Artist Talk with Ann Rosenthal

Join us for a free artist lecture led by Ann T. Rosenthal!

May 29th, 2015. 5:00-7:00pm
Free and Open to the Public

Ann Rosenthal will discuss critical analyses of western culture's disconnect from non-human nature and how environmental art has addressed the nature/culture split historically and in contemporary ecoart.

Ann Rosenthal brings to communities 30 years experience as an artist, educator, and writer. Her art installations address the local manifestation of global concerns, including climate change, food safety, and nuclear waste. Her work has been shown at the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh; Exit Art and the Hudson River Museum in New York; the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia; and Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren in Germany. For 2014, Ms. Rosenthal and collaborator Steffi Domike exhibited Moving Targets in the eastern U.S. This interdisciplinary art installation linked the artists’ shared cultural heritage and family migrations to the story of the American passenger pigeon for the centenary of the bird’s extinction (1914). Throughout 2014, Ms. Rosenthal led a coalition of environmental and arts institutions in Pittsburgh to promote a series of regional events for this anniversary.

Ms. Rosenthal’s essays and work on eco/community art have been published in several journals and anthologies, most recently in Regenerative Infrastructures (New York: Prestel, 2013); “Atomic Legacy Art” in the Women Environmental Artists Directory Magazine (September 2012) and the online, peer-reviewed Ecopsychology Journal (Winter 2012). 

She teaches foundations, art history, and environmental art courses in the region, and has developed several ecoart college-level courses, including an online graduate course, Introduction to Eco/Community Art, for Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. Ms. Rosenthal received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1999. She owns an industrial building in Pittsburgh where she directs LOCUS – a creative commons where art, community and ecology meet.

To learn more about Ann Rosenthal's work visit her website here: http://atrart.net/

2015 Participating Artists: Dan Ivec & Nick G. Liadis

The final artists on our 2015 line-up have joined forces and talents. Read here about Dan Ivek and Nick Liadis' joint practice, as well as information on their individual careers below! 

An architect and instructor by profession (Liadis) and a published novelist and visual artist (Ivec),we come from unique arts backgrounds and share an interest in drawing, music, and a diversity of forms. Realizing a mutual interest in the fantastic and in the imagining of landscape, we began meeting and elaborating exquisite corpse drawings of buildings and cities. Our practice has expanded and now involves a horde of exercises with which we brainstorm architecture and then imagine the mental life and society of the occupants. For example, we improvise and narrate scenarios which the other artist must then sketch concurrently. 

Dan Ivek, Conceptual Sketch, 2015

Name: Dan Ivek

Hometown: Cleveland OH, and Chicago IL

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Bloomfield

Influential or Favorite Regional Artists: Hatch Arts Collective 

Artist Statement: 

I rely upon many mediums - writing, illustration, and voice - in an attempt to make and explain new worlds in which I can challenge myself and my own contemporary environment. I have promoted this vision via traditional writing and have also used images to support text or to inspire an improvised, oral telling of a fable.

Website: meeklingpress.com/onthestairs

Name: Nick G Liadis

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Lawrenceville

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: Carlos Scarpa, Lebbeus Woods, Gordon Matta-Clark, Alfred Schnittke, Cornelis Cardew, Bernhard Leitner

Artist Statement:

Nick G Liadis is an Architectural Designer and Artist living in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, though also has strong connections to Detroit, MI. He has balanced practicing and teaching architecture with his own art making and consulting work. The time split between professional, academic, and studio environments has been quite illuminating. That successful combination affords tremendous perspective of the architecture discipline, continually prodding the relationship between architecture and art.

Much of Nick's work is made through a variety of media including architecture, space, and music. Drawing, design, and installation art extend that work as well. For Nick, having artistic skills in architecture challenges traditional modes of space making. This provides Nick with the questions and ideas that make architecture a multi-sensory experience through the presence of art. Some of Nick's most recent work involves music to highlight dimensions of space, applying aspects of notation, resonance, balance, noise, and echo.

Cross-disciplinary inquiry is the foundation to Nick's artistic skills. It is what constitutes the connections between, for example, music and architecture. Approaching architecture in this way means not just knowing about music, but being the musician as you do the architecture. That simple distinction allows for a more robust cross-disciplinary investigation, where each subject profoundly affects the other.  Nick is excited by moments where an idea can be both musical and architectural, crossing seemingly distinct art disciplines.

Through education, exceptional practice, and interdisciplinary art collaboration, Nick has worked in Pittsburgh at Desmone Architects, Springboard Design, Studio for Spatial Practice, Carnegie Mellon University, The Andy Warhol Museum, Mattress Factory Museum, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, and Hatch Arts Collective. He is also a founding principal of Arscott + Liadis Collaborative LLC, a design and art making studio in the Polish Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He has his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Website: nickgliadis.com and arscottliadis.com

2015: Participating Artist: John Tronsor

Name: John Tronsor
Hometown: Ephrata, PA
Current Location/ Neighborhood: Pittsburgh/ Lawrenceville

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: Delanie Jenkins is just wonderful

Artist Statement:
I am an artist who has been interested in ideas concerning representation, processes of cognition and models of ontology. My work finds itself expressed in a variety of media but is typically realized three dimensionally, in video or both. Recently I have been occupied attempting to encapsulate the following three aspects of my practice into coherent wholes: i) the attention and priority of material as directing and providing the foundation for the sense of the work (rather than necessarily functioning as ancillary to the piece, but being integrated into it as base); ii) the construction or staging of a process so that its material production and/or its sense folds back on itself; iii) as an investigation into the relation between interiority and exteriority as expressed at the site of an interstice or membrane. 

Website: johntronsor.com

John Tronsor
Untitled (Mirrorpane), 2014
Mirrorpane glass, acrylic, strobe lights, drywall, wood, hardware
144" x 154" x 25"

2015 Participating Artist: Sarika Goulatia

Name: Sarika Goulatia

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Squirrel Hill

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: Tara Donovan, Louise Bourgeois, Mona Hatoum, Ann Hamilton

Artist Statement:  

I am a visual artist. I create large-scale sculptures and installations. My work assesses and investigates current concerns, conflicts and social issues. My practice is diverse in media- the theme, material, process and approach vary but are united conceptually and tactically reflecting a particular idea. The process to begin with is personal and intuitive, however, it becomes premeditated and directed towards a specific outcome based on how the materials transform and transition. Playing with materials is a part of my ongoing investigation.

My works attempt at transforming the context of diverse commonplace materials and imbues it with new meaning. The installations don’t intend to proclaim a particular position, however, they create opportunities for heightened perception to confront issues of morality, chaos and consumerism opening doors for introspection and dialogue.

The concept of community involvement has become an important aspect in developing and evolving my installations. I became sensitized to the “excesses” of consumerism after a life threatening allergic reaction to a prescribed medication. This event was a catalyst in changing the foundation materials for my works. I started using discarded materials to create off-balance sculptures that appear in a state of decay.

The interplay between 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional forms is central to my work. My sculptures are like drawings; they are contained autonomous objects, visualizing one small part of a larger system.

I am invested through my sculptures in studying spaces through castings, drawings, tracing and imprints that capture the traces of past life on scuffed surfaces. The marks, the grime, and the residue that linger on the finished pieces are archetypical and suggest a shared sense of history. My works tell the story of the space through the impressions left of the original object on the plaster cast or the paper. They challenge the viewers to reminiscence identities and the history of the structures.

Website: www.sarika-goulatia.com ; www.sarikagoulatia.com

Sarika Goulatia, Untitled X, 2014
Gesso, acrylic, donated shoe boxes
3 panel installation of 106" x 107" x 24"

2015 Participating Artist: Alyssa Kail

Alyssa recently moved to Pittsburgh after spending several years in Portland, OR. Find out more about how a changing landscapes inspires her art!

Name: Alyssa Kail

Hometown: Warren, PA

Current location: Braddock, PA

Artist Statement: For the past few years, I have carried with me a large, industrial spool of neon orange polyester thread and employed this thread in various installations, tethering to the built environment to line draw in space. Neon vectors and bifurcations direct the eye and disrupt the known interior and exterior landscape. Exaggerated angles and false horizons force a new perspective and understanding of the body in space and scale. The color of this thread at first appears to be not from nature -- It is cautionary, manufactured, synthetic. Contemplation reveals its connection to the natural world in extreme conditions, sun, fire, and molten minerals. 

Understanding our world through a lens of previous experience and past knowledge, my work seeks to obfuscate prescribed use value of space and materiality, utilizing existing architecture and unconventional materials in site specific installations and sculptures. Embracing resourcefulness, I wish to highlight the potential of that which already exists.

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Website: www.alyssakail.com

See some of Alyssa's digital short clips Here! 

Alyssa Kail. String Iterations

2015 Participating Artist: Ricardo Robinson

Name: Ricardo Iamuuri Robinson
Hometown: Pittsburgh

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Pittsburgh, PA/ Friendship

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: Sound and Time

Artist Statement:

I am an audio visual artist. My work explores the relationship between sound, image, object and place. I create sound compositions from foley and field recordings. I complement these arrangements with still photography, three-dimensional objects and motion pictures. My art process has led me through city streets and urban parks, abandoned factories and railroad tracks, ambient nights and bustling days. My audiovisual works of art are showcased in theaters, public spaces and galleries. I use an additional element of live performance to share the creative process with audiences, improvise and collaborate with fellow artists.

I make art both to share personal experiences and to address social problems. My inspirations include everything from childhood memories to today’s popular headlines, the slant of light cast on a bridge to the sounds of gunfire. I share this blend of contrasting sounds and images to draw new lines of connection for audiences.  

My art is an invitation to a communal space where multiple perspectives and interpretations are in dialogue. Ultimately, I want my art to reconsider the past, recognize the present and remember the future.

Website: www.sonarcheology.squarespace.com

Additional Links:

MARS IS UNDERWTAER- (TOUR) 2015

directed by: ricardo iamuuri

music composed and performed by: ricardo iamuuri

RECOLLECTION OF A FUTURE LULLABY II

music composed by: ricardo iamuuri robinson

COVERSTAIONS W/ SHEPHERDS, SHEEP, GUINEA PIGS, AND MONKEYS: NURSERY RHYMES FOR THE UNDERFED MIND

music composed and foley recordings by: ricaro iamuuri robinson

Ricardo Iamuuri Robinson

2015 Participating Artist: Rose Clancy

You may recognize Rose Clancy from seeing GardenLab@516 on the North Side (2010 - 2012). If you are unfamiliar, take some time now to learn about Rose's site specific works!

Name: Rose Clancy
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Current Location/ Neighborhood: Ingram

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: There are too many regional artists who’s work I respect to list one as a favorite. I am drawn to individual and collaborative efforts that use a variety of mediums and genres, outside-the-box thinking, and the element of community engagement in their work.

Artist Statement:I am an interdisciplinary artist working on site-specific installations, found object sculptures, community engaged projects, and process-based performances that comment on the abuses human beings inflict upon one another and on the the natural environment they live in. My current body of work is focused on the relationship between neglect and nurturing, and explores internal and external transformations that occur within the process of healing and recovery. 
As a site-specific installation artist, I am drawn to environments that hold an energy of active transformation – where my first response to the site, is to an awareness of the heartbeat lying beneath the surface of the site’s brokenness and decay. My work is informed by the site’s history, its present condition, and the potential for its transformed future. I am committed to the practice of creative re-use and prefer to use materials of little or no value to others. I am often physically present in my work to give the public audience an opportunity to become involved in the work on a personal level, and to create a sense of connectedness with the community around the site.

Website: www.kingclancy.blogspot.com

Rose Clancy, GardenLab@516, site specific installation
22'w x 90'd, 2010-2012

2015 Participating Artist: Patrick Camut

Name: Patrick Camut
Hometown: Charleroi, PA
Current Location/ Neighborhood: Charleroi, PA

Influential Regional Artists: My Dad Theo Camut, Chad Whitaker, Jim Nestor Sr., Jim Nestor Jr., Trenton Doyle Hancock,  Blake Anthony, Kyle Milne, Sandy Boyles and the talented 2010 - 2012 IUP Sculpture crew.

Artist Statement: As an artist I document the moments in life that have the power of unexpectedly altering the planned future. These moments can be as simple as a kiss or as complex as selecting a career, but share that special ability to change ones life. After taking note of these moments, I recreate them using an artistic language that has been developing with me since a very young age. This artistic language uses the kinetic actions of machines to create metaphors and building techniques learned from childhood toys.

Growing up in a post-industrial world inspires the foundation to my work. My post-industrial world is found outside of Pittsburgh in the town of Charleroi, PA. This small town is full of decaying machinery, architecture, and industry, left behind from the great mills that once supported it. With family heritage connecting me to the steel mills of Pittsburgh, I have always felt passionate when working with the same tools, processes, and materials as past generations once did.

Creating sculptural machines by repurposing materials, techniques, and tools from past generations forms a contemporary aesthetic. This communicates interpersonal moments through human interaction and is the intent for each sculpture I create.

Website: www.patrickcamut.com

Patrick Camut, Post-Perpetual Revolution,  2013.
Metal, Rubber, Motor, Boots, Motion Senor
48" x 16" x 54" 

2015 Participating Artist: Scott Turri

Name: Scott Turri

Hometown: Plymouth Meeting, PA 

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Squirrel Hill

Favorite Regional Artist: Lorraine Glessner

Artist Statement: From the still image into the moving image creating animation has become an extension of my practice. Much of the vocabulary associated with my painting process is utilized in the animation. It combines photographic imagery from the natural world, and the built environment along with invented imagery that mimics the natural world; all of which has been manipulated digitally. So, therefore the product becomes an amalgamation of the natural world and cultural production. Because the imagery has been manipulated and filtered through various software tools, ultimately it all becomes synthetic. At times it becomes difficult to distinguish the origins of the various elements and therefore more difficult to easily classify. The parts have a certain consistency but are modularized and repackaged in variety of iterations these transformations provide a formal and conceptual link from one passage to another blurring the boundary between nature and what is human made. 

The animations operate within five architectural like facades. These facades help create a structured framework for what takes place behind, in front, or through this edifice. Also, the facades have skins attached to them, which reinforces the notion of the natural and built world and establishes a stationary environment for the moving parts. I created a portion of the animated sections with nonrepresentational linear elements, interested mainly in moving lines, in combination with the rhythmic pattern of bird flight, figure eights, ovals and circles. By building a variety of animated parts I then work at combining, looping and overlaying these lyrical components by sequencing these passages into a hypnotic rhythm with the intent of mimicking the ebb and flow of nature. 

See some of Scott's art here: www.scottturri.com

Scott is a writer too! Read his recent review of the exhibition UNLOADED. 

Cocoons and Mobile Homes 67.5_2

Acrylic on Canvas

40”H x 67.5”W

2015 Participating Artist: Oreen Cohen

Name: Oreen Cohen 

Hometown: Rochester, NY 

Current Location/ Neighborhood: Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh 

Influential or Favorite Regional Artist: Not really sure about regionally, but international I have been really into El Anatsui and Yael Bartana. 

Artist Statement:

As an observer and explorer, I draw insight from my surroundings by unpacking the embedded meanings, histories, and identities of place. ​By excavating incidental fragments of the built environment, I examine the psychological and physical ruins left behind by industrial decline. ​I am curious about how the residue of our histories culminate into our understanding of self and site. ​With a visceral approach towards material, I create publicly performed actions and sculptural interventions that attempt to transform vacant or abandoned space into a places of meaning.

I retrace textures of the built environment through repetitious labor. This process illuminates the conceptual material of space, experience, and memory. Aluminum rubbings, Stacked auto glass, salt dough bricks, welded steel, and the burial of a golden casket, serve as metaphors in my work that attempt to preserve vitality and transform post­industrial areas. By salvaging these fragments, I cultivate social allegories that re­interpret the past, solidify the present, and anticipate the future.

Website: ​www.OreenCohen.com

2015 Participating Artist: Lenore Thomas

We are excited to be working with such a talented group of regional artists. Check back often to learn more about our participating artists for the 2015 season! First up, artist Lenore Thomas! 

Name: Lenore Thomas
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Current Location/ Neighborhood: Edgewood, PA

Influential Regional Artists: I am influenced by the amazing women artists and curators that surround me in Pittsburgh. Some of them but by no means all of them are Natalie Settles, Ivette Spradlin, Vicky Clark, Delanie Jenkins, Barbara Weissberger, Stephanie Armbruster, Becky Slemmons, Anika Hirt, JoAnna Commandaros, Anna Divinsky, Elise Rugolo, Staycee Pearl, Casey Droege. I could go on and on. Pittsburgh is full of incredible women doing amazing things.

Artist Statement: Perception and personal observation provide the foundation for my most recent “landscape series,” which consists of mixed-media prints and paintings based on recreating the observed landscape through layers of overlapping abstract shapes. Grounded in pastoral midwestern topography, the series has grown to include rural sites of Western Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia. As I travel from one location to another I photograph the landscapes that capture my interest. In general I am intrigued by landscapes that have an ambiguous sense of space, scale, distance and depth. Through my sketches, Photoshop experimentation, and color choices, I translate the landscapes into basic shapes and forms creating a flat, geometric interpretation of the original photograph. The flexibility of printmaking fosters this investigation; through multiple plate etchings and screenprinting I can build an image with a dozen or more layers in one piece. I am interested in the tension between the flat colors I choose and the sense of space and perspective created by the abstracted forms.
Two other elements also come into play - the background pattern and the choice of a title of each series. The backgrounds have evolved from the first series in 2011 which were based on either aesthetic preferences or patterns extracted or documented at actual locations (a grate in Pittsburgh, fragments from Missouri and Oklahoma). For the most recent backgrounds I am interested in the mathematical diagram of a hepteract, which represents three-dimensional images of a seven cube. For some, this pattern may be seen as purely decorative, but to others (especially mathematicians) the patterns reveal complex geometric representations of volume and space. Upon seeing the hepteract and other hypercubes, it became clear to me that these diagrams added another layer of perception to my landscapes. The carefully selected titles for this series have become an essential part of my process, as I want the text to have some specific, if non-literal, reference to the locations I am depicting. Recalling the comment of a friend on a particular sunrise he saw in Wisconsin - “This sunrise is like being in love” – I use his poetic response as an evocative title in combination with the specific to create an entry point for the abstracted images.

To see images of Lenore's work visit her website here:  www.lenorethomas.com