Moving!

I'm moving my blog to my newly redesigned website, keeping everything in one place.  In the Blog section, I'll continue to blog about the art I see that inspires me, as well as my own work and personal inspiration.  Thank you for following me here, and I hope you'll follow me over there!  www.sonjasweterlitsch.com

ROUS @ Fe Gallery

("My Future Friend" by Ben Katz, on display in "ROUS" at Fe Gallery)

Last night we went to the opening party for ROBOTS of Unusual Sizes, curated by Mel Luke, at Fe Gallery in Lawrenceville.  It is a fun and dynamic exhibit, with sculpture, painting, mechanical art and plenty of surprises, including real working robots!

(Robots in motion by Don Jones)

(Robot by Toby Fraley)

Brian Brown: New Paintings

postcard image for Brian Brown: New Paintings


Brian Brown: New Paintings opens this Friday at 709 Penn Gallery.  Reception 6pm-8pm.  See you there!

2012 Three Rivers Arts Festival

It was a wonderful festival!  Here are a few of my snapshots:

String Chair by Wade Kramm, Best in Show winner of the Juried Visual Art Exhibition

Euthenic Device by Jason Lee, Juror's Choice Award (selected by Linda Benedict-Jones)

Collaboration 4 by Allison Terndrup and Elizabeth Plakidas (selected by Murray Horne)

               

Backboard by Ron Hollingshead, Juror's Choice Award (selected by Michael Olijnyk)

J. Seward Johnson sculptures at Gateway Center added to the ambiance and fun!  His characters seamlessly blended into the crowd, delighting festival-goers...

Dee Briggs brought her elegant abstract sculpture to the Festival this year.  "Two Rings" was beautiful from every angle, and complemented the cityscape perfectly...

The sun was shining on the Artists Market...

Green was more than a color at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, the most environmentally conscious event of its kind...

Recycling receptacle designed by artist Sherry Rusinack
(also in picture above)

Recycling receptacle and robot designed by artist Don Jones

Students brought their portable easels for a plein air painting workshop taught by Ron Donoghue, part of the Trust Arts Education Center's 2nd Saturday Workshop Series...

With hundreds of thousands of visitors, over 400 artists, and excellent music every afternoon and night, the 2012 Three Rivers Arts Festival was another great success, truly Pittsburgh's grand kick-off to summer!

 

2012 Three Rivers Arts Festival

The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival is almost here!  10 days of art, music, and fun in Downtown Pittsburgh, June 1-10.

Sooo excited for this year's Artists Market and Juried Visual Art Exhibition!

It's always an honor to help make my favorite event happen, a party for the city!  So much hard work and love from so many people goes into it.  I hope it's a fun and art-filled summer for the festival-goers, a creative and prosperous one for the artists, and an all around great time for everyone!

Impressionism: In a New Light @ CMA

Impressionism: In a New Light is a wonderful exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art which highlights the radical nature of the Impressionist movement. These now familiar and well-loved painters were indeed considered "shocking" in their time, introducing a new way of painting, a new way of seeing, and personal expression through the emotional power of color.  (So "shocking" in fact, legend has it, that a viewer of an Impressionist exhibition reacted to seeing the new paintings by running out into the street and biting another man on the leg, driven "mad" by those loose colors!  Imagine that!)

What is particularly exciting about this exhibition (which is surprisingly and delightfully extensive - a merit to the Carnegie's own collection), is the parallel it draws between Impressionism and Pictorialism, with several beautiful images by photographers Stieglitz, Cameron, and Käsebier.  

In the last room, Monet's Waterlilies are lovingly displayed on a curved wall reminiscent of the Musee de l'Orangerie.

Pittsburgh Sketch Crawl this Saturday

Looking forward to the Pittsburgh Sketch Crawl this weekend, a 6-hour drawing marathon through downtown Pittsburgh!  I just completed the map, and it's going to be very visually inspiring, and I just saw the weather report, and it's going to be gorgeous! Perfect! The Sketch Crawl is FREE to participate, a Second Saturday Art Workshop presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Education Dept. Illustrator Rick Antolic will be on hand to help participants with their drawings. Pre-register here: http://trustarts.culturaldistrict.org/event/3296/pittsburgh-sketch-crawl-workshop

2012 Juried Biennial - Westmoreland Museum of Art

Daniel Marsula, Father and Son, 2011, Oil on canvas

(on display in the 2012 Juried Biennial at the Westmoreland Museum of Art)


Just got back from a very enjoyable day trip to Greensburg to see the Juried Biennial at the Westmoreland Museum of Art.  The Biennial offers a look at the amazing work being created by contemporary local artists, which is very diverse, making for an eclectic, fun exhibit.  The above image, by Daniel Marsula, was one of our favorites.


We also visited the museum's permanent collection, which now also maintains a selection of the Born of Fire exhibit from a few years back, featuring beautiful Pittsburgh scenery and a glimpse at the city's history.  It was a lovely afternoon! 

Gallery Crawl Friday!

Don't miss the Gallery Crawl this Friday night in the Cultural District, a great opportunity to catch some of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Distinctively Dutch Festival!

Caravan closes Sunday at 709

There are still a few days left to see Melissa Kuntz's solo exhibit at 709 Penn Gallery. Caravan closes on Sunday. Check out this great review of the show by Kurt Shaw in the Tribune Review:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/museums/s_788749.html

Sea Creatures & Blood Vessels: Kyle Ethan Fischer

Sea Creatures, Blood Vessels, mixed media by Kyle Ethan Fischer

In Sea Creatures & Blood Vessels, Kyle Ethan Fischer's solo show at Boxheart Gallery, the artist explores the question: "Could the allelopathic condition of auto-inhibition be a biological condition that takes place between systems in the body as they do with aquatic organisms?"

Fischer displays a new series of watercolors, predominantly blood-red, as well as several new sculptures that harken back to his earlier work incorporating handmade lace and crochet among other elements, forming sinewy body parts such as a fragile ribcage with a conch shell where the heart would be. The work draws attention to both the complexity and the fragility of the human body, created during a time of recovery. The show remains on display until March 31.

3 Miles: Dan Gaser

Silver Gelatin Photograph by Dan Gaser

3 Miles, a new series of silver gelatin photographs by Pittsburgh artist Dan Gaser, opened on Friday at Trinity Gallery in Lawrenceville. The series explores the same three miles of Rehoboth Beach, capturing remarkable, ethereal images by photographing the same subtle landscape subjects under different light, from different angles, at different times of day, and with a continually changing tide. Gaser's work encourages us to look at the familiar in new ways, as each day always offers a new view. The series will be on display until April 14.

Caravan: Melissa Kuntz

In Caravan, artist Melissa Kuntz presents a series of vacation motor homes, masterfully painted in oil. Since 2004, Kuntz has been painting and exhibiting representational works based on photographs she has taken of locations of leisure and artifice, including South Beach, Las Vegas, Coney Island, Cozumel, the New Jersey shore, Conneaut Lake, and Niagara Falls, to name a few. Her images have captured a particular aesthetic in the signage and architecture of these well-known vacation spots. Drawn to the tawdry, gaudy, cheapness associated with the decadent lifestyles that allow for vacation time, Kuntz’s new paintings presented in Caravan are an extension of this aesthetic.

Caravan is on now through April 15 at 709 Penn Gallery, presented by the Education Department of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Gallery Crawl tonight!

Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District tonight!

Be sure to check out the work of award-winning artists from the 2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival's Emerging Artist Program, Ryan Woodring and Danna Rzecznik, on display tonight only! (Trust Arts Education Center, 805-807 Liberty, 4th floor. 6-8pm)

Ryan Woodring, A Ticketless Ride. Monoprint, Pen and Ink, Wax, Oil on treated paper, 2011

Danna Rzecznik, Tea pot. Porcelain, 2012

Paper Thin Theater @ 709 Penn Gallery

Kathryn Carr, Paper Thin Theater

cut paper and light

Paper Thin Theater, a solo exhibit by Kathryn Carr, opens this Friday, Jan. 20th, at 709 Penn Gallery. Reception 6-8pm.

"Paper Thin Theater" is a collection of paper cut art by Kathryn Carr. It focuses on the art of story telling; children's tales, puppetry, opera and the stage are presented in a narrative silhouette form. Her images mix nostalgia, dreams, nightmares and fleeting memories.

The focal point of the show is a large stage with intricately cut scenes and eclectic shadow puppets that beckon the viewer to interact with them. Visitors are invited to engage and experiment with the art to make their own silhouette plays. Kathryn has also created miniature shadow puppet theaters in the form of dioramas that are lit from behind.

See you Friday!

Drawing the Clothed Figure

This Saturday, I will be teaching a workshop at the Trust Arts Education Center called "Drawing the Clothed Figure," 11am-2pm.

http://trustarts.culturaldistrict.org/event/3289/drawing-the-clothed-figure-workshop