Lawrenceville galleries: A revolving door
By Kurt Shaw
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Sunday, September 7, 2008
After a two-year run, last weekend saw the last of LaVie gallery in Lawrenceville. With an impromptu closing party scheduled for the Friday evening before Labor Day, gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren says, "We closed quick, so there wasn't the usual crowd."
Loughren and business partner Thommy Conroy found out a week earlier that they could close the space because Equita, a store currently selling earth friendly "green" products out of a Lawrenceville location known as the Ice House lofts, took over the lease with plans of relocating to LaVie's location on Butler Street and opening to the public after Sept. 15.
"We're closing because we have other things that we'd like to do," says LaVie gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren. "I've learned that I don't want to be a businesswoman for the rest of my life. In the end, the idealism gives way to reality, and it doesn't matter if I'm selling artwork or widgets, it's still a business, and that's dry and a bit too linear for my taste."
Known among local artists as a unique venue that focused on the selling of their works as opposed to mere display, LaVie was heralded as the hippest gallery to hit Lawrenceville in years when it opened.
"Somehow they have been able to corral some of the best young artists in town, and show their best work consistently, month-after-month," wrote art blogger Merge Divide last week on the blog "Serendipity" (dgrim.blogspot.com/). "The receptions have been well attended and elegantly provisioned, and the prices have always been affordable. Often the best art venues come and go quickly in this town, and leave folks reminiscing about them for a long time afterwards."
Catering to the younger set, the goal says Loughren, was to cultivate interest in collecting art on the most basic level.
"At La Vie we wanted to cultivate a new collector -- give someone who had never thought to invest in artwork a starting point," she says. "To present artwork with thoughtful curation and careful discretion is a lot of work; being able to say no to artists even if you like them because you don't just take anyone -- this has strengthened our reputation and we've had some stellar shows at La Vie."
True enough. Over the past two years, Loughren and Conroy managed to produce an event monthly, drawing in a large crowd with each new show. As for the closing party, Loughren says, "Probably 100 people came to the closing, sales were good and a diverse crowd, as usual."
Loughren says that even though the closing did "feel like a funeral," with everyone whispering how sorry they were to see the gallery close, she says, "It's a great thing that I'm closing. It frees me up to do so many more things and contribute more fully to the community, rather than worrying about the details of owning my own business."
"Thommy and I intend to continue to curate shows in other venues, we're interested in having openings in surprising spaces. La Vie doesn't have a storefront, but La Vie is the two of us, so it isn't going to disappear. We're both very invested and committed to the Pittsburgh art scene."
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Sunday, September 7, 2008
After a two-year run, last weekend saw the last of LaVie gallery in Lawrenceville. With an impromptu closing party scheduled for the Friday evening before Labor Day, gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren says, "We closed quick, so there wasn't the usual crowd."
Loughren and business partner Thommy Conroy found out a week earlier that they could close the space because Equita, a store currently selling earth friendly "green" products out of a Lawrenceville location known as the Ice House lofts, took over the lease with plans of relocating to LaVie's location on Butler Street and opening to the public after Sept. 15.
"We're closing because we have other things that we'd like to do," says LaVie gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren. "I've learned that I don't want to be a businesswoman for the rest of my life. In the end, the idealism gives way to reality, and it doesn't matter if I'm selling artwork or widgets, it's still a business, and that's dry and a bit too linear for my taste."
Known among local artists as a unique venue that focused on the selling of their works as opposed to mere display, LaVie was heralded as the hippest gallery to hit Lawrenceville in years when it opened.
"Somehow they have been able to corral some of the best young artists in town, and show their best work consistently, month-after-month," wrote art blogger Merge Divide last week on the blog "Serendipity" (dgrim.blogspot.com/). "The receptions have been well attended and elegantly provisioned, and the prices have always been affordable. Often the best art venues come and go quickly in this town, and leave folks reminiscing about them for a long time afterwards."
Catering to the younger set, the goal says Loughren, was to cultivate interest in collecting art on the most basic level.
"At La Vie we wanted to cultivate a new collector -- give someone who had never thought to invest in artwork a starting point," she says. "To present artwork with thoughtful curation and careful discretion is a lot of work; being able to say no to artists even if you like them because you don't just take anyone -- this has strengthened our reputation and we've had some stellar shows at La Vie."
True enough. Over the past two years, Loughren and Conroy managed to produce an event monthly, drawing in a large crowd with each new show. As for the closing party, Loughren says, "Probably 100 people came to the closing, sales were good and a diverse crowd, as usual."
Loughren says that even though the closing did "feel like a funeral," with everyone whispering how sorry they were to see the gallery close, she says, "It's a great thing that I'm closing. It frees me up to do so many more things and contribute more fully to the community, rather than worrying about the details of owning my own business."
"Thommy and I intend to continue to curate shows in other venues, we're interested in having openings in surprising spaces. La Vie doesn't have a storefront, but La Vie is the two of us, so it isn't going to disappear. We're both very invested and committed to the Pittsburgh art scene."
Strong Pulse
By Kurt Shaw
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Open for just a year, La Vie -- a distinctively urban, ultra-hip new art gallery and retail shop in Lawrenceville -- presents an exhibit of works by six young artists that represents exactly what the gallery stands for: sophisticated art by emerging artists who live in or have ties to the city.
La Vie also displays an intriguing selection of handmade crafts, clothing and decorative art objects by Pittsburgh-area artists and craftsmen as well. But, says 26-year-old gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren, the gallery's mission mostly focuses on the art.
"It's a strange mix of all kinds of things, but really, it centers around the artwork. That's the focal point. Everything else just facilitates it," says Loughren, who lives up the street in the same neighborhood.
By "facilitating," she means that in addition to the various objet d'art for sale, she and her business partner Thommy Conroy, 27, who also lives in Lawrenceville, use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic-design services, handmade cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning.
story continues below
from house to HOME
But all of that aside, since La Vie opened it consistently has offered fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days.
The gallery's 10th exhibit, "Emission Theory," is no different. And it has a lot to offer for those seeking to get a pulse on the Pittsburgh art scene at the moment, and what is happening among younger artists in general.
In fact, Carnegie Museum of Art's assistant curator of contemporary art, Heather Pesanti, is a frequent visitor to the gallery, Loughren says.
"Heather Pesanti's influence is immeasurable as she takes us as company on studio visits around the city," Loughren says.
That's how they found out about the work of one of Pesanti's favorite local artists, David Montano of Highland Park.
A graduate of the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts who later went on to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Montano, 25, has focused primarily on mixed-media collages for the better part of his career.
Using everything from scraps of aged paper to fragments of fabric and miscellaneous debris, Montano creates artwork that exists within its own context, self-referential yet completely universal. And, often, he creates them directly on the pages of old books, almost daily, like a diary entry. Six pieces from one of those books are framed and on display here. But most interesting is a book of sheet music, Schubert's "Fantaisie" for four-hand piano, which visitors are welcome to pick up and paw through.
Montano's works are flanked by the works of two other young artists, both in their early 20s and living in Pittsburgh. To the left, Brazilian-born artist Rafael Abreu Canedo, who lives in Friendship, shows two large abstract paintings full of vibrant and equally violent slashes of color on pieces of canvas that have been sewn and stapled together. To the right, Ben Kehoe of Squirrel Hill displays his wacky sense of humor in the form of eight small acrylic and gouache paintings that combine as subject matter medieval characters and imaginary monsters.
Not all include similar scenarios, however, with the middle piece presenting the newfound love of a deep-sea diver and dolphin as they happily traipse, hand in hand, into an ocean.
On the other side of the gallery hangs the work of Melissa Kuntz, an artist and art critic who splits her week between Lawrenceville, where she maintains a studio, and Clarion, where she works as an assistant professor of art at Clarion University.
Here nine small oil paintings, arranged in a tight grouping, feature fragments of amusement park and hotel signage, each painted with a subtle yet palpable sense of light.
Her work is flanked by that of two other artists who, like herself, do not live here full-time but still have ties. Cory Antis, who grew up in Pittsburgh, lives in Philadelphia, where he recently completed his master's of fine arts degree at Tyler School of Art.
Antis' current work focuses on exploring the experience of space, architecture and time through paintings and objects. The seven small works here are perfect examples, with Antis drawing upon everything architectural for inspiration -- right down to the kitchen sink, which just so happens to be the subject of the piece "Stowaway." Basically a painting of the void created in a countertop by a sink basin, it's amazing for its economy of line, shape and brushstroke.
Finally, there is the work of former Pittsburgher Thad Kellstadt, who moved to Chicago earlier this year. In all of his work, he creates a sense of multidimensional disorder. But here, in two paintings in particular -- "How the West Was Lost" and "The Sport of Shipwrecking" -- Kellstadt envisions that concept in literal terms, with a ship riding the crest of a colorful wave of displacement, enlightenment and what he calls "modern rural mysticism."
Natural yet uncomfortable, they are a perfect fit in what might be a perfect exhibition for a gallery so new and fresh as La Vie.
Kurt Shaw can be reached at kshaw@tribweb.com.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Open for just a year, La Vie -- a distinctively urban, ultra-hip new art gallery and retail shop in Lawrenceville -- presents an exhibit of works by six young artists that represents exactly what the gallery stands for: sophisticated art by emerging artists who live in or have ties to the city.
La Vie also displays an intriguing selection of handmade crafts, clothing and decorative art objects by Pittsburgh-area artists and craftsmen as well. But, says 26-year-old gallery co-owner Bronwyn Loughren, the gallery's mission mostly focuses on the art.
"It's a strange mix of all kinds of things, but really, it centers around the artwork. That's the focal point. Everything else just facilitates it," says Loughren, who lives up the street in the same neighborhood.
By "facilitating," she means that in addition to the various objet d'art for sale, she and her business partner Thommy Conroy, 27, who also lives in Lawrenceville, use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic-design services, handmade cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning.
story continues below
from house to HOME
But all of that aside, since La Vie opened it consistently has offered fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days.
The gallery's 10th exhibit, "Emission Theory," is no different. And it has a lot to offer for those seeking to get a pulse on the Pittsburgh art scene at the moment, and what is happening among younger artists in general.
In fact, Carnegie Museum of Art's assistant curator of contemporary art, Heather Pesanti, is a frequent visitor to the gallery, Loughren says.
"Heather Pesanti's influence is immeasurable as she takes us as company on studio visits around the city," Loughren says.
That's how they found out about the work of one of Pesanti's favorite local artists, David Montano of Highland Park.
A graduate of the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts who later went on to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Montano, 25, has focused primarily on mixed-media collages for the better part of his career.
Using everything from scraps of aged paper to fragments of fabric and miscellaneous debris, Montano creates artwork that exists within its own context, self-referential yet completely universal. And, often, he creates them directly on the pages of old books, almost daily, like a diary entry. Six pieces from one of those books are framed and on display here. But most interesting is a book of sheet music, Schubert's "Fantaisie" for four-hand piano, which visitors are welcome to pick up and paw through.
Montano's works are flanked by the works of two other young artists, both in their early 20s and living in Pittsburgh. To the left, Brazilian-born artist Rafael Abreu Canedo, who lives in Friendship, shows two large abstract paintings full of vibrant and equally violent slashes of color on pieces of canvas that have been sewn and stapled together. To the right, Ben Kehoe of Squirrel Hill displays his wacky sense of humor in the form of eight small acrylic and gouache paintings that combine as subject matter medieval characters and imaginary monsters.
Not all include similar scenarios, however, with the middle piece presenting the newfound love of a deep-sea diver and dolphin as they happily traipse, hand in hand, into an ocean.
On the other side of the gallery hangs the work of Melissa Kuntz, an artist and art critic who splits her week between Lawrenceville, where she maintains a studio, and Clarion, where she works as an assistant professor of art at Clarion University.
Here nine small oil paintings, arranged in a tight grouping, feature fragments of amusement park and hotel signage, each painted with a subtle yet palpable sense of light.
Her work is flanked by that of two other artists who, like herself, do not live here full-time but still have ties. Cory Antis, who grew up in Pittsburgh, lives in Philadelphia, where he recently completed his master's of fine arts degree at Tyler School of Art.
Antis' current work focuses on exploring the experience of space, architecture and time through paintings and objects. The seven small works here are perfect examples, with Antis drawing upon everything architectural for inspiration -- right down to the kitchen sink, which just so happens to be the subject of the piece "Stowaway." Basically a painting of the void created in a countertop by a sink basin, it's amazing for its economy of line, shape and brushstroke.
Finally, there is the work of former Pittsburgher Thad Kellstadt, who moved to Chicago earlier this year. In all of his work, he creates a sense of multidimensional disorder. But here, in two paintings in particular -- "How the West Was Lost" and "The Sport of Shipwrecking" -- Kellstadt envisions that concept in literal terms, with a ship riding the crest of a colorful wave of displacement, enlightenment and what he calls "modern rural mysticism."
Natural yet uncomfortable, they are a perfect fit in what might be a perfect exhibition for a gallery so new and fresh as La Vie.
Kurt Shaw can be reached at kshaw@tribweb.com.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Birthday Show at La Vie
LA VIE CELEBRATES THEIR ANNIVERSARY WITH A NEW EXHIBITION
Six artists exhibit at Emission Theory, opening November 3rd at La Vie
November 3, 2007- Pittsburgh- In celebration of their birthday, La Vie presents, Emission Theory, the tenth show for the year-old gallery. Emission theory was an early attempt to explain the mystery of how the human eye perceives objects. Supported by Euclid and Ptolemy, emission theory proposes that rays of light emitted by the eyes sense various objects thus leading to visual perception. Although Arabic scientist Al-Haytham discredited this theory, there is an egotistic and romantic idea in attributing the human eye with the power of illumination.
Emission Theory, urges the viewer to question the power of his glance, imagining his eyes shining rays of light to reveal the artwork. Throughout the work of Corey Antis, Rafael Canedo, Ben Kehoe, Thad Kellstadt, Melissa Kuntz and David Montano, there is the struggle to confront, if not resolve, the paradox of suggesting special depth on a flat surface. This inherent contradiction leads to innovative ways of seeing and thus creating.
Emission Theory opens Saturday, November 3rd 7 – 11 P.M. with a signature reception, as only La Vie can host, featuring music, food and autumnal drinks. Artists will be in attendance to answer questions and discuss their work. An informal reception will be held during Final Fridays on November 30 and Emission Theory will be exhibited until December 2, 2007.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys prints, jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy and Budai. La Vie is open Wednesday thru Saturday 12 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
Six artists exhibit at Emission Theory, opening November 3rd at La Vie
November 3, 2007- Pittsburgh- In celebration of their birthday, La Vie presents, Emission Theory, the tenth show for the year-old gallery. Emission theory was an early attempt to explain the mystery of how the human eye perceives objects. Supported by Euclid and Ptolemy, emission theory proposes that rays of light emitted by the eyes sense various objects thus leading to visual perception. Although Arabic scientist Al-Haytham discredited this theory, there is an egotistic and romantic idea in attributing the human eye with the power of illumination.
Emission Theory, urges the viewer to question the power of his glance, imagining his eyes shining rays of light to reveal the artwork. Throughout the work of Corey Antis, Rafael Canedo, Ben Kehoe, Thad Kellstadt, Melissa Kuntz and David Montano, there is the struggle to confront, if not resolve, the paradox of suggesting special depth on a flat surface. This inherent contradiction leads to innovative ways of seeing and thus creating.
Emission Theory opens Saturday, November 3rd 7 – 11 P.M. with a signature reception, as only La Vie can host, featuring music, food and autumnal drinks. Artists will be in attendance to answer questions and discuss their work. An informal reception will be held during Final Fridays on November 30 and Emission Theory will be exhibited until December 2, 2007.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys prints, jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy and Budai. La Vie is open Wednesday thru Saturday 12 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
Ubu Dada Now by Lissa Brennan
CityPaper
Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premiered in Paris in 1896. The play, about a would-be king at once cowardly and cutthroat, parodied the nobility of Shakespearean tragedy and commenced with a cry of "Merde!," Jarry's native tongue for "shit." A riot resulted (sadly, a rare occurrence in contemporary American theater) and Jarry and company were shut down by The Man (or, "le homme"). Bloody but unbowed, Jarry migrated to a puppet theater. A decade later, the revolutionary succumbed to alcoholism and tuberculosis.
Jarry met an untimely end; Ubu has thrived. A major influence upon surrealism and the Dadaists, the work remains inspirational for artists in a variety of disciplines. One is Thommy Conroy, whose adaptation Ubu Roi Is Here and Alive is part of the ninth annual Black Sheep Puppet Festival.
The festival has always drawn an array of performers local, national and even international. For this installment, called "Local No. 9," longtime organizers Tom Sarver and Mike Cuccaro chose only area performers, in order to unite the Pittsburgh scene for the 10th annual fest. Black Sheep -- based, as always, at the Brew House -- begins Fri., Oct. 19, with an opening reception. Troupes include such familiar faces as The Indicator Species as well as newcomers like Conroy. Ubu will be performed Oct. 26 and 27, as part of the fest's evening-length showcase.
"It's Godzilla meets a sideshow carnival meets our current president," says Conroy. "It's very crass and obscene and bloody." Conroy, an artist who runs Lawrenceville's La Vie Gallery (with owner Bronwyn Loughren), is a 2002 Carnegie Mellon graduate for whom Ubu marks a return to theater after a five-year hiatus. To stage this edited version of the play's original, five-act text, Conroy gathered (as The Ubuists) a bevy of theater artists, non-theater artists, non-theater non-artists, musicians and puppet-masters.
The revisionist title derives from photos Conroy viewed that proclaimed the specialties of various freak-show acts, along with an assurance of their mortal state: "[insert carny name here]...is alive!"
Jarry, doubtless, would have approved of the new staging. According to Conroy, the playwright believed that "the strongest scenery you could have in theater was the unpainted side of a backdrop and placards. He requested that the actors behave as if they were puppets."
Conroy began rehearsal just a couple of weeks prior to the opening, and had to balance his vision for the show with his desire to give collaborators (some 30 in number) room to incorporate their own visions. "It's lots of different artists working on their own little parts to create this giant machine," he says. The machine in question will include such elements as mannequins, finger puppets and root vegetables.
Conroy saw Black Sheep as his chance to do a show he's wanted to stage for several years. "It's been a wonderful opportunity to use the confines [of the festival] to define the production," he says. "They have this sort of mission to explore different forms of puppetry, and we're trying to push this idea of rethinking what makes a puppet."
Much like Jarry over a century ago, Conroy is also committed to rethinking what makes theater. Today's audiences have grown accustomed to sitting back and watching, without being actively engaged. Conroy refuses to spoon-feed viewers; he means Ubu to demand that audiences get involved.
"I think that's really what Jarry was getting at," he says. "They need to be put up to challenge." In this case, the challenge will include audiences reading cue cards aloud and joining in on a song, along with listening and thinking. "They'll have to participate," Conroy says. "I think that's the whole point."
Black Sheep Puppet Festival Opening reception: 7-10 p.m. Fri., Oct. 19 (free). Workshops and lectures: Oct. 20-24, Oct. 27 & 28 (free). Main performances ($15) and free matinee shows: Oct. 26, 27 & 28. Brew House, 2100 Mary St., South Side. 412-381-7767 or www.blacksheeppuppet.com
Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premiered in Paris in 1896. The play, about a would-be king at once cowardly and cutthroat, parodied the nobility of Shakespearean tragedy and commenced with a cry of "Merde!," Jarry's native tongue for "shit." A riot resulted (sadly, a rare occurrence in contemporary American theater) and Jarry and company were shut down by The Man (or, "le homme"). Bloody but unbowed, Jarry migrated to a puppet theater. A decade later, the revolutionary succumbed to alcoholism and tuberculosis.
Jarry met an untimely end; Ubu has thrived. A major influence upon surrealism and the Dadaists, the work remains inspirational for artists in a variety of disciplines. One is Thommy Conroy, whose adaptation Ubu Roi Is Here and Alive is part of the ninth annual Black Sheep Puppet Festival.
The festival has always drawn an array of performers local, national and even international. For this installment, called "Local No. 9," longtime organizers Tom Sarver and Mike Cuccaro chose only area performers, in order to unite the Pittsburgh scene for the 10th annual fest. Black Sheep -- based, as always, at the Brew House -- begins Fri., Oct. 19, with an opening reception. Troupes include such familiar faces as The Indicator Species as well as newcomers like Conroy. Ubu will be performed Oct. 26 and 27, as part of the fest's evening-length showcase.
"It's Godzilla meets a sideshow carnival meets our current president," says Conroy. "It's very crass and obscene and bloody." Conroy, an artist who runs Lawrenceville's La Vie Gallery (with owner Bronwyn Loughren), is a 2002 Carnegie Mellon graduate for whom Ubu marks a return to theater after a five-year hiatus. To stage this edited version of the play's original, five-act text, Conroy gathered (as The Ubuists) a bevy of theater artists, non-theater artists, non-theater non-artists, musicians and puppet-masters.
The revisionist title derives from photos Conroy viewed that proclaimed the specialties of various freak-show acts, along with an assurance of their mortal state: "[insert carny name here]...is alive!"
Jarry, doubtless, would have approved of the new staging. According to Conroy, the playwright believed that "the strongest scenery you could have in theater was the unpainted side of a backdrop and placards. He requested that the actors behave as if they were puppets."
Conroy began rehearsal just a couple of weeks prior to the opening, and had to balance his vision for the show with his desire to give collaborators (some 30 in number) room to incorporate their own visions. "It's lots of different artists working on their own little parts to create this giant machine," he says. The machine in question will include such elements as mannequins, finger puppets and root vegetables.
Conroy saw Black Sheep as his chance to do a show he's wanted to stage for several years. "It's been a wonderful opportunity to use the confines [of the festival] to define the production," he says. "They have this sort of mission to explore different forms of puppetry, and we're trying to push this idea of rethinking what makes a puppet."
Much like Jarry over a century ago, Conroy is also committed to rethinking what makes theater. Today's audiences have grown accustomed to sitting back and watching, without being actively engaged. Conroy refuses to spoon-feed viewers; he means Ubu to demand that audiences get involved.
"I think that's really what Jarry was getting at," he says. "They need to be put up to challenge." In this case, the challenge will include audiences reading cue cards aloud and joining in on a song, along with listening and thinking. "They'll have to participate," Conroy says. "I think that's the whole point."
Black Sheep Puppet Festival Opening reception: 7-10 p.m. Fri., Oct. 19 (free). Workshops and lectures: Oct. 20-24, Oct. 27 & 28 (free). Main performances ($15) and free matinee shows: Oct. 26, 27 & 28. Brew House, 2100 Mary St., South Side. 412-381-7767 or www.blacksheeppuppet.com
The New York Times
TRAVEL | October 14, 2007
Day Out | Pittsburgh: A Design District Takes Shape
The New York Times
By JEFF SCHLEGEL
Butler Street, which once wallowed in seedy obscurity, is now a hub for arts, fashion and interior design
BUTLER STREET is a place the chain stores forgot, and until fairly recently, so had most of Pittsburgh. As the main drag through the blue-collar Lawrenceville neighborhood, which lost jobs and people after the city's steel mills closed roughly a quarter-century ago, Butler Street wallowed in seedy obscurity even as Pittsburgh shook off its sooty past and emerged as a health care and scientific research center.
But in the past five years artists and other creative types have bought into the area's dirt-cheap storefronts and turn-of-the-last-century brick row houses, and opened galleries, boutiques and interior design shops along Butler Street. Today, it's a hub for an arts, fashion and interior design district called the 16:62 Design Zone that begins at the 16th Street Bridge in the adjacent Strip District and extends to the 62nd Street Bridge in Lawrenceville. Throw in some good restaurants and other ancillary amenities, and Butler Street is slowly becoming a go-to destination.
"We're growing in an authentic grassroots way where it's all about small, independent shops," said Jennifer Kent, business district manager at the local community development agency.
One example is Pavement (3629 Butler Street; 412-621-6400; www.pavementshoes.com), a unisex shoe store that stocks funky footwear from the likes of John Fluevog of Canada (Giulia booties for $255) and El Naturalista from Spain (Papua shoes with vegetable-dyed leather for $150). Sugar Boutique (3703 Butler Street; 412-681-5100; www.sugarboutique.com) spotlights wares from independent and emerging fashion designers, with a strong bent toward the local. Among the featured lines are the woven and jersey fabric dresses by the Pittsburgh designer Kelly Lane that start at $250.
Butler Street's home décor outlets emphasize hard-to-find and unusual items. Elements (3816 Butler Street; 412-681-7627) stocks two floors' worth of midcentury and contemporary furnishings and accessories ranging from a silver-plate tea set designed by Lorenzo Porcelli ($300) to a Heywood-Wakefield step end table ($225). Over at Who Knew? (5156 Butler Street; 412-781-0588), the colorful, packed showroom is dedicated to design from the 1950s and 60s, including Danish Modern furniture from Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner and Jens Rison. Elsewhere in the shop, a Mario Bellini chocolate-colored, seven-piece Camaleonda sofa from the 1970s was a cool $10,000.
In August at the La Vie gallery (3609 Butler Street; 412-253-7365; www.laviepittsburgh.com), a trip-hop band played in the lot next door as the gallery was host of one of its frequent receptions highlighting local artists. La Vie also sells locally designed clothes, jewelry and floral arrangements.
The Digging Pitt Gallery (4417 Butler Street; 412-605-0450; www.diggingpitt.com) was opened by the artist John Morris, a New York transplant who built an archive of flat files as a way to display hundreds of works by emerging and under-recognized artists that can't fit on his gallery's walls.
Butler Street is no gourmet ghetto, but it boasts some excellent places to eat. Coca Café (3811 Butler Street; 412-621-3171) blends rotating glasswork and abstract artwork with an eclectic menu. No need for syrup with the herbed goat cheese French toast topped with strawberries ($7.50). The besciamella cream sauce-infused lasagna ($13) at Piccolo Forno (3801 Butler Street; 412-622-0111) is one of the specialties at this Tuscan-flavored B.Y.O.B.
Butler Street's sporting side includes local favorite Arsenal Bowling Lanes (212 44th Street; 412-683-5992; arsenalbowl.com), where old-school bowling vibe meets night club atmosphere after 9 p.m. when D.J.s spin a diverse musical mix. The Roberto Clemente Museum (3339 Penn Avenue, near the intersection with Butler Street; 412-621-1268; by appointment until its planned full-time opening in January) honors the Pittsburgh Pirates legend.
Day Out | Pittsburgh: A Design District Takes Shape
The New York Times
By JEFF SCHLEGEL
Butler Street, which once wallowed in seedy obscurity, is now a hub for arts, fashion and interior design
BUTLER STREET is a place the chain stores forgot, and until fairly recently, so had most of Pittsburgh. As the main drag through the blue-collar Lawrenceville neighborhood, which lost jobs and people after the city's steel mills closed roughly a quarter-century ago, Butler Street wallowed in seedy obscurity even as Pittsburgh shook off its sooty past and emerged as a health care and scientific research center.
But in the past five years artists and other creative types have bought into the area's dirt-cheap storefronts and turn-of-the-last-century brick row houses, and opened galleries, boutiques and interior design shops along Butler Street. Today, it's a hub for an arts, fashion and interior design district called the 16:62 Design Zone that begins at the 16th Street Bridge in the adjacent Strip District and extends to the 62nd Street Bridge in Lawrenceville. Throw in some good restaurants and other ancillary amenities, and Butler Street is slowly becoming a go-to destination.
"We're growing in an authentic grassroots way where it's all about small, independent shops," said Jennifer Kent, business district manager at the local community development agency.
One example is Pavement (3629 Butler Street; 412-621-6400; www.pavementshoes.com), a unisex shoe store that stocks funky footwear from the likes of John Fluevog of Canada (Giulia booties for $255) and El Naturalista from Spain (Papua shoes with vegetable-dyed leather for $150). Sugar Boutique (3703 Butler Street; 412-681-5100; www.sugarboutique.com) spotlights wares from independent and emerging fashion designers, with a strong bent toward the local. Among the featured lines are the woven and jersey fabric dresses by the Pittsburgh designer Kelly Lane that start at $250.
Butler Street's home décor outlets emphasize hard-to-find and unusual items. Elements (3816 Butler Street; 412-681-7627) stocks two floors' worth of midcentury and contemporary furnishings and accessories ranging from a silver-plate tea set designed by Lorenzo Porcelli ($300) to a Heywood-Wakefield step end table ($225). Over at Who Knew? (5156 Butler Street; 412-781-0588), the colorful, packed showroom is dedicated to design from the 1950s and 60s, including Danish Modern furniture from Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner and Jens Rison. Elsewhere in the shop, a Mario Bellini chocolate-colored, seven-piece Camaleonda sofa from the 1970s was a cool $10,000.
In August at the La Vie gallery (3609 Butler Street; 412-253-7365; www.laviepittsburgh.com), a trip-hop band played in the lot next door as the gallery was host of one of its frequent receptions highlighting local artists. La Vie also sells locally designed clothes, jewelry and floral arrangements.
The Digging Pitt Gallery (4417 Butler Street; 412-605-0450; www.diggingpitt.com) was opened by the artist John Morris, a New York transplant who built an archive of flat files as a way to display hundreds of works by emerging and under-recognized artists that can't fit on his gallery's walls.
Butler Street is no gourmet ghetto, but it boasts some excellent places to eat. Coca Café (3811 Butler Street; 412-621-3171) blends rotating glasswork and abstract artwork with an eclectic menu. No need for syrup with the herbed goat cheese French toast topped with strawberries ($7.50). The besciamella cream sauce-infused lasagna ($13) at Piccolo Forno (3801 Butler Street; 412-622-0111) is one of the specialties at this Tuscan-flavored B.Y.O.B.
Butler Street's sporting side includes local favorite Arsenal Bowling Lanes (212 44th Street; 412-683-5992; arsenalbowl.com), where old-school bowling vibe meets night club atmosphere after 9 p.m. when D.J.s spin a diverse musical mix. The Roberto Clemente Museum (3339 Penn Avenue, near the intersection with Butler Street; 412-621-1268; by appointment until its planned full-time opening in January) honors the Pittsburgh Pirates legend.
Daring Portraiture at Lawrenceville Gallery
FACE CONTROL OPENS AT LA VIE
New work featured in fall portraiture show
September 29, 2007 - La Vie opens their ninth show, Face Control that will run through October 28. Portraiture, historically one of America’s favorite types of paintings, continuously takes on new form and purpose. Besides revealing what the subject looks like, a portrait attempts to portray the subject’s personality. American painter and etcher, James McNeill Whistler said the job of the artist, “in portrait painting [is] to put on canvas, something more that the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features”. Nevertheless, it is impossible to extract the personality of the artist from the portrait, and therefore it must be recognized as the amalgamation of two separate dispositions. The title of the show dabbles in the idea of exclusivity – from the 15th century portraits commissioned by wealthy colonials to paparazzi portraits outside fashionable clubs – portraiture has either reflected or challenged aestheticism.
Face Control features the traditional portraiture work of the Academy of the Southside, symbolist renderings by Thommy Conroy, the painterly style of Brett Davis, delicate pieces by Jenny Lee, collages by Robert Rackza and the vibrant poster work of Christopher Sperandio.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy, and published works by the Kartoon Kings. La Vie is open Wednesday thru Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
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New work featured in fall portraiture show
September 29, 2007 - La Vie opens their ninth show, Face Control that will run through October 28. Portraiture, historically one of America’s favorite types of paintings, continuously takes on new form and purpose. Besides revealing what the subject looks like, a portrait attempts to portray the subject’s personality. American painter and etcher, James McNeill Whistler said the job of the artist, “in portrait painting [is] to put on canvas, something more that the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features”. Nevertheless, it is impossible to extract the personality of the artist from the portrait, and therefore it must be recognized as the amalgamation of two separate dispositions. The title of the show dabbles in the idea of exclusivity – from the 15th century portraits commissioned by wealthy colonials to paparazzi portraits outside fashionable clubs – portraiture has either reflected or challenged aestheticism.
Face Control features the traditional portraiture work of the Academy of the Southside, symbolist renderings by Thommy Conroy, the painterly style of Brett Davis, delicate pieces by Jenny Lee, collages by Robert Rackza and the vibrant poster work of Christopher Sperandio.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy, and published works by the Kartoon Kings. La Vie is open Wednesday thru Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
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Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Check out the online article from the newspaper: Hip gallery, old-line society join to keep emerging artists in Pittsburgh by Tim McNulty
Hip gallery, old-line society join to keep emerging artists in Pittsburgh by Tim McNulty
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Hip gallery, old-line society join to keep emerging artists in Pittsburgh by Tim McNulty
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NSAL teams up with LaVie for New Look
THE NSAL TEAMS UP WITH LA VIE TO SUPPORT EMERGING ARTISTS
The September 15th benefit styled by La Vie will revitalize the Pittsburgh Chapter
August 8, 2007- Pittsburgh, PA- In support of all Pittsburgh’s emerging young artists, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters will kick off their 2008 Competition in Voice with a benefit celebration at the Concordia Club in Oakland.
Teaming with the newly formed event-service oriented gallery, La Vie, the Chapter has reached out to the very community they support. La Vie features emerging Pittsburgh artists on a regular basis, in curated shows every 45 – 60 days in their Lawrenceville location. Thommy Conroy, event consultant at La Vie, was the Pittsburgh Chapter’s 2007 Competition winner in Water Based Media on Paper. He and partner, Bronwyn Loughren offered the shop’s services for invitations, marketing and event styling to reenergize the look of the NSAL.
The National Society of Arts and Letters is a non-profit, philanthropic volunteer organization whose mission is to discover and support talented young artists at the beginning of their careers. The Society annually organizes a Career Awards Competition in the disciplines of Art, Dance, Drama, Literature, Music and Musical Theatre.
Combined are 1500 members in 23 chapters, including one in Hawaii. Each chapter sponsors their own competition with qualified judges who are not members.
The winner of each chapter receives a monetary award plus all expenses paid opportunity to compete with other chapter winners at the National Career Awards Conference where the first prize is $10,000.
Our Pittsburgh Chapter has been rewarded by the success of many of our young artists who have embarked on very successful careers. For example:
1997 winner, Maria Zifchek has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera and Lake George Opera.
1999 winner, Javon Johnston is a professional actor and playwright.
2000 winner, Stephanie Zungrie was invited by Peter Martin to join the New York City Ballet.
2004 winner, Megan Hilty played the leading role of Glenda in the broadway production of wicked.
2006 winner, Michelle Joy danced with the Pittsburgh Ballet Company is now with the American Reperatory Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey.
2007 winner, Thommy Conroy is a successful artist and designer at La Vie Gallery in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh.
The September 15th benefit styled by La Vie will revitalize the Pittsburgh Chapter
August 8, 2007- Pittsburgh, PA- In support of all Pittsburgh’s emerging young artists, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters will kick off their 2008 Competition in Voice with a benefit celebration at the Concordia Club in Oakland.
Teaming with the newly formed event-service oriented gallery, La Vie, the Chapter has reached out to the very community they support. La Vie features emerging Pittsburgh artists on a regular basis, in curated shows every 45 – 60 days in their Lawrenceville location. Thommy Conroy, event consultant at La Vie, was the Pittsburgh Chapter’s 2007 Competition winner in Water Based Media on Paper. He and partner, Bronwyn Loughren offered the shop’s services for invitations, marketing and event styling to reenergize the look of the NSAL.
The National Society of Arts and Letters is a non-profit, philanthropic volunteer organization whose mission is to discover and support talented young artists at the beginning of their careers. The Society annually organizes a Career Awards Competition in the disciplines of Art, Dance, Drama, Literature, Music and Musical Theatre.
Combined are 1500 members in 23 chapters, including one in Hawaii. Each chapter sponsors their own competition with qualified judges who are not members.
The winner of each chapter receives a monetary award plus all expenses paid opportunity to compete with other chapter winners at the National Career Awards Conference where the first prize is $10,000.
Our Pittsburgh Chapter has been rewarded by the success of many of our young artists who have embarked on very successful careers. For example:
1997 winner, Maria Zifchek has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera and Lake George Opera.
1999 winner, Javon Johnston is a professional actor and playwright.
2000 winner, Stephanie Zungrie was invited by Peter Martin to join the New York City Ballet.
2004 winner, Megan Hilty played the leading role of Glenda in the broadway production of wicked.
2006 winner, Michelle Joy danced with the Pittsburgh Ballet Company is now with the American Reperatory Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey.
2007 winner, Thommy Conroy is a successful artist and designer at La Vie Gallery in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh.
Midsummer Night Press Release
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LA VIE
3609 Butler Street
Lawrenceville
Contact: Bronwyn Loughren, Owner
Midsummer Night:
August 18 – September 2, 2007
laviepittsburgh@gmail.com
www.laviepittsburgh.com
LA VIE CONTINUES ITS SUMMER SERIES WITH MIDSUMMER NIGHT
Another distinctly selected show of local artists and live music.
August 8, 2007- Pittsburgh- Endless Summer continues at La Vie with Midsummer Night, the second show of a three part series. At 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 18, 2007 the show opens with new artwork in the gallery and live music in the lot next door.
The gallery hosts a strong lineup for its seventh show with Ladyboy, Valerie Lueth, Mary Mack, Elina Malkin, Jairan Sadeghi, Josh Tonies, Josh Welsh, and Kathryn Young. The assembly of artwork, invoking nostalgia, illustrates dramatic beauty and idle whimsy that will illustrate the sultry theme of Midsummer Night.
Live music will be provided by the quirky and profound sound of semi-acoustic folk punk band, Anita Fix & Bam Bam. The show begins at 8 o’clock in the lot at the corner of 36th and Butler Street. The three shows of Endless Summer are supported in part by the Brillobox and are open to the public.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys jewelry, pottery, sculpture and regional publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy. La Vie is open Tuesday thru Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com
Endless Summer Press Release
LA VIE
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
La Vie
3609 Butler Street
Lawrenceville
Contact: Bronwyn Loughren, Owner
Endless Summer: July 18, 2007 – September 22, 2007
laviepittsburgh@gmail.com
www.laviepittsburgh.com
NEW ARTWORK EXHIBITED IN THE SUMMER SERIES AT LA VIE
New work by local artists featured in three shows over twelve weeks.
July 19, 2007- Pittsburgh- La Vie, Lawrenceville gallery and retail shop begins its Summer Series: Endless Summer, July 21st with Road Trip. The work featured in the first show explores the possibility of escape, the accounts of experience, and the perils of paradise. Road Trip welcomes the artwork of Josh Bonnett, Deborah Hosking, Jennifer Howison, Jenny Lee, Jae Ruberto and Paul Roden.
The Endless Summer receptions will continue with Midsummer Night on August 18, 2007 and finish with the Back to School show on September 8, 2007. All shows begin at 7 p.m. and will present live music organized by local favorite Edgar Um Bucholtz. Artists that will be showing in Endless Summer include Mary Mack, Kathryn Young, Jairan Sadeghi, Josh Tonies, Ladyboy, Elina Malkin, Craig Kirby, Adam Grossi, Alice Wynn, Mike Budai, Tommy Bones, and Renee Ickes. Endlesss Summer is sponsored in part by the Brillobox.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy. La Vie is open Tuesday thru Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
La Vie
3609 Butler Street
Lawrenceville
Contact: Bronwyn Loughren, Owner
Endless Summer: July 18, 2007 – September 22, 2007
laviepittsburgh@gmail.com
www.laviepittsburgh.com
NEW ARTWORK EXHIBITED IN THE SUMMER SERIES AT LA VIE
New work by local artists featured in three shows over twelve weeks.
July 19, 2007- Pittsburgh- La Vie, Lawrenceville gallery and retail shop begins its Summer Series: Endless Summer, July 21st with Road Trip. The work featured in the first show explores the possibility of escape, the accounts of experience, and the perils of paradise. Road Trip welcomes the artwork of Josh Bonnett, Deborah Hosking, Jennifer Howison, Jenny Lee, Jae Ruberto and Paul Roden.
The Endless Summer receptions will continue with Midsummer Night on August 18, 2007 and finish with the Back to School show on September 8, 2007. All shows begin at 7 p.m. and will present live music organized by local favorite Edgar Um Bucholtz. Artists that will be showing in Endless Summer include Mary Mack, Kathryn Young, Jairan Sadeghi, Josh Tonies, Ladyboy, Elina Malkin, Craig Kirby, Adam Grossi, Alice Wynn, Mike Budai, Tommy Bones, and Renee Ickes. Endlesss Summer is sponsored in part by the Brillobox.
La Vie consistently offers fine art by local artists in carefully selected shows every 45 to 60 days. Bronwyn Loughren and Thommy Conroy use the gallery as a studio, providing graphic design services, hand-made cards and invitations, floral arrangements and specialty event planning. The shop purveys jewelry, pottery, sculpture and publications. La Vie exclusively carries hand-painted clothing by Mary Margaret Stewart of Iman B, formerly located on Ellsworth Street in Shadyside, as well as signature t-shirts by Ladyboy. La Vie is open Tuesday thru Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 3 and conveniently by appointment.
Current and past shows as well as everything featured at La Vie can be seen at www.laviepittsburgh.com.
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Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Celebrating Women in the Arts
Monday, June 18, 2007
By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Robert J. Pavuchak for the Post-Gazette
Grant Oliphant, vice president of programs for the Heinz Foundation, and Sara Radelet, executive director of the New Hazlett Theater.
Click photo for larger image.
Celebrating -- and perpetuating -- the remarkable number of women leading Pittsburgh's thriving arts scene was the theme of the "Women in the Arts: Founders, Pioneers, Instigators" gala at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side.
Theater director Sara Radelet, along with Hazlett board leaders Jane Werner and Tom Sokolowski, welcomed the hip crowd, which was there to fete a cross-generational group of 36 women leaders.
Artist Thommy Conroy decorated the theater's lights with garlands of lilies and roses, and tables with violet-filled terrariums from La Vie Gallery in Lawrenceville -- Conroy described the look as "a Gatsby-esque Deco-fest that celebrates womanhood." Jen Gottschalk of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails mixed the killer drinks that lubricated the crowd.
Robert J. Pavuchak for the Post-Gazette
Kathryn Sitter, left, co-founder of the Brew House, South Side, and Vernell Lillie, founder of Kuntu Repertory Theatre.
Click photo for larger image.
Fellow celebrants included Heather Pesanti, Hilary Robinson, Colleen Russell Criste, Beth Corning, Linnea Glick, Jen Saffron, Michele de la Reza, Bob Bingham, Kathryn Sitter, Jacob Bacharach, Bronwyn Loughren, Karla Boos, Grant Oliphant, Kevin McMahon, Carol Brown,
Bill Peduto, Rob and Cathy Lewis Long, Ceci Sommers, Tracy Brigden, Janera Solomon, Jane Arkus, Alice Snyder, Connie Brinda, Lisa Hoitsma, Joan Apt, Staycee Pearl, Mildred Posvar, Christine Jordanoff, Gerri Kay, Elsa Limbach, Susan Gillis, Cecile Springer, Charlie Humphrey,
Lauren Urbschat, Barbara Luderowski, Michael Olijnyk, Christiane Leach, Janet Sarbaugh, Elizabeth Reiss, Marilyn Coleman, Demeatria Gibson Boccella, Mary Navarro, Kathleen Mulcahy, Vernell Lillie, Dolly Ellenberg, Darla Cravotta, Richard Rauh, Laura Domencic and Karey Joensen.
Monday, June 18, 2007
By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Robert J. Pavuchak for the Post-Gazette
Grant Oliphant, vice president of programs for the Heinz Foundation, and Sara Radelet, executive director of the New Hazlett Theater.
Click photo for larger image.
Celebrating -- and perpetuating -- the remarkable number of women leading Pittsburgh's thriving arts scene was the theme of the "Women in the Arts: Founders, Pioneers, Instigators" gala at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side.
Theater director Sara Radelet, along with Hazlett board leaders Jane Werner and Tom Sokolowski, welcomed the hip crowd, which was there to fete a cross-generational group of 36 women leaders.
Artist Thommy Conroy decorated the theater's lights with garlands of lilies and roses, and tables with violet-filled terrariums from La Vie Gallery in Lawrenceville -- Conroy described the look as "a Gatsby-esque Deco-fest that celebrates womanhood." Jen Gottschalk of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails mixed the killer drinks that lubricated the crowd.
Robert J. Pavuchak for the Post-Gazette
Kathryn Sitter, left, co-founder of the Brew House, South Side, and Vernell Lillie, founder of Kuntu Repertory Theatre.
Click photo for larger image.
Fellow celebrants included Heather Pesanti, Hilary Robinson, Colleen Russell Criste, Beth Corning, Linnea Glick, Jen Saffron, Michele de la Reza, Bob Bingham, Kathryn Sitter, Jacob Bacharach, Bronwyn Loughren, Karla Boos, Grant Oliphant, Kevin McMahon, Carol Brown,
Bill Peduto, Rob and Cathy Lewis Long, Ceci Sommers, Tracy Brigden, Janera Solomon, Jane Arkus, Alice Snyder, Connie Brinda, Lisa Hoitsma, Joan Apt, Staycee Pearl, Mildred Posvar, Christine Jordanoff, Gerri Kay, Elsa Limbach, Susan Gillis, Cecile Springer, Charlie Humphrey,
Lauren Urbschat, Barbara Luderowski, Michael Olijnyk, Christiane Leach, Janet Sarbaugh, Elizabeth Reiss, Marilyn Coleman, Demeatria Gibson Boccella, Mary Navarro, Kathleen Mulcahy, Vernell Lillie, Dolly Ellenberg, Darla Cravotta, Richard Rauh, Laura Domencic and Karey Joensen.
Iconicity
Our fifth show will run from May 24th - July 7, 2007
Includes artists Eric Stern, Clare Parry, Craig Kirby, Alex Alessi and Tommy Bones.
Includes artists Eric Stern, Clare Parry, Craig Kirby, Alex Alessi and Tommy Bones.
