Art All Weekend in Pittsburgh
Hey Yinz,
It was a very cool weekend to be Pittsburgh. If you were willing to brave the freezing (C’mon wasn’t it just 80 degrees?) weather, you had plenty of events to check out. On Friday, there was the gallery crawl dahntahn presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. From 4 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday, the 15th annual Art All Night raged on in Lawrenceville. It’s a good thing Art All Night actually went all night because it was competing with the fire festival in Homestead dubbed Pyrotopia.
Here’s a slew of photos from my most eventful Saturday night.
Cool industrial space at 40th Street and Willow in Lawrenceville
I loved the contrast of the art against the steel beams, caution tape and florescent lights.
I dig Bruce Lee art. He was such a philosopher.
Love this concept
I'm just mad about this.
One of the things I love about Art All Night is that anyone could submit art, so you could have a drawing by a four-year-old kid next to a $900 painting. “No fees. No jury. No censorship.”
The painting on the left is one of the many stellar works by my four-year-old nephew. The painting next to it is my sister, Patty's, creation. A good sense of color runs in the family.
~~~~~~~~~ Pyrotopia ~~~~~~~~~
This flame was set off with an electroencephalography (EEG) headband. It was fun to see the flame shoot up when the headband wearer (usually a kid) focused.
Pyrotopia is a new festival that featured musical acts, a torch set off by an electroencephalography (EEG) headband, a fiery game of Simon and other neat performances. The event took place at the Pump House, against the backdrop of the Rankin Bridge and the Carrie Furnace. There are some pictures I included because I thought they’d be cool for a fire version of the cloud game, where you see the objects in the abstract. Enjoy!
The Pyrotopia version of the game of Simon
Glass artist from Forms in Glass Studios (Fig Studios) in Pittsburgh
What do you see?
Evil potato smile?
Yosemite Sam?
An alien invasion (barge) passing by the Carrie Furnace
This was a fun, unique event that I would love to see again. My one greatest criticism was that the Tesla coil that was advertised was not running by 10 p.m., about when we left. There seemed to have been technical difficulties, which is rather unnerving. Does anyone know if they started the Tesla coil by the end of the night?
I hope you were able to check out some of these events this weekend and/or you’ll venture out next time.
See yinz later,
Estelle
Autumn Moon Fest in Pittsburgh
Ni hao, yinz,
The Chinese typically celebrate the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival on the 15th day of the eighth month, which was September 12, this year. As a Chinese-American girl living in Pittsburgh, I don’t usually celebrate with lanterns or a party. Every year that I’ve lived away from home, my mom just drops off a single mooncake.
This is my usual celebration:
I’m sorry that I can’t even read the characters on this cute little cake. This mooncake is about three inches in diameter and contains a solid mass of lotus seed paste. Mooncakes are often made with egg yolks but not this one.
Anyway, this year, my Mid-Autumn celebration will be special. I’ll be attending the Autumn Moon Fest Loft Party hosted by the Pittsburgh Asian Network on Friday. I’m excited to celebrate Asian culture, but I have to admit that this event is especially exciting because my sister, Patty Tran, and my three-year-old nephew will have some art on display! Here’s some more information about the featured Asian-American artists.
-Estelle
The Basics
Hey, yinz guys!
Two weeks ago, I started taking basic photography class at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. My goal for the class is to take better pictures of people. That sounds pretty obvious, but it’s an obstacle for me. When I took this picture of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg at Pitt Day in Harrisburg, I fiddled with so many settings trying to get the sharpest image in the dimly lit capitol building. This ran on the front page of the The Pitt News, and it was my first picture to get on the front page. The only thing that tainted this experience was that I had to take so many shots just to get that one worthy of A1.
My friend, Kate, is taking the class with me. She also has journalistic motivations, as a founder of Rust Wire. Check out these shots of Pittsburgh from a local artist who sees “pretty” in “gritty.”
Here are some of the shots I took as part of my first homework assignment, which taught the basics of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Yes, I know these pictures don’t feature people. I have to overcome my bashfulness to do that. Anyway, check ’em aht!
Class dismissed.
-Estelle
Pixburgh N'at 