Arts Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

When Rachel Sager bought a house, she didn’t know it came with a coal mine. Obscured by woods in her “backyard,” and flanking the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) bike trail, are the sprawling ruins of the once robust Banning No. 2 coal mine: a labyrinth of crumbling brick and weathered concrete, wedged between bluffs and …

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Arts Culture

Bryce Glass

by Marylynne Pitz

After his father died and his eldest brother disappeared, James Bryce became, at age 14, the head of a large family. So, he began learning the “art, trade and mystery” of glass blowing at Bakewell, Page & Bakewell in Downtown Pittsburgh. The year was 1827 and by then, the Scottish immigrant had four years of experience …

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Arts

Saving a Pittsburgh Arts Center

by Douglas Heuck

For Jennifer McNulty, Kyle Houser and a small band of arts devotees, the past three years have offered a consuming challenge: How could they save and restore to life a Pittsburgh institution, which they love and which they believe will play a key role in revitalizing the city? McNulty is co-president of the board and …

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Arts

The Stark Relativity of Existence

by Stuart Sheppard

Theatrical advertising today tends to overpromise and underdeliver: old classics are repackaged in the wrappings of contemporary mores, new works are compared to old classics, and hype is so prevalent in promotional campaigns that the laconic nature of Barebones Productions’ marketing for “The Sound Inside” (2018) made me really pay attention. It did not tout …

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Arts

Smells Like Dane Spirit

by Stuart Sheppard

In a review of a Shakespeare production several years ago I argued that, as a general rule, it has proven easier to do Shakespeare new rather than well, but with Quantum Theatre’s current production of “Hamlet,” director Jeffrey Carpenter has demonstrated that it’s possible to do both. The challenge with this play — arguably the …

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Arts

The Carnegie International

by Vicky A Clark

Like it or not, the Carnegie International eclipses everything the Carnegie Museum of Art does. Every director has grumbled about how it commandeers all available resources. But it’s a time-honored tradition, still associated 125 years later with the values of founding father Andrew Carnegie. It has survived the vicissitudes of world wars, economic crises, evolving …

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Arts

The Audience as Character: Kinetic Theatre’s “Every Brilliant Thing”

by Stuart Sheppard

There are many reasons to like Kinetic Theatre Company’s “Every Brilliant Thing,” but perhaps the best one is in the way it creates a bonding experience with the audience – rare enough these days — and furthermore, that it does so in a manner that is not political, sentimental, or didactic – the three crutches …

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Arts

“We Shall Not Be Moved”

by Stuart Sheppard

Part tragedy and part myth, as well as part history and part prophecy, Pittsburgh Opera’s “We Shall Not Be Moved” (which premiered in 2017) may be one of the most modern theatrical spectacles you will see — with its synthesis of music, singing, dance, and video projection — yet it may also be one of …

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Arts

The Intersection of People and Nature

by Elizabeth Castonguay

I knew I was an artist at age 4. at 8, when studying oil painting, I knew I would speak through my art. I have always been passionate about the beautiful palette of human diversity and nature, but also empathetic to the struggles of humanity and the vulnerability of all life forms. My decades-long art …

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Arts

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre: On the Threshold of a New Era

by Stuart Sheppard

Watching Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s latest production, “Balanchine and Beyond,” reminded me of the first time I saw the work of the visionary film director Sergei Eisenstein, and encountered cinematography as a form of rapture, instead of the mere recording of imagery. PBT’s three-work production — subtitled “The Masters Program” — comprising contemporary, modernist, and neoclassical …

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Arts

Opera Shines at Maecenas

by PQ Staff

On Saturday night, 200 attendees celebrated the Pittsburgh Opera and the 38th annual Maecenas Gala at the Bitz Opera Factory. The Maecenas Award was presented to Mary Louise Gailliot and the late Henry J. Gailliot. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Janet Sarbaugh, who served as the Vice President of the Creativity Program for The Heinz Endowments until …

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Arts

Sympathy for the Devil: Quantum Theatre Conjures a Postmodern Faust

by Stuart Sheppard

Perhaps the second most essential question in life after “Why are we here?” is “Whom should we trust?” The obvious answer would seem to be, trust in God, but we all know how often human beings end up putting their faith in that more convenient, self-serving, and nefarious alternative, the devil. In fact, one of …

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Arts Culture

The War Against Aesthetics in Contemporary Art

by Stuart Sheppard

Often when I walk through a gallery of contemporary art, I can hear a murmuring between the works that echoes journalist Herbert Morrison’s voice describing the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937: “Oh, the humanity!” It’s as if the depiction of suffering in any form has become the criteria by which we judge art, rather …

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Arts Culture

Pitt Stages’ “Seven Guitars” Gives Life to a Dream Deferred

by Stuart Sheppard

It has been said that the sign of great actors is that they don’t care if you watch them perform or not – as they disdain “playing to the crowd” — and I would argue that the same can be said of great playwrights, who write in a way that invites you to listen to …

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Arts Culture

Pittsburgh Opera’s “Ariodante” – A Sublime Marriage of the 18^th and 21^st Centuries

by Stuart Sheppard

Nearly a century ago, the iconoclastic dramatist Bertolt Brecht wrote that “Since it is precisely for its backwardness that the opera-going public adores opera, an influx of new types of listener with new appetites has to be reckoned with; and so it is.” This is a felicitous way to describe what Pittsburgh Opera has done …

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Arts

What About Aesthetics?

by Vicky A Clark

The latest iteration of the Carnegie International dropped in the era of the pandemic. What would it say about our world situation as reflected in the work of contemporary artists? How would it fit within the historic framework of the exhibition that has been instrumental in shaping the character of the Carnegie Museum of Art? …

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Arts Culture

The Immaculate Reception Collection

by PQ Staff

To mark the 50 anniversary of the “Immaculate Reception,” Pittsburgh-based artist Dino Guarino has created a series of paintings that capture the entire play. The famous Franco Harris catch provided the spark that ignited the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty, and Guarino’s series of seven paintings grew from a series of conversations he had with the …

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Arts Culture

Measuring the Law

by Kathleen George

Many years ago, I worked on a production of Measure for Measure, and many of those lines are still stuck in my head. Shakespeare is of course supremely quotable on any number of subjects. But this difficult and brilliant play about the law as it relates to sex has potent language that keeps floating up …

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Arts Culture

The Pinnacle of My Time at Quantum

by Karla Boos

Dear reader, I think you may benefit from a pitcher of Bloody Mary’s. Or a pot of coffee. Or a screened-in porch with an ancient comfortable chair for a September afternoon, whatever your version of support props. This story has twists and turns that challenge one’s staying power. But I appreciate your lending an ear …

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Arts

Breaking and Healing

by Christine Swann

Artists begin with one question regarding any new creative work. Most might think artists ask themselves, “What should I create?” But the question really needs to be, “Why should I create it?” Intention. It is the driving force behind any project, plan or goal. Without it there can be no satisfying end result. Without it …

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Arts Culture

Capturing a Giant

by Maria Sciullo

There’s never been anything quite like it. In its heyday, the Homestead Works sprawled across 420 acres, much of it hugging both sides of the Monongahela River. Roughly 15,000 people worked there, in 450 buildings, dominating the landscape with more than 100 miles of railroad tracks and becoming so intertwined with the town that when Big …

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Arts Culture

Art and Intention

by Nicole Renee Ryan

Growing up on a farm in Mercer County, surrounded by expansive fields and wooded hills, I spent much of my childhood either outdoors exploring or inside reading. I was (and still am) particularly fond of stories that explore hidden worlds, like the poems and drawings of Shel Silverstein and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden.” …

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