Sketching on Pittsburgh

AIA PGH Design Awards

Last Thursday, October 23rd 2014, the Pittsburgh Architectural community gathered to celebrate  the "Good Design" with a Gala and Awards. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Building was full of people from the construction scene. Not only Architects, but also Contractors, Engineers, Sponsors, Builders. Everybody under the same roof, was celebrating the winners, and the city of Pittsburgh.

The AIA of Pittsburgh hosted the event and I was honored to help in setting part of the space. My personal contribution was the creation of a pretty big map of the Burgh, 12 by 12 feet, to welcome the visitors in the Young Architect Studio Competition area, focused on Pittsburgh Rivers. Scale 1"=500'.

In the same zone of the YASC competition, there was the photography exhibition "Along the Rivers", again centered on the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers.
I helped in curating that as well, after the photos were selected by our jurors Ed Massery, Natalie Grandinetti, and Kevin Kunak.

I had the idea of such a map, and designed it. Tri-state Reprographics was very professional at printing the map and install it nicely. Despite the number of people that walked on it, and those who carefully looked for their house, the map still looked good after a month!

Here a shot from the opening night, before everybody arrived:

Below: people arriving on the 4th floor, during the September Gallery crawl in Downtown. 

Below, on the walls, some boards from the photo exhibition "Along the Rivers".

All the events, from the Gallery Crawl to the Design Awards and Gala, were really successful. On October 9th there was also a PechaKucha Night which registered a very high number of presences: 130 people! This PKN was volume 19th in Pittsburgh, organized by the AIA PGH together with the AIGA PGH. 

It was a month of celebration for the Pittsburgh Design Community.

Looking forward the next year. I will start thinking of something amazing pretty soon.

The First Art of.. the year 2014

Despite the temperatures outside weren't those to stimulate any mental faculty, I took the bus and reached the area of the Galleries along Penn Avenue. All in all, it was January the 3rd, the first Friday of the month and of the 2014: I felt like celebrating the beginning of both with a pinch of art.

Here an anthology of the interesting things I saw, in order of apparition:

• Modernformation Gallery

“Our Interconnected World: art and science at the Environmental Charter School”

Presentation of works by kids attending the “Thinking Lab” at the ECS. Students are supported as they tap their creative energies through an exploration of concepts where art and science meet. Students explored Frick Park and then reproduced their memories and sensations through watercolors. Despite the simplicity of the pieces, the overall presentation was very nice and upstanding. All the pieces were on sale, for a reasonable price. I would say that this is a nice lesson of genuine democracy of art. And for one time, I mean it in a positive way. 

I loved the many comments from the students, while and after doing their masterpieces. 

Being a very weak "watercolorer", I totally agree with the statement underneath:

•  Stuff N Such Society

(Basement of Most Wanted Fine Art)
"Darth ad Dolls"
The pieces below captured my attention because... sincerely: they are funny. My favorite piece is the Young Luke Skywalker, painted on Darth Vader. It's almost philosophy there. Almost...

Below, Jia Ji, the artist. 

• The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination

"Make Moves" by Billy Shannon

It is rare, nowadays, to find something interesting in ready-made art. But Bill Shannon did some interesting indeed, and I loved the section of the gallery in which he is displaying some of his found pieces, after being offered a second chance. I found them elegant and very expressive. And a talk with the artist allowed me to discover some stories behind some of them. 

The writing DREAM is composed with salvaged and selected letters, from a building in demolition. And the "love chair" below, was and industrial piece transformed in a comfortable seating. Much more appealing, but still reminding of how tough life (and love) can be. But apparently, it's up to us to make the things more comfortable. Some pillows will help.

Below: a gigantic panel with a scene in the middle. It's a sort of castle made of pieces found in many different occasion, and put together by recollecting memories and images.

Below: pieces found in industrial sites and along railroads. All the pieces can be found and stored for a long time, and being used only when there is a clear vision for them. Billy said that he could go back to work on certain pieces even after months. Art is never finished, in a way, and each piece is the demonstration of a life that keeps evolving, even in objects.

I love the lamp, hanging from the ceiling, but probably from much further away.

• SPACE GALLERY see more here

"Behind our scenes"

up to 01.26.14

This exhibition is all about photography, but there are some works that become almost spatial, if you consider the content and the staging of the pieces. I loved the photos by Annie O'Neil and Nacy Andrews, about an abandoned red-light theater. Some prints were very nice and the overall use of colors very pleasant and well developed. 

"Eleanor's Animal Farm" by Dennis Marsico was very interesting as well, with spatial short-circuits between the world of a 14 months old kid, and the world of adults. She is playing in her world, full of plastic animals. And a true cat, sharing its food with the toys. Other works by Dennis were also displayed, even if this was the one that most stimulated my fantasy.

Barbara Weissberger (in the image below) was displaying some photos about magic and organic collages, full of colors and hidden meanings. The overall composition was very different from piece to piece, in a pleasant complexity in front of which you can spend a fair amount of good time. 

(image above taken from the SPACE Facebook Page. ©SPACE Gallery)

• Future Tenant

"Shame of the city"

up to 01.12.14

Cool experiment of a group of artists, selected by Joseph Lupo. Each artist had to interpret a page from a comic magazine on Iron Man. Some interpretation were hilarious, other very psychological, and many were just great to see. Something to check out in person, before the exhibit closes on january 12th. If you are Downtown, stop by - you won't be disappointed.

(above: official poster from Future Tenant website. ©Future Tenant)

Elegant Kitchen and Living-Dining

A classy kitchen, with the necessary space 

to prepare perfect happy hours and basic dinners.

Urban detail in the half wall with column, made of concrete.

Black and shiny tiles on the floor, for the "wet area".

Whitish walls, treated with protective coating.

Little darker tones for the table area, for the moquette carpet and wall coating.

A big arch, with woodwork, introduces to the living-dining area.

Tall book-cases create paths to the big table and define the spaces.

A lamp by Artemide® gives the light to the dining area.

The piano near the big window is put in a panoramic position.

The living-dining is just a rectangle, 

with a half-wall with integrated book-cases to separate the functions.

Darker and warmer colors for the moquette here.

A modern living room area, with massive presence of books,

lets enough space to a TV set and stereo.

A fluffy moquette defines the space, 

to contrast with the raw cement of the walls.

On the right, a movable panel will display the last projects.

It is a little invasion of the "office area" in the living.

Compressed between the piano and the living,

here is the working area.

Big window in front of you,

for getting inspired by the city.

The sketch on the left: by Alvaro Siza. 

The space is defined by furniture and materials.

The half-wall on the right is covered with wood,

not to create conflict with the living area.

Just two shelves on top, for the most popular books:

easy to grab and offer to friends.

New Blog

http://pittsbeaurgh.blogspot.com/

It's just about what I am currently doing in Pittsburgh, 

with photos (and possibly videos) if time allows it (and a good result). 

I hope that could be inspirational for some.

Please enjoy my new personal project, and as usual: have fun!

Andy Thomas

http://andythomas.com/

Photos taken on Walnut Street (Pittsburgh, PA) at the Maser Galleries

www.masergalleries.com

Pechakucha Night PGH #14 - How to survive Italians

Here we go, my friends! 

I am very excited to present you my second Pechakucha Night, in Pittsburgh.

The previous time I talked about Bruno Munari, but yesterday night I just wanted to do something fun and it really came out well. I presented a useful guide:

HOW TO SURVIVE ITALIANS - ITALY 101

I want to share with you all my 20 slides with the captions I pronounced during the 20-seconds-per-slide. Unfortunately, there are three slides that are easier to understand if you could see/listen to me, in person. Enjoy the other 17! All the graphics -a part from the photos- are sketches of mine.

Booh! (scaring intro)

These Italians...

Buonasera… salve… ciao… come state?! 

This guide is dedicated to all my friends, who survived me even without it. 

And the reason for this guide is simply this…

...over 60 million people. Sharing a boot!

I mean: you have to be creative there to survive.

This guide will be very dense of information, maybe even a bit chaotic - dealing with Italy.

But... that's it: it's Italy!

I will talk about the average Italian, how we are, what you could do in Italy, what you shouldn't do in Italy… and my suggestions are valid if you come to Italy, both for work or vacation. 

I will tell you everything you have to know to survive Italians.

Starting from knowing that..

...we are very scaramantic. Actually, this word doesn't exist in English, but I discovered that only too late. I had already submitted my slides!

It simply means that we are very worried about good luck. I am NOT, but the average is pretty full of rituals and funny good luck charms. 

Many Italians don't want anyone to directly wish them "good luck". It's a bad sign for them.

(the following slide is difficult to follow, since you can't hear me. As soon as the video will be published, you'll understand what I meant)

Italian has a reduced alphabet but the biggest difference comes with vowels pronunciation. 

For example, we go to IKEA, we dress LEVIS, we wash our teeth with COLG-A-TE, after eating at B-U-BBA GUMP.
Plus, we digit WWW.google.com

There are some mock Italian dishes in the US, but if you come to Italy, never ask for:  

"Alfredo pasta" (we don't know him) nor "spaghetti with meat balls" (which are very good here).

"Pasta alla Bolognese" is not from Bologna, nor from any other city.

Italian dressing is absolutely prohibited.

If you want to eat well, you should ask for "pasta alla carbonara", "risotto alla milanese", "pasta al ragù", "pesto alla genovese", "pizza margherita", "patate al forno". You'll impress the waiters and will eat very well, I promise.

Now spaghetti world: bucatini, in the corner, have the "buco" that means "hole". Then you have the linguine (the flattened spaghetti), the tagliatelle (which is a super flat pasta) and then spaghetti, with different number according to the different thickness.

To digest Italian food, my choice and recommendation is for the sparkling water San Pellegrino. You know it. It's really the Italians' favorite. 

NEVER EVER ASK FOR THE FRENCH PERRIER, that's a taboo. 

You could be charged twice as a punishment. 

San Pellegrino is the only possible choice to go with Italian food. 

There are some issues I won't touch in this guide. We should need 200 slides for our problems and deficiencies. I am not going to talk about: soccer, lack of civic sense, italian laws, financial crisis, diffuse corruption, very bad stories about politicians...

I am not going to talk about him, even if I know you are curious. I can't talk about him and we are just lucky he's not tall enough to reach the slide. 

I am sorry, that will be another PKN night!

I will talk about Italian provinces. It's fun because some of the American states have the same initials of some Italian cities. (See the slides for the initials)

Up to 10 years ago you could find those initials on our plates. Which are also on the front of the car, because Italian drivers are so dangerous that we should have plates also on the sides. Just to be always recognizable.

Never drive in Italy, if you are not obliged to do that. 

It's a mystical experience, very crazy.

I would like to spend just a slide on the Vespa. There is a little confusion in the US: please note that Vespa is a brand, not a typology of vehicle. 

You can have the old or the new model, but the brand is only one: Vespa.

But instead of driving in Italy, which is just absurd, you'd better watching a little Italian TV - which is fun. We have RAI1 RAI2 RAI3 which are the state TV (we pay a little tax on those).

And then RETE4, CANALE5, ITALIA1, which are Berlusconi's TVs (there is a lot of ads but less than in the US). 

La7 is private channel, pretty good, and enough independent to preserve quality.

A part from the most popular Italian songs from the past, I would encourage you to discover our current singers. My favorite are Elio e le Storie tese, who are great musicians and a funny band, Jovanotti, the king of pop/dance - whose concerts are amazing and I always cry like a toddler-

 and for who loves Rock Ligabue is the Boss.

There are few reasons to avoid us. Few, but there are. Coming to Italy could result a pain for who is very precise, who works in the law field, in the financial field, or simply would like to do some business there. Once in Italy, they will find pure creative chaos.

Luckily, there are many more good reasons, to join us: we are friendly and welcoming, we are always ready to have parties and prepare good meals. But the best is: we have always a solution for any problem: we can always fix whatever is not working. 

There is always an Italian way to have the things done properly.

(the last 2 slides are all about gestures... 

I invented a mock speech during which I was gesturing like a crazy to show off all my Italian dictionary. Here I will just put the name of the gesture in bold)

And now the most important part of the guide: the gestures! 

The only way to learn them is having someone that shows you and here I am.

If we were two, we could organize something together.

Or maybe I couldn't be interested,

if I think you are crazy,

and say nonsenses.

But if you have a good idea,

you could do a lot of money out of it

if you don't have fear to try.

if the result is not working

we could excape with the money

but if I cannot stand you anymore

I will just say bye bye

…because I'm smarter than you!

I will just put a short video from YouTube of the last gesture, which is the most important TO SURVIVE ITALIANS

Again, thank you very much to all my friends who came to support my 6 minutes and 35 seconds of celebrity.
I had fun before, during and after the presentation.
The Pechakucha Nights are gorgeous, I warmly invite everybody to come and present as well!