New web site

I created a web site for my latest paintings.

I used i-web and kept it simple. I will keep adding new things to it as I go along. Here is the link!

Once you get there, click Play Slideshow.

www.sonjasweterlitsch.com

Now at Boxheart!

This painting of mine is now available through Boxheart Gallery!

Detail-

Boxheart Gallery

4523 Liberty Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA

P: 412-687-8858

boxheartexpress@earthlink.net

Pittsburgh Art in Public Places: Downtown Walking Tour

I picked up a neat little publication by Pittsburgh's Office of Public Art, a book that highlights Pittsburgh's public art and noteworthy architecture all mapped out for walking tours. It is a perfect companion for artful sight seeing around the Burgh.

Meant to be taken with you on your journey, the little 6 inch high book is filled with colorful pictures and brief but informative descriptions of each sight. Free copies can be downloaded at http://www.publicartpittsburgh.org/

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh @ Carnegie Museum of Art

The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh's 100th Anniversary Exhibition opened yesterday at the Carnegie Museum of Art. It is an elegant showcase of exciting work by local artists.

There is a catalog which accompanies the exhibit that is so well produced, I was surprised that it was free. Certainly a lot of care went into this exhibit, making their centennial a special celebration.

Check out the award winners here:

http://www.aapgh.org/pages/exhibition-awards

Fiberart International

Indian Summer by Jóh Ricci, United States (PA)

The Fiberart International, organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, inc., is a must-see exhibit. It is shared between two venues - Society for Contemporary Craft and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts - and it lasts through August 22.

Check out the on-line catalog of works here:

http://fiberartinternational.org/exhibits

And see more of Jóh Ricci's beautiful work here:

http://johricci.embarqspace.com/

Gallery Crawl this Friday!

Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District this Friday!!
Click here for a full list of events: http://www.pgharts.org/education/gallerycrawl.aspx

The footprint is expanding to include the D.H. Lawrence Convention Center. Handmade Arcade will be there making these cute totes with a special design label screen-printed by hand.

Vanessa German's solo show @ 709 Penn Gallery

Some photos from Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop: Everything Useful for Your Modern Household, Vanessa German's solo exhibit at 709 Penn Gallery...

Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop

Vanessa German, Crisco for Cakes Frying Pastry, mixed media, 2010 (above image)

Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop:

Everything Useful for Your Modern Household

Installation and performance by Vanessa German

709 Penn Gallery
July 9 - August 30, 2010

Opening reception: Friday, July 9, 2010 (6:00-8:00 p.m.)

In Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop: Everything Useful for Your Modern Household, Vanessa German creates a historical fantasy, an imagined storefront of art objects that seem to have existed long ago. While the sculptures are “useful” with an implied function for the home, each has a spirit beyond its purpose.

The installation provokes thoughts about our interaction with the material world, what we use and how we use it, and the history within objects that have performed tasks through their use over time, as experience.

Describing the inspiration behind Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop, Vanessa German said:
“I am very interested in old things, specifically old domestic objects – the items my grandmothers and their mothers would have used to make a life and a world for the people around them, from tools to utensils, to the advertising ware of these things. I am imagining that there are stories in these items, that these stories remain present, in the skin of the objects. I think, Who used this item and why? What were they thinking and feeling while using it?

What stories are in the object? What history is in the object? Does the object do the obvious-stated thing in the clear and obvious way? Or, does it also work in a spiritual way? I imagine that these objects are the power objects of my life and imagination – that they are imbued with levels of purpose and intention – doing the stated useful thing and infinitely more.”

Vanessa German is a nationally recognized Pittsburgh-based multi-disciplinary artist, well known as a sculptor, photographer, performance artist and poet. Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop: Everything Useful for Your Modern Household, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Dept. of Education and Community Engagement, opens on Friday.