Art and a guest curator at The Andy Warhol Museum.

A sample of the billboard art descriptions by the artists themselves:

“My Secret” by sophomore Alissa Osial
“The work looks like a partially destroyed billboard. The viewer can read ‘My secret is I like…’ but the rest of the message has been ripped away. The viewer is able to interact with this piece by creating their own message, letting them imagine what the secret is. I am not telling the viewer what I am hiding, or what the meaning is. I want to leave it up to them to decide that.”

“Chaos” by sophomore Robin Scheines
“My billboard is a drawing of a seated man, and all around him is a chaotic cityscape. This work is about the viewer and their relationship to the urban environment. The seated man surrounded by the bustling city is meant to invite viewers to pause for a moment, and listen to their environment. To enjoy the present even in so much chaos and movement.”

“Popular” by junior Terry Boyd
“My billboard is a fake graffiti tag on an existing billboard. By creating this image in the comfort of my studio and superimposing it digitally on an existing billboard image, I have eliminated the danger and risk associated with vandalism. I’m trying to buy street cred by defacing a modest advertisement with an image of wealth and hedonism.”

“Sprawl” by junior Ryan Woodring
“For my billboard design, I wanted the flooded suburbs to leak back out on to the highways. It would be interesting to see an entire neighborhood of these images all projecting themselves out on to the street. By eliminating the role of perceived space within the image, the billboard hopefully reads more like the facade of a house and less like a copied image.”

“Say Something” by sophomore Jessica Jackson
“My billboard features brightly colored demonstrators holding up signs that read: ‘Say something, anything.’ I made it to show my respect for those of us who put ourselves out there and tell people what they think. I want viewers to be reminded that they have the right, and really the responsibility to voice their opinions about their concerns.”

The event is free and open to the public. The Warhol will host an after party from 9 to 11 p.m. at the museum.

“PNC Park is a unique venue for video art. You don’t typically expect to see art at the baseball stadium, but it’s an amazing experience,” said Jill Kraus Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Christopher Sperandio. As far as we know, no other art school in the country is using an 85” x 35” high-definition screen as a venue for student and faculty art work.

For more information, visit CMU’s website here.

And speaking of art, check out one of my previous posts here on submitting work to various local projects.

Pittsburgh, art, PNC Park, Carnegie Mellon University

Before I forget, there are a couple of announcements and reminders I wanted to make before I continued posting bios for Women’s History Month.

First off, the Mueck exhibit at the Andy Warhol Museum is closing this Sunday and I’ve heard it’s something you don’t want to miss.

Ron Mueck is most known for his gigantic sculptures, which feature realistic looking people doing various things, but in enormous proportions. The exhibit at the Warhol includes, In Bed, Spooning Couple, A Girl, Wild Man, Man in a Boat, Mask II and Mask II. You can visit the Warhol’s website to see more detailed descriptions.

The Warhol’s hours are as follows:

Saturday & Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday: 10am-5pm
Friday: 10am-10pm
Closed Mondays

Admission:

Adults: $15
Senior Citizens: $9
Students & Children (3-18): $8
Good Fridays: Half price bet. 5-10pm

The Warhol Museum is located at 117 Sandusky Street on the North Shore.
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Also, I wanted to remind everyone that the City Salon deadline is tomorrow. I posted information on the project in the beginning the month here. For more information on the City Salon, visit the Academy of the South Side’s website.

There is also an arts and crafts expo going on this weekend at the Expo Mart in Monroeville featuring over 180 booths. Visit their website for more information on vendors, hours and more.

And last, but not least I wanted to let everyone know of a poetry reading that is taking place Friday at 7:30 at the ARTspace and Coffeehouse in Point Breeze. I learned of the poet Anita Gevauden Byerly on WYEP the other night and really enjoyed her poetry so I thought I’d pass the information along. Admission is free and there will be signings of her latest chapbook, October Light. I wish I could go!

Pittsburgh, Ron Mueck, Warhol Museum, City Salon, Academy of the South Side, Expo Mart, arts, crafts, October Light, Anita G. Byerly, poetry

After Emily’s post about the controversy at the Science Center I decide to cover some positive news about the place. I was reading in that Post how it took Patty Rogers a year to build a scale model of the Forbes Field. What makes this amazing is that she did it without any help. Now that’s what I call dedication. Read the story to get all the details I left out.

The ballpark is going to be part of the miniature railroad which opens November 23 at the Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Ave., North Side. Information: www.CarnegieScienceCenter.org or 412-237-3400.

Since Forbes Field was before my time and I am sure it is for a lot of the readers of this blog I looked for some facts about it on Google. I found two website (one, two) that have some detailed information about Forbes field. One that jumped out at me was how it was the first steel constructed ballparks ending the era of wood construction. I can’t imagine a stadium being made of wood. Check out the two links for more fun facts and pictures.

Also at the Carnegie Science Center Theater:

Dinosaurs ALIVE! IMAX® - This is about Dinosaurs and it made by the same animator of the awesome Discovery Channel shows. If I had the money I would go to this, I don’t think guys ever outgrow their love of dinosaurs.

SEA Monsters IMAX® - This takes viewers millions of years into the past and thousands of feet below the surface to explore sea-going dinosaurs. Wow I changed my mind, if I had the money I would see both of these movies!

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Science Center, dinosaurs, sea monsters, North Shore, exhibit, Forbes Field

…that is the question facing many Pittsburghers, as well as concerned patrons of museums worldwide.

Bodies…The Exhibition is a showcase of real human bodies, that have been dissected and preserved for your viewing pleasure! According to the Science Center, the exhibit will “enlighten, empower and inspire,” obviously directed to the visitor and not to the dead bodies being displayed.

According to the Science Center’s press release: Visitors in-and-around the Pittsburgh region will have a unique opportunity to come face-to-face with approximately 15 polymer-preserved human bodies, and 200 additional organs and partial specimens in a way they never have before. These meticulously dissected bodies are preserved through an innovative process called polymer preservation and are respectfully presented. Visitors will have the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems. This up-close look inside the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, and circulatory systems clearly shows how lifestyle choices directly affect our health.

However, there has been major controversy surrounding the way the bodies have been acquired and the question has been raised whether these bodies have been obtained in a conscientious and legal manner.

The controversy has prompted more than questions, in fact Elaine Catz, an eleven year employee of the Science Center has resigned over the issue. She says:

“We don’t know how these people died or why they died, and I don’t think Premier knows, either,” she said, referring to the company, Premier Exhibitions of Atlanta, that is presenting the show. “Before we put our stamp of approval on it, there should be a high burden of proof on Premier.”

I will rarely quote the Catholic Diocese, but I think they have a point here:

The cadavers come from China, a country with an atrocious record on human rights. Though the exhibition’s organizers have stated otherwise, it is difficult to determine satisfactorily whether the bodies are the result of human rights abuses.

Even if the cadavers were not victims of political repression, they would more than likely be from China’s poor. The right to dignity in the treatment of a deceased body is not waived because of poverty.

The exhibition has a website, which further discusses the exhibit, but not the controversy surrounding it.

Another one of the blogs in the 451 press commented on this exhibit as well, so check it out here.

And lastly, I honestly don’t know whether I’ll be visiting this exhibit or not. My fascination with anatomy and understanding things may outweigh the social and moral concerns surrounding the exhibit, but I don’t know. It’s going to be a tough call.

I just think it’s really sad how these bodies ended up on display for a bunch of people who never understood their lives or what they possibly had to go through to be in the place they’re in right now. I understand that they’re dead and it’s too late for them, but is there no dignity left for the imprisoned, the sick and abused even in death?

Ok I’ve made up my mind with that last thought. Unless I could know for sure whether these people consented to being put on display, I’m going to have to pass on going. It’s not worth understanding human anatomy in this way, no matter how mind-blowing the techniques may be. Although we try to understand human life through science, we shouldn’t hold that aim higher than holding our fellow human beings with respect.

But that’s just my opinion.

The exhibit is open daily from 10am-9pm.

The Carnegie Science Center is located at 1 Allegheny Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212. Their hours and ticket information can be found here.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Science Center, Bodies: The Exhibition, North Shore, controversy, health, bodies

Two exhibits come to a close this weekend at the Warhol and I think both of them are at least semi-interesting, so if you don’t have a picnic or party to go to this weekend, I say check them out.

The first one is titled “Personal Jesus: The Religious Art of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol” and features each artist’s take on religion and spirituality in their lives. According to the Warhol’s website, Hering’s work will include Andy Mouse, Apocalypse, Prophets of Rage, The Blueprint drawings, Totem, as well as a couple of untitled pieces and a self-portrait.

Warhol’s work will include Cross, The Last Supper, Madonna and Child, as well as numerous other works of art.

The second exhibit titled “Carryin’ On” captures the essence of the Black queer experience in Pittsburgh, namely through photographs taken during the 1930’s, 40’s and then later on in 1975 with Warhol’s series Ladies and Gentlemen.
Photographers featured in the exhibit include Charles “Teenie” Harris and Samuel Fosso.

Both of these exhibits close this Sunday. The hours and admission prices for the museum are listed below courtesy of the Warhol’s website.

Sunday — 10:00am - 5:00pm
Monday — Closed
Tuesday — 10:00am - 5:00pm
Wednesday — 10:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday — 10:00am - 5:00pm
Friday — 10:00am - 10:00pm
Saturday — 10:00am - 5:00pm

Adults — $12
Senior citizens (55+) — $9
Students with valid ID — $8
Children (children 3 - 18) — $8
Members of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh - Free
Fridays — 5:00pm - 10:00pm Half-Price as part of the special Good Fridays program.

More information can be found on the Warhol’s website here.

Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Personal Jesus, Pittsburgh, queer, Hill District, Samuel Fosso, Charles Teenie Harris, art, North Shore

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is sponsoring a series of Neighborhood Forums, the first of which will be held in the North Side tonight. There will be information about the initiative, Neighborhoods First Agenda and there will be input from the Mayor on the current conditions and future of the community. There will be a series of ten community conversations throughout Pittsburgh neighborhoods in the coming months.

For any readers who live in the city of Pittsburgh, you might want to participate in one of the following forums:

July 19 – North Side
August 1 – Downtown, North Shore & Strip
August 29 – Southside Flats, Slopes, Hilltop, Mt. Washington & Duquesne Heights
September 5 – Upper East End (Lawrenceville, Morningside, Garfield, Friendship, Bloomfield, Highland Park)
September 19 – 31st Ward, Hazelwood, Glen Hazel
September 24 – West Pittsburgh
October 24 – East End (East Liberty, Larimer, Lincoln Lemington, Homewood, Brushton and East Hills)
November 7 – Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Greenfield, Swisshelm Park, Point Breeze, Regent Square
December 5 - South Hills (Brookline, Beechview, Banksville, Overbrook, Carrick)
December TBD – Oakland, Hill and Uptown

These forums will be listed in the “community events” calendars of the Post-Gazette and Tribune Review ahead of time.

Thursday, July 19th
6:30 -7:30 pm
Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall at The Priory
614 Pressley Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

For more information contact:
Jennifer Watson
Neighborhood Initiatives Coordinator
Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
412-255-4765
Jennifer.Watson@city.pittsburgh.pa.us

The following information was taken from the websites of the Post-Gazette and Progress Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh, neighborhood forum, Luke Ravenstahl, mayor, North Side, downtown, North Shore, South Side, South Hills, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Oakland, Point Breeze, Strip District, Mt. Washington, Duquesne, Upper East End, East End, Hill district, Hazelwood

McFadden’s down in the North Shore is hosting a weekly girl’s night out event on Thursdays, aka tonight. The event runs from 6-9pm and there is no cover, which makes it sound great already.

According to the flyer on their website, there are $4 Grey Goose cocktails, two for one martinis, free massages, an appetizer buffet and free gift certificates to hair and nail salons, beauty spas and more.

Men are not excluded from the bar during this time, because obviously women need some eye candy during their fun night out and if the women themselves were not enough incentive, they are offering imported beer for $3 for the men.

Does anyone think it’s kinda funny how women get the cocktail and martini specials and men get the beer special..what about the women who like beer?? I guess some stereotypes will never change…

Regardless, ladies you should check out this event. I think the men in this town are taking us for granted and it’s time to show them what’s what! Just don’t embarrass yourselves too much with the drink specials.

McFaddens, Pittsburgh, North Shore, Crimson Cocktails, Girl’s night out, Grey Goose

Unlike Mosley, I actually enjoy going to clubs and overly crowded bars, so Calico Jack’s is mine to talk about!

This “cantina” is the newest installment to the expanding nightlife that is the North Shore. No longer just a place to go watch a game or head to your local sports bar; it’s going to be the new place to be and I for one, am excited about it.

Calico Jack’s is a franchise and is owned by the same people who own McFadden’s, which collectively, have locations all over the country. Despite being niche-like places: Calico Jack’s is Mexican and tropical themed and McFadden’s is a an Irish, blown out of proportions pub, they still are a welcome change to the same old bars you’d find in other neighborhoods.

This weekend Calico Jack’s will be featuring a Shake it Like Shakira contest on Friday, where the winner can win $1,000. If I was still in shape, I’d so be there.
Saturday they’re having another contest that involves Brutus the Mechanical Bull and sounds way less fun to an accident prone girl like me.

Regardless of whether you want to join in on the fun contests or not, there will at least be the drink specials. Over 30 variations of margaritas for $3 before 10 and if you happened to pick up the City Paper, there was a postcard for you to redeem your first margarita free AND a $25 gift certificate. And according to Calico Jack’s there will be “a waterfront patio, indoor waterfalls, a huge island bar and fish taco stands.”

I dunno about the fish taco stands, but the rest sounds like fun. Go to calicojackspitt.com for more info.

Calico Jacks, drink specials, bar, North Shore, Pittsburgh, City Paper