Stephanie Armbruster: In Search of Something More at 709 Penn Gallery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Veronica Corpuz

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

(412) 471-6082

corpuz@pgharts.org

Stephanie Armbruster: In Search of Something More

July 15 – September 11, 2011

709 Penn Gallery

709 Penn Avenue at Seventh Street

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District

Artist reception on [July 15, 2011 5:30-9:00p.m.]



PITTSBURGH, PA -- Cheap rent. Budget glam. Demolition. Artist Stephanie Armbruster embraces the challenges and opportunities as a rustbelt city native in her solo exhibit, In Search of Something More. Influenced by street art, design and documentary photography, Stephanie Armbruster’s new series of encaustic paintings, is a self-described “reckless commentary inspired by the absurdities of urban life, random encounters and the tension of the city in a state of flux.”

Recollections of urban living come together in a stream of consciousness rant of vibrant layers riddled with overbearing typography and architectural elements. That her art studio is located in gritty, survivalist Braddock provides an added layer of inspiration. Founded upon her various urban-centric experiences, the city depicted in Stephanie Armbruster’s work is informed as much by fiction as reality; the urban environment portrayed in films, books, and song lyrics merges with memory and documentation. Hip-hop and electronic music provide the soundtrack to her work, while street art inspires a playful merging of images and architecture.

About Stephanie Armbruster

Stephanie Armbruster firmly believes that buildings and other structures have relationships with each other. She is deeply amused by pictures of people dressed up in costumes, has an obsession with goldfish, and never sleeps as well as she’d like. Stephanie is in love with typography and architecture and finds endless inspiration in exploring urban spaces, populations and visual textures. Stephanie received her BFA in painting and printmaking from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006, has a studio at UnSmoke Artspace in Braddock, PA and grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, OH. Her recent projects and exhibits include the Flight School for Artists Residency and Mattress Factory Gestures 13.

Visit stephaniearmbruster.com for more information.

GALLERY DETAILS

709 Penn Gallery is located on 709 Penn Ave. / Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District

Hours: Wed. & Thurs. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun.11 a.m.–5 p.m.



709 Penn Gallery is a Project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Education & Community Engagement department. Funding for In Search of Something More has been provided in part by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Artist Opportunity Grant.

EXHIBIT DETAILS

July 15 – September 11, 2011

Artist reception [July 15, 2011 5:30-9:00p.m.]

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Cultural Trust Legal Society Pledge Support for the Arts

Contact:

Veronica Corpuz,

412-471-6082

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces new funding support: The Trust’s new Legal Society to raise $1,200,000 in support for the Trust


PITTSBURGH, PA: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has announced the commencement of the “Cultural Trust Legal Society,” a group of the Pittsburgh region’s most prominent law firms that has collaborated on a visionary program to support the mission of the Cultural Trust. The Legal Society consists of 18 of Pittsburgh’s leading law firms that have pledged $240,000 in annual support to the Cultural Trust through 2015.


Spearheaded by volunteer board members Chester R. Babst and Thomas L. VanKirk, the Cultural Trust Legal Society was created in response to the shifting landscape of the economic environment and financial support for the arts. The Legal Society is one initiative among many that the Cultural Trust has instituted to balance its $51-million operating budget.


"The Legal Society members recognize the tremendous contribution the Cultural Trust has made to the quality of life in our region—for residents, visitors and members of the business community,” said Mr. Babst, a founding shareholder of Babst Calland. “The member firms of the newly-formed Legal Society recognize the significant benefits created by the Trust and have joined together to pledge their financial support so that this wonderful organization can continue to provide the region with world-class performing and visual arts events, as well as redevelop major sections of downtown Pittsburgh.”


“We’re extremely grateful for the generosity of the Legal Society Members,” noted J. Kevin McMahon, President and CEO, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. “Having such a significant and meaningful financial commitment come from a collective group made up of competing businesses is truly unique and clearly shows the commitment of the members of the Legal Society to this region and its residents. It is an extraordinary example of the Pittsburgh legal community taking the initiative to help support the important mission of the Cultural Trust.”

Members of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Legal Society include:

Babst Calland

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney P.C.

Cohen & Grigsby, P.C.

Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, P.C.

Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC

Flaherty & O'Hara, P.C.

Goehring Rutter & Boehm

K & L Gates LLP

Littler Mendelson P.C.

Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Pepper Hamilton LLP

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP

Reed Smith LLP

Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP

Sherrard, German & Kelly, P.C.

The Webb Law Firm, P.C.

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

(As of July 5, 2011)



Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust offers a wide range of performing and visual arts, has restored the Cultural District in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh through the acquisition and development of real estate and serves as a steward of the investments and collaborations that continue to enhance the Cultural District neighborhood.

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Bovey Lee Presents Solo Exhibition "Paper Streets"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contact:

Veronica Corpuz
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
corpuz@pgharts.org
412-471-6082



Bovey Lee: “Paper Streets”

709 Penn Gallery, 709 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District

April 15-May 22, 2011


Pittsburgh, PA: To commemorate her 10th anniversary as a Pittsburgh resident, Bovey Lee presents "Paper Streets," a solo exhibition of new work based on her visual cataloging of the city and its region's topographical complexity. Her first exhibition at The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 709 Penn Gallery, “Paper Streets” showcases Bovey Lee’s modern interpretations crafted in the intricate and ancient art of Chinese paper cutting. The show opens on Friday, April 15, 2011, with an artist reception from 6-8 p.m., and concludes on May 22.

Using cut paper as her medium, Lee hand cut over 600 paper objects to create installations that explore resolute themes such as the geography's influence on life in the region and the city's constant efforts to recreate itself. More light-hearted works look at the practice of deploying folding chairs in the streets to claim parking spaces and seats along parade routes. The exhibition’s title comes from the so-called paper streets that are plunging staircases or walkways on maps considered as valid streets in Pittsburgh.

“The underlying themes in my paper cutouts are power, sacrifice, and survival,” the artist notes. “Drawing ideas from my cultural identity and gender, headline news, environmental issues, and socio-political commentaries, I painstakingly hand cut each work on a single sheet of paper that depicts layered and dramatic narratives. The deep paradoxes in my works contrast starkly with the airy, fragile laces of the cutouts.”

Bovey Lee works with rice paper, because the material is both culturally significant and sustainable. Handmade from mulberry tree bark, rice paper is tissue thin, dense, and soft to the touch. Silk is mounted to the back of the paper to add resilience and silk is also renewable.

Her creative process is three-fold: hand drawing, digital rendering, and hand cutting. She begins by sketching before creating a digital template, which serves as a visual guide, comprising downloaded images, her own digital photographs, scans from magazines and books, and vector graphics. The final step consists of several hours of hand-cutting the image with an X-acto knife.

Bovey Lee has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland; National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK; Museum Rijswijk, The Netherlands; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing, China; Fukuoka Museum of Art, Fukuoka, Japan; Hong Kong Museum of Art; Asian American Arts Center, New York; Rossi & Rossi, London, UK; Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco; and many others.

Her work has been recognized with grants and awards from the Ruth & Harold Chenven Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Vira I. Heinz Endowment, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the Asian American Arts Center in New York.

Bovey Lee graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1991. In 1995, she received a MFA in painting from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2000, Bovey earned a second MFA in digital arts from Pratt Institute in New York.
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Art Teacher In-Service Day Links Educators to Their Creativity Side

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contact: Melissa Marullo
412.969.2530
mam@judith-kelly.com

Society for Contemporary Craft Holds Art Teacher In-Service Day

Educators Go Back to Their Roots as Artists

(PITTSBURGH, PA) January 10, 2011 – Art teachers are known for their ability to bring out the creativity in their students by showing them different forms of art, techniques, and how to express themselves. However, these teachers aren’t strictly educators, but they are artists themselves, and like to be reminded that every so often.

In the summer of 2008, the Society of Contemporary Craft (SCC) created the art teacher in- service day, where teachers from any school district are able to come to a workshop to rediscover their own creativity while learning new techniques and processes. Now, the teacher in-service day is known as one of the best workshops art teachers participate in for Act 48 professional development credit.

On Monday, January 17th, art teachers are invited to attend a workshop instructed by visiting or local instructors, hosted by the SCC in which they are able to get creative, work with their hands, and visit with other art teachers around the area. Each workshop provides seven Act 48 credits and information on how to adapt the learned techniques to the classroom.

Mary Ann Andreassi, art teacher at Pine-Richland High School, has attended multiple workshops, and finds the Teacher In-Service day to be very beneficial.

“Over the past 13 years of being a high school visual arts teacher, it has been challenging to find affordable enriching art experiences that build my own skill level and give me the tools needed to keep my students up to date with techniques and materials that contemporary artists are currently using,” Andreassi says.

Pieces made in the workshop will be exhibited in the downstairs studio exhibition space during the SCC 2011 Bridge Exhibition Series from April 16 - October 24th.

Andreassi says, “Workshops like these make me a more productive teacher, they give me skills to keep my students current with modern artistic practices, and they give me the reassurance and confidence as my artistic arsenal continues to grow.“

Tuition for the workshop is $140, which includes a box lunch, materials, and a gallery tour. Classes offered include:

· Needle Felting as an Art Medium [TT018] with instructor Briony Jean Foy, where participants will compose and paint with yarns and rovings to complete a landscape, portrait, or abstract composition.

· Fundamentals for Recycled Plastic Crafting [TT019] with instructor David Edgarwho will familiarize arts educators with a new way of exploring creativity using post-consumer plastics.

· Glass Beadmaking [TT020] with instructor Darlene Durrwachter-Rushing includes creating beads with hot glass and the art of flameworking with Hot Head touches.

· Splashes of Color Journal [TT021] with instructor Lily Hoy where participants will make a journal out of hand-decorated papers with a long stitch style binding.

Presenting contemporary art in craft media by international, national, and regional artists since 1971, the Society for Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focused on multicultural diversity and non-mainstream art, as well as a range of classes, community outreach programs, and a retail store. Exhibitions and family friendly hands-on art activities in a drop-in studio are always free to the public.
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Cell Phone Disco Installation Unveiled in the Cultural District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust unveils city’s first art+science interactive installation in the Cultural District

CELL PHONE DISCO

Tito and Exchange Ways

Cell Phone Disco by Informationlab (Auke Touwslager, Ursula Lavrenčič)

Engineering: Aleš Vrhovec, Janez Jazbar and Robert Unetich

PITTSBURGH, PA: This Tuesday, the Trust will unveil a large-scale light project that artfully visualizes the electromagnetic field of an active mobile phone. With funding from The Fine Foundation, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust commissioned the Netherlands-based artist collective, Informationlab, to create Cell Phone Disco, the city’s first art+science interactive installation.

“The notion of ‘Lighting’ the Cultural District is in our current five-year strategic plan and also our upcoming three-year plan," says Murray Horne, curator of the Trust’s Wood Street Galleries. “Cell Phone Disco will serve as an anchor for other potential installations that will illuminate the pedestrian pathways throughout the District.”

Cell Phone Disco joins a list of other notable lighting installations curated by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust: Sign of Light (1999) designed by Robert Wilson and Richard Gluckman, Wall of Light (1999) by Robert Wilson and Flow (2004) by Erwin Redl.

In 2006, architect Ursula Lavrenčič and information designer Auke Touwslager created the first version of Cell Phone Disco, an installation which transforms a part of the electromagnetic spectrum into another frequency range - the range of visible light. Their fascination lies with the transmission quality of the mobile phone; its presence beyond the shell of the device.

Every single mobile phone transmits radio waves in order to connect to a network and everyday millions of people around the world are broadcasting their private conversations. Here we are witnessing a unique moment in history, when transmission is no longer exclusive domain of broadcasting companies. Mobile phone connectivity became just another layer of urban landscape and substantially changed the electromagnetic topography of the environment. Cell Phone Disco has been embraced by many art galleries and museums, but with the installation in Pittsburgh, it is finally positioned in the public space where it generates a glimpse at the dynamics of the omnipresent mobile phone traffic.

For this first outdoor, site-specific art installation of Cell Phone Disco, the intersection of Tito and Exchange ways was selected for its high-volume of pedestrian traffic and the very long sight line down Exchange Way. The artists note in a statement, “We find it very interesting that in this way you can observe from a great distance electromagnetic clouds that people passing by are (unintentionally) producing.”

In order to reach the sensitivity that corresponds the urban scale and situation, the artists and a team of engineers developed a concept where an advanced receiver continuously scans input from 16 antennas along the 16 by 16’ grid. The data of the electromagnetic radiation is fed to eight processors that are embedded in the digital display. The computed values at any given point are represented through 2,304 individually controlled LED lights. What was once invisible is now detectable through the visual senses:

“We wanted to present a visualization of the electromagnetic space and blend it with the physical environment. We have enveloped the display in a two-way mirror, so when there is cell phone activity in the vicinity the light cloud appears on the top of the reflected image of the alley. In this sense the installation is a fusion of the invisible digital reality represented by LEDs and the analog world as it appears in the mirror,” the artists note in an emailed statement.

“When people see the installation and make a phone call, after they are finished, they may see the phone no longer as an object in their hands but something that is larger, something part of a much bigger invisible architecture,” says Mr. Touwslager.

Ms. Lavrenčič adds, “I hope people will enjoy walking through the alley and that Cell Phone Disco will become a natural part of the alley. From an architectural perspective, it is very interesting to see how an intervention like Cell Phone Disco can change how people move through the city.”

Informationlab is a tag that identifies the collaborative efforts of an international group operating at the shifting intersection of art, science, technology & design. Since 2004 Informationlab founders Auke Touwslager (NL) and Ursula Lavrencic (SLO) seen their efforts being adopted by different fields and audiences. As a result their Cell Phone Disco (2006) concept found its way to an international art community and to museums and galleries around the world. Most of the group collaboration is based on curiosity driven research which subsequently lead to a variety of projects, exhibitions, workshops and lectures.

In addition to being members of Informationlab both Lavrencic, an architect, and Touwslager, an information architect, run their own design studios in Amsterdam. Visit http://www.cellphonedisco.org for more information.
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Media contact:

Veronica Corpuz

Director of Public Relations

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

412-471-6082

Dollar Bank Becomes Premiere Presenting Sponsor for Three Rivers Arts Festival, June 4-13‏

Dollar Bank Becomes Premiere Presenting Sponsor for Three Rivers Arts Festival, June 4-13‏

From: Lauren Bracey (bracey@pgharts.org)

Sent: Thu 4/29/10 1:51 PM

To: jqsdreamweaver@hotmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Lauren Bracey, bracey@pgharts.org, 412-471-3591

Click here to download Programming Highlights as of April 28, 2010

Click here to browse print-resolution photographs



Dollar Bank Becomes Premiere Presenting Sponsor for

Three Rivers Arts Festival

June 4 – 13, 2010



PITTSBURGH - Community champion Dollar Bank has extended its long-standing support of Three Rivers Arts Festival, a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, by becoming the Festival's first-ever presenting sponsor. Dollar Bank's generous Festival sponsorship exemplifies the bank's commitment to Pittsburgh's rich cultural heritage and its visionary community partners.



"Dollar Bank is proud to support outstanding community partners," said Robert P. Oeler, President and CEO of Dollar Bank. "Like Dollar Bank, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has an exceptional track record with community events such as the Trust's First Night Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh International Children's Festival and now Three Rivers Arts Festival. Three Rivers Arts Festival is a time-honored tradition provides Pittsburghers a free summer destination and breaks down traditional barriers to experiencing art."



Key to Three Rivers Arts Festival's ongoing success is the strategic collaboration among the many community partners who work closely with the Festival on performing arts, producing exhibitions and curating Festival experiences, among other initiatives. According to Pittsburgh Cultural Trust President and CEO J. Kevin McMahon, Dollar Bank's substantive stake in the Festival will greatly contribute to collaborative efforts.



"Three Rivers Arts Festival is our city's largest public stage. Community collaboration is increasingly vital to the long-term survival of the Festival, which is the largest free festival of its kind in country." said McMahon. "We are grateful to Dollar Bank for its generous support, which will help us to build upon strategic community alliances for the ultimate benefit of Festival patrons for years to come."



The Festival's creativity is fueled by a growing consortium of more than 40 community partners including Sustainable Pittsburgh, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Carnegie Mellon University, Gateway to the Arts, Pennsylvania Resources Council, and Pittsburgh Filmmakers.



Among the more than 100 individual events and performances featuring more than 500 visual artists and musicians, highlights of the 2010 Festival include:



* 10 days and nights of live music featuring more than 50 individual acts and nightly headliners on the Dollar Bank Stage at Point State Park.

* The traditional Artists Market, featuring 300 artists selling original artworks and handmade fine crafts. The 2010 Artists Market features 150 different artists each weekend, two-thirds of whom are new to the Festival this year.

* The return of juried visual art and temporary public art.

* Visual arts exhibitions in galleries throughout the Cultural District, including the New Juried Visual Art Exhibition, the Art of Technology, and many more.

* The Creativity Zone at Point State Park, featuring hands-on activities for all ages and kid-friendly performances in the WQED Tent.



Demonstrating the convergence of art and sustainability, Three Rivers Arts Festival is a national leader in environmentally-conscious event production. With support from Colcom Foundation, over the past two years the Festival has diverted 83% of its garbage - more than 50 tons annually - from landfills through a comprehensive open-stream compost and recycling program. In 2010, as Pittsburgh has been selected as the North American Host City for the annual United Nations World Environment Day, Three Rivers Arts Festival will be the cornerstone of related activity including interactive and educational programming that complements the celebration's theme of "Water Matters" and related biodiversity issues.



In addition to Dollar Bank, Three Rivers Arts Festival is generously supported by the Pittsburgh community. The Trust is thankful for the generous contributions of Colcom Foundation; the Bessie F. Anathan Charitable Trust of The Pittsburgh Foundation; The Buhl Foundation; The Grable Foundation; Henry L. Hillman Foundation; Mary Hillman Jennings Foundation; and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, in addition to corporate support from Giant Eagle and the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Media partners include City Paper, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WQED Multimedia, and 91.3 WYEP-FM.



Complete programming details will be available May 6 online at artsfestival.net and by calling 412-456-6666.



About Three Rivers Arts Festival

A division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the mission of Three Rivers Arts Festival is to connect the community to the arts. The 51st annual Three Rivers Arts Festival runs from June 4-13, 2010. For more information, visit artsfestival.net.



About The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit organization whose mission is the cultural and economic development of Pittsburgh's 14-block Cultural District through public and private support. The Trust presents and encourages diverse performing and visual arts programs within the District, and is an impetus for additional development in downtown Pittsburgh.



In addition to the PNC Broadway Across America - Pittsburgh series, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents the Pittsburgh Dance Council, Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents, CD Live, JazzLive, First Night Pittsburgh, Gallery Crawl, Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater and Festival, among other Cultural District and arts events.



The Trust owns Theater Square and the Cabaret at Theater Square; the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts; Byham, O'Reilly, and Harris Theaters; Wood Street Galleries; SPACE, a visual arts gallery at 812 Liberty Avenue; and 937 Liberty, a multipurpose performance and exhibit space, among other downtown arts facilities.