Knotweed drawing

If you were not there-ON last friday, we all came together at the park. Bright sunny day. Blue November sky. The students from Capa arrived on a bus and the Pitt students marched up the walk in front of Phipps and we met in a tent with the restoration ecologist, Erin Copland. We broke into teams and talked about the issues of urban forests and the inasive species. The teams hiked down into the park and viewed a massive slope of knotweed growing from the lake up to the top of the hill. We talked about how to make a drawing that would be translated into an earthwork in the plant field that would be beautiful, referr to the issues ,but would also give access to the entire knotweed site,as park workers will be trying to remove the entire stand in the spring. The teams devided to come up with a drawing in their sketchbooks. We came back together to look at the 5 strong designs. There was one that had a refference to crossing, fiber techniques or a dna helix. Thats the one we chose.

Check out these green WARRIORS

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
http://www.storyofstuff.com/



William McDonough on cradle to cradle design
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html

Day #1 : The PGH Green Bridge Project

Day #1 at CAPA High School,

introductions and making japanese ledger journals

Hey gang , looking forward to site work on Friday
From big j & Connie

Constance Merriman

Constance Merriman is an artist and a teacher. She has been creating art works for more than 30 years that are created in response to formal issues of art, and, more recently, to the social and environmental effects of the world wide extraction of fuel for energy. Constance uses a wide variety of media to create works that have been exhibited in galleries, museums and in public settings. These media includes film, painting, weaving, book art, drawing, digital media, ceramics, and social sculpture. She has taught in community and school settings and is currently teaching drawing for The School of Architecture, CMU, as well as The Carnegie Museum of Art. She is rostered with the Pittsburgh School and Community Program through which she engages in art residencies.

Constance is a collaborator in the Hays Woods Project and The Community Forest Project at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, CMU. These projects investigate the role and value of Greenspace in the Urban Environment. 

JoAnna Commandaros

Harmony through diversity as well as the interconnections found in all things, are the main themes in the work of JoAnna Commandaros. Her work includes the use of multiples, ambiguity of disparate materials, media, and processes often challenging function and meaning of objects and space. JoAnna has created interactive installations and public works in the Pittsburgh area over the past several years, exploring the role of the artist as community collaborator and educator with sensitivity toward ecology. Nest, Rhizomes, Seeds is a current collaboration featuring root drawings as interactive, public installation with students from the University of Pittsburgh, Slippery Rock University and CAPA.

Commandaros is a member of Group A, Society of Sculptors and The Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh as well as a full time Instructor of Sculpture for the University of Pittsburgh’s Studio Arts Department. Commandaros earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and her MFA from Kent State University. She has exhibited and been awarded residencies in the United States, United Kingdom and Jamaica. Her work is in private collections abroad as well as in the United States.

Karen Page: Artist's statement and bio

Stratum, handfelted wool and cutting (own technique)

Karen Page

My work focuses on the age-old techniques of handfelting wool. Through research and experience I have developed and refined my techniques and now strive to push the medium beyond its traditional boundaries.

This medium allows me the ability to embed colors and patterns within the piece that become an integral part of the structure of the felt rather than being applied to the surface. I have found this layering of colors and patterns most intriquing and have begun to explore the potential for relationships between the interior composition and the outer surface.

The technique of cutting away the surface reveals the internal organization as it creates a new configuration of marks on the surface. Through the additive process of felting and the subtractive process of cutting I strive to create a sense of balance within the work to reveal the underlying structure without destroying the integrity of the surface plane.

The colors and textures are suggestive of some form found in nature and are inspired by the various patterns on animals, plants, geological formations, cellular structures, etc. These works are not meant to be imitative of nature but to capture its spirit and energy. They represent a personal contemplation of my environment and my fascination with the mysteries hidden within nature.

Bio:

MFA Kent State University, BFA Syracuse University. Selected grants include a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship, Surdna Foundation Teaching Artist Fellowship, etc. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including Denmark, Japan, Finland, and Canada. Currently an adjunct teaching-artist at CAPA, as well as an adjunct at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Professional memberships include the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh and Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Karen participates in the Artist-in-Residency program through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. World experiences include participating in the 1st International Feltmaking Symposium in Denmark,  four summers as a "handicrafts" volunteer teaching feltmaking to various women's co-ops in Krygyzstan, and attending a class with a master feltmaker in Turkey.

David Pohl

Wired For Thought, originally uploaded by pingting.

David Pohl is a freelance illustrator, multimedia artist and arts educator.
His work has been recognized by Communication Arts, The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Print, Graphis and How magazines.

House of Pingting is an illustration and design company located in Pittsburgh. Servicing magazine + book publishing, institutional + advertising clients. Illustration + animation for print, web + broadcast TV.


David's illustration clients include: Business Week, Fortune, Harvard Business Press, The Kikkoman Corporation, The Miami Herald, National Geographic, The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine , PBS, Time Magazine, Tower Records, Simon & Schuster, The United Jewish Federation, US Airways and Yoga Journal.


His exhibitions include: The Mattress Factory PGH, The Society of Illustrators NYC, 
The Carnegie Museum of Art PGH, The Art Directors Club NYC, The Illustration
Gallery NYC, The Rivers arts Festival Gallery PGH.


www.davidpohl.com

The Pittsburgh Green Bridge Project

The Pittsburgh Green Bridge Project { www.pghgreenbridge.com } is a collaboration among students at CAPA High School and the University of Pittsburgh; the Mattress Factory; artists Constance Merriman, JoAnna Commandaros, Karen Page, Heather White and David Pohl; and residents of Pittsburgh’s urban community and Greenspaces. Under the guidance of artists and with the resources of The Mattress Factory, young people will create individual and collaborative works of public art that bridge and connect Greenspaces with Brownfield or industrial sites, providing corridors of movement and interaction among people plants and animals. Working within the structure of high school and college art classes, as well as the Mattress Factory’s teen program, a group of 15 high school students under CAPA teacher Karen Page will be matched with 15 Pitt students in JoAnna Commandaros Eco Art class. This interdisciplinary project includes study, observation, documentation, discussion, implementation and celebration.