Local and international students celebrate Japanese coming of age
By Victoria Pfefferle-Gillot, Staff Writer
January 15, 2019
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories, Uncategorized
34 students from both Yasuda Women’s University in Hiroshima, Japan, and the University of Pittsburgh celebrated a coming of age party.
Small Mall hosts self-care workshop
By Alexa Marzina, Staff Writer
January 10, 2019
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Lawrenceville’s Small Mall hosted a zine-based workshop centered around self care last night, lead by artist Atiya Jones.
Q&A: Local ASMR-tist Lily Whispers talks tingles and YouTube stardom
By Elizabeth Donnelly, Staff Writer
December 9, 2018
While looking for a makeup tutorial on YouTube in 2013, Lilliana Dee came across a new genre of videos that would later change her world — ASMR.
The ultimate guide to affordable apartment decor
By Shahum Ajmal, Contributing Editor
November 15, 2018
If you have been waiting for the moment to let your creativity shine in your own home, allow our assistant layout editor to offer some tips to spice up your apartment.
City of Asylum residents share readings and wisdom at WPU
By Sarah Connor, Culture Editor
October 17, 2018
City of Asylum is known for providing a sanctuary for exiled writers. Two of those writers brought their wisdom to campus with a special appearance at WPU.
Black Cat Market teams up with local vintage collective for Halloween pop-up
By Maggie Medoff, Staff Writer
October 15, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Black Cat Market — a cat cafe in Lawrenceville — hosted a pop-up Halloween shop selling vintage clothes in a collaboration with Three Pigs Vintage this past weekend.
Pitt students paint the town
By Sarah Connor, Culture Editor
September 24, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Members of Pitt’s Student Alumni Association and Blue and Gold Society painted their school’s colors on the windows of Fifth Avenue businesses to celebrate the upcoming homecoming week.
Review: Pittsburgh Fashion Week rocks the runway
By Charlie Garcia-Weger, Staff Writer
September 23, 2018
The Pittsburgh Fashion Week occurred from Sept. 17 to Sept. 20 and brought three different events to the City — including a high-profile runway show.
Pittsburgh Fashion Week hosts panel
By Charlie Garcia-Weger, Staff Writer
September 20, 2018
The Pittsburgh fashion community crafted its own version Wednesday night with a discussion of fashion's future — including the integration of technology.
Pittsburgh preps for festivals, frights, food and more this fall
By Sarah Connor, Culture Editor
September 17, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
From campus to Kennywood, there is something for students to enjoy this fall— even if they can only make it out of the library once this spooky season.
Donald Warhola talks art and Uncle Andy
By Grey McGettigan, For The Pitt News
August 29, 2018
Andy Warhol's nephew leads gallery talks at the museum standing in honor of his uncle's timeless art.
Staff Picks: Our Autumn Aesthetics
By The Pitt News Staff
August 20, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Welcome Back 2018
Fall trends are abundant, and our staff is here to share their thoughts on the popular — and slightly ridiculous — trends coming our way this spooky season.
Best neighborhoods for off-campus adventures
By Sarah Connor, Culture Editor
August 20, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink, Welcome Back 2018
For many new Pitt students, the busy, exciting atmosphere of city life is one of the reasons they chose to attend an urban university. With Oakland’s many hospitals, restaurants, drugstores and parks surrounding our campus, students have a good idea of what life is like in an urban area. But what many...
Q&A with acclaimed author, Pitt professor Anjali Sachdeva
By Victoria Pfefferle-Gillot, Staff Writer
August 20, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Welcome Back 2018
To learn more about “All the Names They Used for God” and the author behind it, The Pitt News Gillot spoke with Sachdeva about her history and the creation of her acclaimed debut work.
‘Dandy Andy’ tour takes a look at Warhol’s queer history
By Jon Kunitsky, Staff Writer
August 20, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories, Uncategorized, Welcome Back 2018
The tour differs from regular museum tours by allowing visitors to learn more about Warhol’s boyfriends, his life as a gay man in New York City and how his art was subsequently influenced by the men in his life and the queer community.
Artisan Pittsburgh welcomes fans for Jeff Goldblum Day 2018
By Delilah Bourque, Staff Writer
July 17, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Movies
Everyone has celebrities they adamantly adore. For some, they’re heroes of westerns like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, while for others they’re sex symbols like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney. For a certain group of people, there is one man who perfectly embodies all that a celebrity shou...
Future Tenant features feminist art in new exhibit
By Jon Kunitsky | Staff Writer
July 10, 2018
A placard awaits guests entering the Future Tenant artist space on Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. “Through their various forms of artistic expression, [these artists] refuse to give in to the burdens of the male gaze. Instead, they yell back at the catcaller,” it reads, welcoming guests to t...
Art, music, pets and vets: SouthSide Works Exposed
By Shahum Ajmal and Victoria Pfefferle-Gillot | TPN Staff
July 10, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink, Music, Top Stories
As the City of Pittsburgh wound down from Fourth of July celebrations and stormy weather, the South Side neighborhood prepared for the 14th annual SouthSide Works Exposed arts festival from July 6 to 8. The event was sponsored by City Vets PGH, a new urgent care veterinary practice in the South S...
Annual Three Rivers Arts Festival kicks off downtown
By Zachary Donovan | Staff Writer
June 5, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink, Music, Top Stories
The City of Pittsburgh’s North Side was filled with the sound of country music and the sight of about 25 tons of trash this past weekend as the Kenny Chesney concert took over Heinz Field and the surrounding parking lots for tailgates. But across the river from the hard-partying country fans, a different crowd...
Lawrenceville Art Crawl leaves visitors in awe
By Jon Kunitsky | For The Pitt News
May 30, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink, Music, Uncategorized
Betsy Lewis, Emmy Brown and Emily Richards walked down Butler Street amid sun-showers and humidity Saturday afternoon. As rising juniors at Pitt majoring in microbiology, neuroscience and physics, respectively, they ventured out of Oakland to admire local art displayed along the sidewalks of Lawrence...
Free for students: Art, exercise, buses and more!
By The Pitt News Staff
May 30, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Music
One of the best perks of being a student at Pitt is the Panther Card. In addition to all of the traditional purposes a student ID serves, like holding dining passes, granting access to dorms and registering for on-campus events, a Panther Card can be a ticket to a new world of entertainment for stude...
Sneak peek: Free entertainment for this summer in the City
By Sarah Connor, Culture Editor
May 22, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink, Movies, Music, Top Stories, Uncategorized
Now that college students have finished their finals and high school students are going to prom, the summer season is truly about to begin. The City of Pittsburgh is ready to celebrate the sunny months with some free outdoor events. Typical summer events — like the Independence Day celebration ...
Don’t Call Her Honey: Ciara Gray artist spotlight
By Siddhi Shockey | Staff Writer
May 16, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
When she was a young artist in first grade, Ciara Gray brought an assignment to the front of the class to show the teacher her work — how she’d ripped a portrait from a magazine in half and pasted it to paper, sketching in the missing half of the model’s face. Now, marks of Gray’s creativity are etched...
Maxo Vanka’s legacy lives on in Millvale Murals
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
April 10, 2018
As a town known for its iron manufacturers and lumber mills, Millvale seems like an unlikely place to house a spectacular art collection. The former industrial borough — located at the northernmost tip of the Allegheny river trail across the 40th Street bridge — doesn’t boast much in terms of outward ...
Women hone craft at Art House in Homewood
By Shahum Ajmal | Staff Writer
April 4, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
As Vanessa German and a group of artists were about to settle in for a night of writing and discussion in her house, a car crash outside derailed the March evening. The group witnessed an altercation between the victim of the crash and police officers who responded to the scene, and feeling that...
Making Art in the Arctic: Pitt Alum plans voyage to hone her craft
By Elizabeth Donnelly | For The Pitt News
March 15, 2018
In just six short months, Theresa Baughman will be spending her days in subzero temperatures in pursuit of combining her art with anthropology. “As an artist, I am much more invested in the process of making the piece than I am the final product,” Baughman, 26, said. Baughman is embarking ...
Students petition for reproductive rights at “My Body is My Own” exhibit
By Marissa Perino | Senior Staff Writer
March 1, 2018
Bright pink flags dot the lawn outside the William Pitt Union on one of the first warm days of spring semester as students kneel to read the stories written on each individual marker — sometimes pausing to add their own to the display. Emphasizing the importance and intersection of topics such as bi...
Homeless identities on display at “Walk On By” exhibit
By Shahum Ajmal | Staff Writer
February 22, 2018
Renee Rosensteel passed the same homeless man in downtown Pittsburgh multiple times before she could no longer avoid his attention-seeking gestures and decided to stop and introduce herself. “I knew he was part of the scene down there,” Rosensteel said. “I was tired. I’d just had enough, ...
Rhodessa Jones brings art and activism to Pitt
By Joanna Li | Staff Writer
February 8, 2018
Filed under Art, Culture, Theater, Top Stories
Since she found theater, San Francisco-based artist Rhodessa Jones said she has always had a place in the world — whether it be to share her ups and downs or to offer other women a chance to speak out. “Theater has been the one lover that has never let me down — it demands a lot of me, but t...
Ashley Cecil displays ‘Birds and Botany’ at Phipps Conservatory
By Emma Maurice | Staff Writer
January 30, 2018
Just inside Phipps Conservatory, Ashley Cecil has created the illusion of Springtime in the midst of a harsh Pittsburgh winter — blooming flowers and songbirds rest on bright yellow backdrops along the walls of the Welcome Center, greeting visitors as they escape the cold. Cecil found inspirati...
Pastels and paints: ARTificial club provides students with creative outlet
By Siddhi Shockey / For The Pitt News
November 9, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
The silence of creative focus cuts short sounds of laughter and chatter as students begin to paint abstract designs with vibrant yellow and pink acrylics on large, white canvases. ARTificial — the first club on Pitt’s campus dedicated solely to visual arts — is a space for both artists and appreci...
Preparation pays off: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays Shostakovich
By Joanna Li / For The Pitt News
October 16, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
World-renowned musicians clad in dark colors quickly filled 101 empty black chairs organized in a crescent shape on the stage. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra played their program “Shostakovich Triumphant” Sunday at Heinz Hall Downtown as part of their BNY Mellon Grand Classics series. Polish gue...
Exploring hidden art on campus
By Marissa Perino / Staff Writer
October 12, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Uncategorized
Because of displaced, absent or otherwise out-of-sight placards, many works of art often go unattributed or unnoticed on campus. There could be art installations hanging from a ceiling or beautiful oil paintings of the Cathedral in plain sight, and students and faculty often walk right by them. Art...
Send nudes: student artist draws on body positivity
By Sarah Morris / Staff Writer
October 4, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Every couple of weeks, more than 100 people scroll through their Instagram feeds and see a penciled sketch of a woman’s body accompanied by a short description about body positivity by user takeback_thenude. Sarah Krause, a junior studying studio arts and social work, started something last May called The Nudity Project. The project involves Krause drawing nudes of women...
Crawling through the city: Gallery Crawl comes back to Pittsburgh
By Emma Maurice / Staff Writer
September 20, 2017
For one night every season throughout the year, the streets of downtown Pittsburgh teem with artistic events, music and art fanatics. A free and public event since 2004, the quarterly Gallery Crawl yields nearly 30,000 visitors annually and showcases art, music and entertainment throughout downtown Pittsburgh. The Pit...
Wasteland-scapes: Frick Fine Arts Building hosts environmentally-conscious art exhibits
By Prachi Patel / Staff Writer
September 18, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Floorboards creaked as visitors shuffled around to get a closer view of the medley of landscapes, which included underwater photographs, silk Chinese scrolls depicting sloping mountains and an Inuit print of a sea-goddess. The University Art Gallery hosted a joint opening of two art exhibitions ...
“Rick and Morty” fan base flourishes as millennials continue to embrace dark humor
By Lexi Kennell / Culture Editor
September 4, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Television
“Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die. Come watch TV.” Morty Smith says this to his sister Summer in season one, episode eight of “Rick and Morty,” referencing the show itself along with its nihilistic and existential premise. “Rick and Morty” ...
Multimedia zine cultivates creativity on campus
By Sarah Morris / Staff Writer
August 30, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
With the right angle and some adjusting of the photo’s exposure and saturation, Caitrin Bogart made art out of five cracked eggs she saw spattered on an Oakland street. The photograph, aptly titled “oops!,” was featured in ambi- magazine — a multimedia zine at Pitt — in February on the ma...
GALLERY: Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2017
By Maria Heines
June 20, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Music, Visual
The annual Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival was held downtown from Friday, June 16 to Sunday, June 18 and included more than 140 local musicians. ...
GALLERY: Three Rivers Arts Festival
By The Pitt News Staff
June 4, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture, Visual
The annual Three Rivers Arts Festival is a free 10-day arts festival downtown which features a variety of food and art vendors as well as an eclectic selection of musical performers. ...
Missing major: making fashion fit
By Emily Brindley and Andrea Spatig / For The Pitt News
April 24, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Senior geology major Tomas Monti spends his free time sketching watch designs and raising funds for his watch company. Monti — co-founder and CEO of BJØRN Watch Company, a startup that will donate 10 percent of all sales to philanthropic organizations of the buyer’s choice — formed his sta...
Making fashion fit: reporter’s notebook
By Emily Brindley and Andrea Spatig / The Pitt News Staff
April 24, 2017
The original story for this reporter's notebook can be found here. Noting a lack of fashion programming at Pitt, we thought this story would be an interesting foray into all the ways student fashionistas flourish regardless. In our reporting, we went to the College of General Studies’ office to ...
Education and incarceration: teaching classes in prisons
By Salina Pressimone / Staff Writer
April 18, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
After serving two years in prison, and later being arrested in front of her 4-month-old daughter, Sarah Womack turned to prose and poetry to stage her comeback. “I come from alcohol. Uncle Kenny, glass shaking in his hand — yellow, gray, bloated. / I come from alcohol. I seize and hallucinate ...
Comic culture finds home in Pittsburgh
By Ellen Kruczek and Justin Voelzke / The Pitt News Staff
April 13, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
When Tom Scioli visits Phantom of the Attic Comics on South Craig Street, it looks different than what he remembers 25 years ago. In the ’90s, its walls were lined with superheroes, avant-garde art and daily life comics, while now it focuses on handmade comics by local, niche artists. To some, the illustrations ...
CMOA struts stuff with fashion exhibit
By Andrea Spatig / For The Pitt News
April 6, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
Artist Iris van Herpen designs dresses that are so geometrically complex, they literally stand on their own — and her work has caught the eye of big name celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce. Now, van Herpen’s fashion artwork has found a temporary home at the Carnegie Museum of Art. C...
Magician, advocate takes the stage at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival
By Virginia Homan / For The Pitt News
April 4, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
In the back room of a small, almost hidden bar called St. Mary’s Lyceum in the North Side, tech crews scurried around making last minute lighting checks. Laughter and conversation from bar patrons and locals faded as a large door slid into place to separate the billiard room-turned-stage from ...
Carnegie Museums explore humanity’s impact on earth’s crust
By Prachi Patel and Taylor Pecarchik / For The Pitt News
March 22, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Movies, Top Stories
It’s become commonplace to talk about climate change, species endangerment and the impact of humanity on the earth. But that impact has become so large that some geologists are proposing we’ve changed the very rock beneath our feet. To explore this possibility, the Carnegie Museums are pre...
Big city, tiny art: Harish Saluja tracks dreams on index cards
By David Robinson / Staff Writer
March 13, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
In the haziness of morning, before his mind clears for the day, 70-year-old Harish Saluja draws what he can remember of his dreams on a three-by-five-inch index card. Saluja has been doodling for decades, using an assortment of about 100 markers to record his abstract musings — circular blobs overl...
Pitt alum tackles social injustice with award-winning poetry
By Deanna Druskat / Staff Writer
February 6, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
There are three things in Daniel Borzutzky’s life that he keeps up with daily: taking his nine-year-old son to school, teaching classes and reading. Though a writer by trade and nature, writing is not on his daily — or sometimes, even his weekly — to-do list. Usually writing in spurts that last...
Forget me not: CMOA gives tours for senior citizens
By Lauren Lotka / Staff Writer
February 2, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
On a tour at the Carnegie Museum of Art, six visitors sat in front of a painting of a somber landscape, talking. The painting’s dark colors signal an impending storm as a group of chickens stand under an elm tree across from a barn. The tour guide questioned the visitors about the painting, ask...
Artist Spotlight: Sarah Krause
By David Robinson / Staff Writer
January 30, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Instead of eating animals, Sarah Krause paints them. Krause became a vegetarian at age 13 and vegan as a first-year student after seeing “Cowspiracy,” a documentary about the meat industry’s carbon footprint. As an artist, Krause uses her work to depict farm animals in a way that return the s...
Invisible hands: conservators restore and maintain Pittsburgh’s artwork
By Ian Flanagan / Senior Staff Writer
January 23, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
Ellen Baxter, the chief conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Art, has been working on John White Alexander’s enormous 1904 portrait “Aurora Leigh” for nine months. Baxter is nearly finished with treating the artwork — primarily with a light layer of varnish to gloss over the aging paint...
Cultural District Gallery Crawl highlights local and international artists
By Caroline Bourque and Lexi Kennell / Staff Writers
January 23, 2017
After a year in the making, David Spriggs debuted his 36-foot-wide art installation, “Gold,” this past weekend at the Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District. The massive structure is shaped like an inverted pyramid and, as the name suggests, glows in an array of golden hues. The pyramid disp...
CMOA revives tradition with 300 year-old figurines
By Emily Brindley / Culture Editor
January 5, 2017
Filed under Art, Culture, Top Stories
The Carnegie Museum of Art’s holiday display traces its history back to the 1700s, and dwarfs similar collections nationwide, including one at the White House. The exhibit includes the annual Neapolitan nativity scene, as well as five oversized evergreen trees decorated to fit this year’s theme...
Getting crafty: Crafting gains popularity in Pittsburgh, on campus
By Marissa Perino / For The Pitt News
December 1, 2016
In a brightly lit room at the William Pitt Union, the Pitterest crafting club gathers on a Thursday night at round dining tables covered with yarn, ribbon and other supplies. Abby Sites, an anthropology major and vice president of Pitterest, has seen the club grow in the past year and a half from ...
Double feature: University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery shows two concurrent exhibitions
By Ellen Kruczek and Isabelle Ouyang / The Pitt News Staff
November 28, 2016
If you’re looking for something to take your mind off of looming finals week exams, the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, located in the Frick Fine Arts Building, is showing two concurrent exhibitions through Dec. 9. Organized by graduate students in Pitt’s history of art and architecture...
Artist Spotlight: Sarah Washburn Thornton
By Yuting Xiong / For The Pitt News
November 17, 2016
Oftentimes when Sarah Washburn Thornton sits down to make art, there’s no motive, no intention, no plan. It’s automatic. “[Automatic art is] when you don’t start with a plan to paint and instead you start with a blank piece of paper,” Thornton said. “It’s more about your body than the dr...
“Forced From Home” exhibit turns Schenley Plaza into faraway land
By Salina Pressimone and Caroline Bourque / The Pitt News Staff
October 30, 2016
When Kumi Matoba was about eight years old, her mother showed her an advertisement for Doctors Without Borders, depicting a picture of a malnourished child in Africa, belly distended. The image seared itself into Matoba’s memory. And soon after seeing it, she knew what her life’s mission would be — joining D...
Artist Spotlight: Brent Yingling
By Emma Maurice / For The Pitt News
October 25, 2016
Although he fell in love with art early in high school, Brent Yingling strayed away from it as a Pitt underclassman to pursue a more practical career in law. It wasn't until he started doing research with Delanie Jenkins, the head of the studio arts department, that he rediscovered his passion. Yin...
Audio, visuals, verse collide at Stories Untold
By Lauren Lotka and Deanna Druskat / For The Pitt News
October 11, 2016
For the second iteration of the mental health art exhibit, Stories Untold, some artists turned to traditional mediums — canvas, paper and audio — while others took more unorthodox routes. Rujuta Patil, a senior neuroscience major at Pitt and one of 17 artists featured in the exhibit, produced ...
To Brazil and back: Carnegie Museum of Art debuts interactive exhibit
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
October 4, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
Next time you visit the Carnegie Museum of Art, lounge in a hammock and talk to Amazonian parrots in a new art exhibit that thrives on viewer participation. The wild, sensory-driven installments of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s new “Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium” exhibition invites gue...
GALLERY: Artist Spotlight on Emily Zielinski
By Katherine Bauer / For The Pitt News
September 28, 2016
For most of her life, Emily Zielinski has had a close relationship with art. But after battling an eating disorder, she realized just how important it was to her. “[Art] got me away from other things,” said Zielinski, a senior studio arts major. “It has a calming power that gives me a way to ex...
GALLERY: Artist Spotlight on Stephanie Taylor
By Yuting Xiong / For The Pitt News
September 14, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Uncategorized
When Stephanie Taylor, a senior studio arts and art history major, received a $3,500 Brackenridge research grant this summer, she wasn’t focused on making new art. She wanted to rework what already existed. “I did summer research and I am currently trying to make sense of it,” Taylor said. “The...
Students craft, converse at new Center for Creativity
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
September 13, 2016
As Zi Xie looked at a pile of multi-colored Legos in Pitt’s new Center for Creativity, she couldn’t help but think beyond the assortment of miniature bricks and blocks. “Is there a major where you can design bridges? Because that is what I would like to do,” said Xie, a first-year engineering...
Pittsburgh Folk Festival dishes culture, cuisine in Schenley Plaza
By Annabelle Hanflig and Salina Pressimone / The Pitt News Staff
September 5, 2016
When Dalel Khalil, a Pitt alum and Syrian-American, visited Pittsburgh’s annual Folk Festival five years ago, she noticed a lack of Syrian representation. So, she decided to set up her own culture and cuisine booth. A lifetime Oakland resident, Khalil grew up on Atwood Street and helped her f...
A Brave New Major: Pitt’s Literature Department Provides Students with Accessibility, Flexibility in Redesign
By Amanda Reed / Staff Writer
August 31, 2016
Leading up to last school year’s “Year of the Humanities,” Pitt’s English literature major hadn’t changed much in the past two decades. Compared to other English programs across the country — now emphasizing independent research and study abroad opportunities — literature majors had...
Pittsburgh Museum Guide
By TPN Staff
August 16, 2016
Filed under Art
Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer Carnegie Museum of Art With multiple exhibits in circulation, it’s hard not to spend hours soaking up the original works of Claude Monet and Jean Dunand in the Carnegie Museum of Art. The Carnegie Museum of Art is located on Forbes Avenue, across the street and...
Soaking up Three Rivers: local artists and performers converge at annual Arts Festival
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
June 7, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Music
People huddled around a blocked-off street in front of a stage Downtown, clapping for a partially obscured performance. At the center was The Famtrons, a traveling break-dancing troupe of all black members in teal basketball shorts. The crew’s director was a charismatic leader who answered to the...
Black art matters: Pitt founds center on black poetry
By Amanda Reed / Staff Writer
April 25, 2016
With the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, Dawn Lundy Martin wants to make Pitt the place people go to study black poetry. “We want to help to really put that MFA program on the map so that if you’re a black poet, the very first place that you would apply to and your top choice wo...
All work, one play: Redeye Film Festival
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
April 18, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Theater
Not all passion projects last 24 hours, but they do for students participating in Pitt’s Redeye Theatre Project. Twenty-nine students participated in the Redeye Theatre Project, a 24-hour theater festival where students work as playwrights, directors or actors. The project kicked off at 8 p.m. Fr...
What not to miss on campus this week
By Jack Trainor / Culture Editor
April 11, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Movies, Theater
Donald Trump’s Wednesday visit may be grabbing all the local headlines, but his isn’t the only event worth noting this week. The second to last week of class doesn’t usually garner the same amount of excitement as the last, but it’s hard not to get excited, as this week offers, among other events, an Acad...
Sojourning exhibit shares LGBTQ+ journeys
By Jack Shelly / Staff Writer
March 23, 2016
A new exhibit is flipping the script on LGBTQ+ awareness — letters and photos of encouragement will come not from the accepted, but from the accepting. The exhibit, titled “Acceptance Journeys Pittsburgh,” is on display around campus, with two to four narratives stopping in Posvar Hall, Parran Hall...
Reexamining humanities’ role
By Rio Maropis / Staff Writer
March 16, 2016
What it means to be a human doesn’t warrant a black-and-white response. Monday’s “Poetry and Race: How the Humanities Engage with Social Problems” will highlight this theme by examining how African-American poetry engages with contemporary social issues, like police violence. As part of Pi...
Radiating beauty bears warning: exhibit at Pitt cautions of nuclear hazards
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
March 14, 2016
Although the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster occurred on the other side of the world, photographer Morizumi Takashi is bringing the fallout close to home. An ethereal beauty spills out from Takashi’s photographs of radiation-poisoned objects, but hidden beneath the visual allure is...
@NihilistOakland finds meaning in Oakland life
By Annabelle Hanflig / Staff Writer
February 25, 2016
Forbes Digital Plaza is every bit as mysterious as it is flashy. The square’s meagerly lit screens, oddly placed Top 40 hits coming from nowhere and seemingly defunct, blank screens — despite opening last November — is a target for pointing fingers as a waste of money. The absurdity of the situat...
Paperback writers: new Pitt course turns students into authors
By Sarah Schneider / for The Pitt News
February 18, 2016
Katelyn Prosachik’s dream growing up was to be a government spy — but while that dream hasn’t materialized in real life, a Pitt class is keeping her fantasy alive. Prosachik is writing a novel about a fictitious 17-year-old version of herself, a teenaged federal government-recruited spy. “Th...
Talk artsy to me: Creatives Drink unites creative types for free booze, conversation
By Brian Murray / for The Pitt News
February 15, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink
Two Pittsburgh photographers are offering free alcohol in exchange for a chat and some creativity. Cody Baker and Chancelor Humphrey draw Pittsburgh’s cultural and artistic community together under one roof to promote collaboration during their three-hour schmooze fests, called “Creatives Drink.” O...
Fun-A-Day returns to Pittsburgh for ninth year
By Britnee Meiser / Staff Writer
February 8, 2016
A creative idea and the drive to get it done — that’s all it takes to exhibit artwork in Fun-a-Day, a national event with a loyal Pittsburgh following. Fun-a-Day, a volunteer-run concept that started in Philadelphia 12 years ago, has spread to cities all across America as an event focused more on the pro...
Q&A: Yancy balances work and play
By Lexi Kennell / for The Pitt News
February 4, 2016
In between working as a non-profit hero in a children’s hospital and writing fiction, modern day Clark Kent, Melissa Yancy, became this year’s recipient of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. As a result, the University of Pittsburgh Press will publish Los Angeles resident Yancy’s manuscript “Dog Yea...
Garner, Glaser honored with exhibit
By Noah Coco / for The Pitt News
February 3, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Music
Just as Jackie Robinson had Branch Rickey, Pittsburgh native and jazz pianist Erroll Garner had Martha Glaser. The University will unveil a display in the William Pitt Union today that showcases jazz memorabilia featuring Garner and Glaser, his manager and a civil rights champion. The memorabilia...
Prairie art companion: student exhibit showcases annual Wyoming trip
By Jack Shelly / Staff Writer
January 20, 2016
Picture pieces of rusted iron, makeshift fly swatters and pairs of turquoise and purple gloves. It might seem difficult to draw a connection between these individual items, but the new exhibit on display at the Frick Fine Arts Building’s University Art Gallery contains all of them, each speaking ...
Laskas discusses ‘Concussion’
By Elaina Zachos / Staff Writer
January 18, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Movies
Before a slew of NFL allegations, outcry over football and a blockbuster film, a journalist was chasing her curiosity to concussion research. Jeanne Marie Laskas’ GQ article-turned-book and now film adaptation “Concussion,” didn’t start as the controversial lightning rod it is today. The story, abo...
Vine star Enick finds comedy in seconds
By Annabelle Hanflig / Staff Writer
January 6, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Movies
One switch of his camera to selfie mode, and Pitt student Nathan Enick becomes someone else. He’s Sherri, the neighbor who loves to brag about her exceptional baking skills while casually showing off her artisan baguettes. Or he’s Will, the roommate who only sees the light of day for emergencie...
Language aloud in library: Carnegie Library offers free language lessons
By Rio Maropis / Staff Writer
December 9, 2015
Filed under Art, Culture, Puzzles
Every first and third Tuesday of the month, Oakland’s Carnegie Library encourages its visitors to get chatty. That’s when the Japanese Conversation Club meets, in the library’s large print room. Nearly 20 participants sit at three separate tables. It’s obvious that attendees are familiar wit...
‘Exposure’ celebrates black local artists
By Eric Acosta / for The Pitt News
November 23, 2015
What once was a coal city is now a center for culture and creativity. Pittsburgh’s transformation from a steel city to an artistic hub is evident in neighborhoods like the Hill District and Lawrenceville, where public art and street murals decorate the urban fabric. But a new exhibit in the Frick ...
Resurrecting the Rust Belt: Toll Gate Revival nostalgic of industrial era
By Jack Trainor / Culture Editor
November 17, 2015
Point to any of the artifacts or antiques in Seth Hunter’s store and he’ll tell you it has a story. “This isn’t your traditional antique shop,” said Hunter, sitting on a 1950s-era, red cushioned couch in a backwards green cap and a trendy black coat. He’s in his dimly lit new store, Tol...
Improv-ing Pittsburgh: The Maker Theater welcomes wacky, weird productions
By Jack Trainor / Culture Editor
November 5, 2015
Filed under Art, Culture, Theater
When comedian D.J. Kingston wanted to make an improv show about his schizophrenia in 2012, only one theater agreed to stage it. That host, then known as Steel City Improv Theatre, was famous for its comedy lessons, improv team and saying yes to even the wildest ideas. The theater, which opened in...
A mix of old and new: Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer returns
By Annabelle Hanflig / for The Pitt News
November 5, 2015
Grab your wallet and thick-rimmed glasses, the Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer is twisting into Lawrenceville this weekend. The mixer, the second of the year following May’s event at the Heinz History Center, brings vintage lovers to the Teamster Temple in Lawerenceville and draws Rust Belt antique ven...
Tag you’re it: City split over value of graffiti art
By Elaina Zachos / Staff Writer
November 2, 2015
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
On the street, Alicia Carberry hunts for fresh paint. Sporting a bright green shirt stamped “volunteer,” the Bloomfield resident of four years sets out on her second graffiti paint-out with the Southside Community Council’s Graffiti Watch. Toting a wagon filled with paint gallons in six basic colors, rollers and brushes, Carberry and her volunte...
Now hear this: ‘Stories Untold’ draws mental health awareness
By Jack Shelly / Staff Writer
October 19, 2015
For ten more days, Pitt students are demanding conversation about mental illness through art. “Stories Untold,” a student art exhibition raising awareness for students’ mental health, features 45 written and visual pieces by 32 different student artists. “If someone looks like they could us...
Pitt poets finalists for National Book Award
By Jack Trainor / Culture Editor
October 14, 2015
Pitt is well represented in this year’s 20 National Book Award finalists. Pitt English professor Terrance Hayes was nominated Wednesday for his assortment of linguistic and investigative poems, “How to Be Drawn,” published by Penguin Books in March. Ross Gay, another Pittsburgh poet, was ...
Zine Scene: annual festival creates community
By Britnee Meiser / Staff Writer
October 5, 2015
A Mexican travel guide. A Kim Kardashian coloring book. Bernie Sanders memorabilia. However varied these items are, they co-existed terrifically as zines displayed on neighboring tables at Pittsburgh’s fifth annual Zine Fair last Sunday, waiting for artists to purchase or trade them. A zine, sho...
Union ink: gallery portrays iconic characters with tattoos
By Nick Mullen / Staff Writer
September 23, 2015
George Washington never told a lie, but did he ever tell anyone about his sweet ink? The Pitt Program Council-sponsored art exhibit “History and Pop Culture in Tattoos” by Pittsburgh artist Lex Covato runs in the Conney M. Kimbo Art Gallery in the Union until Friday, Sept. 25. The exhibit’s strik...
Sketching out a future
By Brady Langmann / Staff Writer
September 11, 2015
Within the first two weeks of each semester, studio arts major Stephanie Taylor can usually expect to sign an accident waiver form. “The professors always tell me, ‘Be conscientious because your biggest material is your health,’” Taylor, a junior, said. With art degrees come physical —...
Seeing green: “Emerald City” comes to Oakland
By Jack Trainor / Culture Editor
September 3, 2015
Pittsburgh now has another reason to thank the late philanthropist and political activist Elsie Hillman: she brought the “Emerald City” to the Steel City. Over the summer, the Pittsburgh nonprofit Hillman Foundation donated a collection of abstract statues, entitled “Emerald City,” to the...
Public property: Northside resident finds hope at bottom of trash cans
By Kelechi Urama / Staff Writer
August 30, 2015
Walking down Jacksonia Street in Pittsburgh’s Northside, a bright yellow house greets visitors from the corner of Arch Street. Sporting giant artificial butterflies, larger-than-life Coca-Cola bottle caps and dozens of potted plants scattered across the sidewalk, Randyland is a beacon of explosive creativ...
Indie market gives artists exposure in SouthSide Works
By Nick Mullen / Staff Writer
July 7, 2015
Carrie Nardini, a Pitt alum, couldn’t find a place to promote her own art — so she made her own.“I was making jewelry and couldn’t find a lot of outlets at the time to sell my work,” Nardini said.In 2007, she teamed up with another artist named Nina Barbuto and started I Made It! Market.“I...
One’s trash is another’s treasure: Exhibit litters The Warhol with abstract, neon dumpsters
By Brady Langmann / Staff Writer
July 7, 2015
Not all artists start off with a brush and canvas — for Pittsburgh artist Elizabeth Rudnick, the 1990s version of Microsoft Paint was enough to get started.“At six, I was tying up my parents’ computer for hours at a time, completely blissed out on MS Paint,” she said. “By nine it was either become a...
Does not compute: Fraley’s Robot Repair Shop taking off at Pittsburgh International Airport
By Nick Mullen / Staff Writer
June 30, 2015
For local artist Toby Fraley, the airport was the perfect place for his latest installation.“The long concourses stretching off into the distance, the identical rows of chairs, the magical way your bags appear in baggage claim,” Fraley said. “Being in an airport also adds a level of legitimacy to ...
Mattress Factory emcees majestic merriment
By Kelechi Urama / Staff Writer
June 23, 2015
Filed under Art, Culture, Food & Drink
Giant, silver M-shaped balloons bounced around an oversized white tent. Hundreds of art-lovers and eccentrics decked out in cocktail wear supported the balloons with whichever hands weren’t holding drinks.The Urban Garden Party at the Mattress Factory, a museum of contemporary art in the North Side, i...