FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
June 1–24, 2009
Accomplishment 27
Reception and Awards Ceremony: Friday, June 5 from 5–7 p.m.

The 27th annual exhibition of works inspired by the positive relationships made through MCG programs.
Read more below.

MCG@800 Penn Avenue—Internationally-renown performance and mixed media artist Julia Mandle visits Pittsburgh to conduct a 4-day workshop with MCG after-school students. While producing their own pair of chalk shoes, students learned about Mandle's artistic practice as well as issues surrounding art and activism! Then representatives from fellow North Side organizations joined the students in a performance combining costume and path making to highlight community amenities. Read More Below

Exhibition Reception: Friday, July 17, 6–9 p.m., in conjunction with the Cultural District Gallery Crawl

Make your own paths around the Cultural District by participating in a special scavenger hunt: Saturday, July 18, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., in conjunction with the Cultural District Kids Crawl

Reception: Friday, July 25 from 4 - 9 p.m. in conjuction with MCG's Summer Family Day!
Read the press release!

MCG is especially excited to announce its first collaboration with Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors—Space and Place: SOS@MCG—a local rendition of their annual national open exhibition. The highlighted works include carved, cast and assembled forms that span experimental processes to traditional object-making featured within and outside our 1815 Metropolitan Street facility on the North Shore.

Historically sculpture has been about creating forms and volumes. Using additive and subtractive processes, sculptors manipulate plastic materials to express ideas, tell stories, commemorate history and tradition, or express qualities of the human spirit. Artists today, and particularly sculptors, have become increasingly engaged with the context in which their work is viewed and functions—whether decorative, expressive or conceptual. Download the exhibition announcement!

Featured artists include Atticus Adams, Jan Barone, Peter Calaboyias, Yi-Chuan Chen, Dennis Childers, Laura DeFazio, Elizabeth Asche Douglas, Tom Estlack, Ilena Finocchi, Sarika Malik Goulatia, Adrienne Heinrich, Stanley Koepke, Michael Leahy, David W. Martin, Duncan MacDiarmid, Kyle Milne, Ronald Nigro, Terri Perpich, James Rettinger, James Shipman, Cydra Vaux, Hugh Watkins, Paula Weiner and Gary Zak.

Please join us Friday, July 25 from 4–9 p.m. for a FREE afternoon of creative fun for all ages including arts activities, a live iron pour, a chance to meet featured artists, plus food and refreshments!

September 15–October 10, 2008 2008 Summer Students & Staff Show Reception: Friday, September 26 from 5:00–7:00 p.m. MCG Youth's uniqueness lies in its people: the hard-working and talented students, and the dedicated staff who mentors and inspires them. From ceramics to photography, digital arts to sculpture and fashion—plus everything in between—this exhibition celebrates the diversity and power of our creative community. Download the exhibition announcement!

"Natural Chaos", batik. Jerel Webster, Teaching Artist– Design Arts.

"Swirling Grapes", stoneware. Nancy Pham, Student–Ceramics.

Receptions: Wednesday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m.—Artist Talk with Jesse McLean
and Thursday, November 13 at 6:00 p.m.—Lecture and performance by Cat Chow

From recycled and reclaimed materials to familiar images, Altered Meanings explores the unique art-making processes of Cat Chow and Jesse McLean. Two, young contemporary artists, Chow and McLean both collect and repurpose to produce compelling and innovative works of art. Download the exhibition announcement!

Jesse McLean creates images by deconstructing scenes from news media and pop-culture. Replacing original content with remnants of obvious manipulation—such as the cursor or Photoshop Magic Wand selector—she questions their cause and meaning while challenging viewers’ understanding of their relationship to these popular photographs.

Cat Chow is well known for her transformation of everyday objects into wearable art. Her earlier works are fabricated from materials like dollar bills, zippers, and keys. While her new works forge the frontier of sculptural and installation art, her technique remains the same: presenting common materials in a new context that provokes reflection about social and identity issues. Read the press release!

Also as part of her work with MCG, Chow hopes to develop an ongoing project--"Keeper"--which she began in 2006. She says that she, "find[s] keys to be particularly interesting. When one no longer knows what a key unlocks, one still has a hard time parting with it. Through this project, I hope to repurpose those unwanted keys to a better end." In support of Chow's efforts to create a "constellation" of keys for a show she is planning at the Nevada Museum of Art, MCG has placed key collection boxes at both its North Shore and downtown galleries. All are encouraged to stop by and donate their unwanted keys to this new cosmic creation. Cat Chow's work at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is underwritten with support from the Citizens Bank Foundation.

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (MCG) is proud to present Seeing Jazz: a tribute to the masters and Pittsburgh jazz legends. The exhibition is a showcase of works by well-known masters along with some of today's noted contemporary artists and emerging talent, all of whom have inspired many through their artworks dedicated to jazz. Download the exhibition announcement or Read the press release!

For its installation at MCG, Seeing Jazz: a tribute to the masters will also feature a special focus on jazz in the steel city including a slide show of photographs from the New Pittsburgh Courier and Carnegie Museum of Art archives as well as works by Pittsburgh artists and area natives.

"The spirit of jazz is big enough to encompass global influences while flourishing in unique and local ways, notably here in Pittsburgh. The pieces in the exhibition reflect these qualities in their stylistic diversity as well as in the selections of works by regional artists made by MCG's Exhibitions Coordinator, Heather Powell." says Joshua Green, MCG Youth & Arts Vice President of Operations.

Seeing Jazz: a tribute to the masters and Pittsburgh jazz legends is presented in collaboration with creator and curator, Pittsburgh native, Gwendolyn Black. The concept for the exhibition is based on Visual Expressions on Jazz, a traveling event that Black began in New York nearly ten years ago. Black’s motivation for organizing the exhibition is to “give more visibility to visual artists who not only listen to jazz music while working but who have also been at the forefront of documenting and supporting jazz music through their art.”

On exhibit are works by Ademola Olugebefola, Alexandria Smith, Allen Stringfellow, Ann Tanksley, Barry Mason, Benny Andrews, Betty Blayton Taylor, Bisa Butler, Charlotte Ka, Christina Stahr, Chuck Stewart, Danny Simmons, Dave Brubeck, Dindga McCannon, Douglas J. Webster, Edmund Yaghjian, Eli Kince, Emmett Wigglesworth, Eric Girault, Eric Pryor, Ernani Silva, Evangeline J. Montgomery, Faith Ringgold, Fernando Salicrup, Frank Frazier, Fred Brown, George Pali, George Smith, Habib Tiwoni, Ian Short, Jamillah Jennings, Jill Austen, John Ritter, Ken Croken, Larry Joseph, Lauren Camp, Leon Nicholas Kalas, Manny Vega, Marcos Dimas, Maurice D. Robertson, MLJ Johnson, Nora Mae Carmichael, Omowale Morgan, O'Neal Abel, Osmond Tyner, Otto Neals, Paul Hunter, Rene Hinds, Richard Mayhew, Richard Waters, Robert Daniels, Romare Bearden, Sadikisha Collier, Senghor Reid, Sharif Bey, Shirley Woodson, Sid Brown, Sona Yeghiazaryan, Steve Mayo, Tafa Fiadzigbe, Tina Brewer, and Verna Hart.

Don't miss this year's installation of the annual exhibition featuring juried artwork of all media created by the talented student-artists of Pittsburgh Public High Schools. Download the exhibition announcement

Last year the work of more than 370 Pittsburgh Public high school students was displayed at MCG and over $115,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded to entrants. MCG is looking forward to exceeding last year’s success and we invite you to participate!

Join us Thursday, May 14 from 6–9 p.m. to honor these emerging artists!

6:00-7:30	Meet the artists. Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments.
7:30-8:30	Awards Ceremony
8:30-9:00	Mingle with artists and conclude festivities.

Thank you to the following for their generous donations of awards for this exhibition: Allegheny City Society, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Artist and Craftsman Supply, Bernie's Photo Center, Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University School of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, The Clay Place, Eleanor Friedberg Family, Eleanor Friedberg Art Scholarship Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Betsy and Dale Huffman, Little Earth Productions, Inc., The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh Technical Insitute (PTI), Robert Morris University, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Standard Ceramic Supply, Warhol Museum, Whole Foods.

For full entry details and forms, visit the All City 2009 web page.

The 27th annual exhibition of works inspired by the positive relationships made through MCG programs. Download the exhibition announcement

From pieces made at the Helen S. Faison Arts Academy as part of our Learner Centered Arts Integration (LCAI) program, to work by middle school students made during Artists in Schools (AIS) residencies, to art created by our high school after school Apprenticeship Training Program (ATP) students--each year MCG Youth staff has the pleasure of working with local youth who continue to amaze and inspire us, and this exhibition is our opportunity to recognize and share with the public a culmination of the staff and the students' hard work.

Join us Friday, June 5 from 5–7 p.m. to celebrate the positive relationships made through MCG programs and the creative artworks they inspire!

5:00-5:30	Design Arts Fashion Show
5:30-6:00	Awards Presentation
6:00-7:00	Video screening and gallery talks

Don't miss this traveling exhibition during its installation at MCG. Presented by The PA Council on the Arts and Penn State University, the 2008 biennial showcases the work of some of Pennsylvania's most talented artists from diverse multicultural communities across the state.

Join us Friday, August 7 from 4–7 p.m. for a culminating celebration in honor of exhibiting artists as well as the students of MCG Youth's summer program. Free and open to the public, the event will include hands-on activities in MCG's arts studios, gallery talks by artists, and food!

On exhibit are works by Jo-Anne L. Bates, Brian Keith Bazemore, Tina Williams Brewer, Barbara Bullock, Syd Carpenter, Elizabeth Asche Douglas, Timmy Graham, Theodore Harris, Christina E. Johnson, LeRoy Johnson, Martina Johnson-Allen, Padmini Mongia, Michelle Ortiz, Ruth G. Richardson, Marta Sanchez, Richard Watson, Victoria Weaver, Naola Mitchell Williams.