byersd

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Zines at the Carnegie Library

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Zines at Carnegie Library

The Carnegie Museum of Art shares a massive building with both the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Library. One of my favorite things to do is to walk through the art museum’s massive Hall of Architecture and use my employee badge to open a small dark door in the back corner and then suddenly appear in the middle of a bustling public library. A few steps away, nestled in a cozy corner of the very user-friendly first floor, is the Zine Collection. There are always teenagers and others reading the zines. I love encountering these DIY, subversive, weird, brilliant little publications in the middle of the library. The collection is overseen by Jude Vachon, who does all sorts of good things with zines and art around town. Here’s a nice piece she wrote for the Post-Gazette about the library.

Next time you’re at the museum, don’t miss the zines next door.

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Posted in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Artists, Printmaking, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Outlines Gallery

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Despite a 100+ year relationship with new art, Pittsburgh has sometimes had an awkward relationship with the avant-garde. In the early 1940s, Outlines Gallery was way ahead of the Carnegie International (abstract art wasn’t really shown in the Internationals until the 1950s).

In 1941, 21-year-old Elizabeth Rockwell opened a gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This little gallery, Outlines, showcased the works of now iconic artists such as Alexander Calder, John Cage, Maya Deren, Merce Cunningham, and more. Outlines featured performances, lectures, music, and film, and it hosted many exhibits before it was finally forced to close its doors in 1947 due to lack of support. With the recent discovery of the gallery chronology and two scrapbooks kept by Elizabeth Rockwell, we embarked on a journey four years ago and have ever since been Tracing Outlines! @outlinesfilm

 

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Polish Hill, Russian icons

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Entering Polish Hill under the Bloomfield Bridge

Entering Polish Hill under the Bloomfield Bridge

I love my tiny neighborhood of Polish Hill. Nestled between the Strip District, Lawrenceville, Oakland, and the Hill District, it often feels like a little village in the middle of the city. At the top of the hill on Bethoven Street, birds chirp in rambling gardens behind brick houses, and all is quiet (except for the brass band practicing in the old garage). Slightly crumbling  public stairways make their way through leafy hills, popping out between houses. Porches face north, with an incredible panoramic view of valley, rivers, train tracks, and city. There are hidden houses at the bottom of gullies. An outdoor gallery of graffiti under the Bloomfield Bridge gives way to a community garden. I live next door to a three-story building housing Lili Coffee Shop (a café that often hosts good live music),  the excellent record store Mind Cure Records on the second floor, and Copacetic Comics on the third, with its great selection of graphic novels, comics, used and new books, cds, and the wise council of its owner Bill Boichel. And there’s almost no need to mention Gooski’s—definitely the best dive bar in a hundred-mile radius…

The neighborhood is home to a fair number of artists, musicans, chefs, filmmakers, etc. I recently came accross this short film by Julie Sokolow about the neighborhood’s resident Russian Orthodox icon painter. Pretty fascinating stuff.

And a great set of photos of the recent May Day celebrations by Polish Hill man-about-town Mark Knobil.

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Posted in Film, Pittsburgh, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Shanghai Museum

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

I’m just back from my month-long trip, which brought me from twelve days in China to Zagreb, Berlin, Kassel, Paris, Genk (Belgium), and Basel. Pittsburgh feels perfect right now—I’m happy to be home. Before I leave again for the 20th anniversary celebrations and conference at CCS Bard, I wanted to get at least one post up. Here are a few highlights from my visit to the Shanghai Museum. They have a beautiful collection, with especially incredible displays of seals, traditional costume of China’s ethnic minorities, and jade. After so many days of contemporary art, it was deeply refreshing to spend a few hours in these dark, cool galleries, with expertly crafted, soulful objects.

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Posted in Decorative Arts, Travels, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ART HK

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

I arrived in Hong Kong after a 24-hour trip from Miami (Miami to LA, LA to Hong Kong). I checked into my hotel around 10:00 PM, and finally made it out to find a late dinner around 11:00. I slept well…until I was awoken (on the 19th floor of my hotel) by celebrating Chelsea football (soccer) fans in the streets at 6:30 in the morning. Congrats, Chelsea, on the Champions League win…and for waking me up. This felt like a uniquely Hong Kong post-imperialist situation. At 11:00 AM I made my way to Art HK. A few British dealers were bleary-eyed in sunglasses, slouching in their booths. I had a crazy day of running around trying to see this enormous fair in six hours. At 2:40 I did a talk with writer HG Masters at the Art Asia Pacific booth. I was followed by artist (and Pittsburgh resident) Bill Kofmehl. Out of 35 talks, over four days, there were 6 people from the US. Two out out of six were from Pittsburgh…not bad! I got to see and talk with many galleries new to me over the course of the day.

 

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Posted in Exhibitions, Pittsburgh Artists, Travels | No Comments »