the day after

The Lascaux to Garfield event at Irma Freeman Center for Imagination was a huge success.  Hundreds of visitors stopped in for the gallery show and we had a capacity crowd for the Puppet Cabaret.  Thank you to everyone who stopped out.  A special thanks goes out to all of the participating artists, the performers, those who donated food & drink for the reception, Brett & Sheila at IFC and everyone who purchased art!

Proceeds from the event will go towards the next Puppet Happening event, scheduled for the first weekend of March, 2012 at Future Tenant Gallery, Downtown Pittsburgh.  I’m looking for volunteers and performers for that event.  Please contact me if you are interested.  tomsarver@gmail.com

Lascaux to Garfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOM SARVER & IRMA FREEMAN CENTER FOR IMAGINATION present:

LASCAUX TO GARFIELD
Art Salon & Puppet Happening
December 2nd & 3rd, 2011

Gallery Reception: Friday, December 2nd, 6 PM – 10 PM

Puppet Happening Cabaret: Friday, December 2nd, 11 PM – Midnight

Daytime Reception: Saturday, December 3rd, Noon – 5 PM

Irma Freeman Center for Imagination
5006 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
http://www.irmafreeman.com

Irma Freeman Center for Imagination and artist Tom Sarver present a weekend mini-festival benefiting Puppet Happening, Pittsburgh’s new puppet festival and presenting organization.

Lascaux to Garfield features a small works art salon including the works of fifty local artists exploring a broad range of mediums and techniques. Works will be available for sale “off the wall” at the Gallery Reception and at the Saturday, December 3rd Daytime Reception. A portion of proceeds of art sales will benefit a Puppet Happening festival in 2012.

Exhibiting artists include: Sheila Ali, Alberto Almarza, Ashley Pixelle Andrews, Tommy Bones, Dean Cercone, Victoria Cessna, Matthew Conboy, Thommy Conroy, Murphi Cook, LEX Covato, Mike Cuccaro, George Davis, Tirzah DeCaria, The Dirty Poet, Sam Ditch, Zach Dorn, Kirsten Ervin, Gabe Felice, Irma Freeman, Claudia Giannini, Karen Hartman, Doug Hill, Jennifer Howison, Renee Ickes, Carolyn Kelly, Jessica Langley, Chris Lisowski, Maria Mangano, Jean McClung, Anna Mikolay, David Luis Montano, John Morris, Lindsay O’Leary, Organza Orgazmica (Scott Andrew, Elin Lennox and Michael McParlane collaboration), Larry Rippel, MJ Sadeghi, Nicole Sarver, Tom Sarver, Jessica Scott, Kate Sherman, Moshe Sherman, Kara Skylling, Steve Smith, Oliver Southgate, Jim Storch, Laurie Trok, Robert Zehmisch & Bob Ziller.

Puppet Happening presents a cabaret event, Friday Night Puppet Live, at 11 PM on Friday, December 2nd. The performance features a wacky array of short acts by local puppeteers, hosted by Tom Sarver ($5 – $10 suggested donation).

Friday Night Puppet Live Performers:

Murphi Cook, Timothy Sherman, Ippei Mori
Murphi Cook, Timothy Sherman and Ippei Mori (recent performers in the Warhol Museum’s Pop Cabaret, I Put A Spell On You) present a surprise explosion of fickle fun.

Mike Cuccaro
With a cardboard box and some old socks, Mike Cuccaro performs three short puppet sketches about poorly-considered business decisions, awkward first dates, and pizza-loving kitties.

Zach Dorn
Utilizing archaic overhead projectors in unexpected performance spaces, Zach Dorn melds verse and shadow, carrying audiences on epic adventures inspired by conversations with strangers, shopping excursions and embarrassing moments.

Joann Kielar
Joann Kielar performs The Girl with a Pony-tail, a lightly twisted fairy tale told by a demented big brother to an innocent little sister and recreated for the audience with shadow puppets and paper figures.

Flora Shepherd
Flora Shepherd presents Little Red and the Wolf: Rematch. The legendary hooded heroine battles her infamous canine stalker in the woods to Grandma’s house. Who will win? A hand puppet re-enactment of this lost story holds the answer.

Ohio Valley Halloween

Here are some pics from my annual Halloween drive around the Ohio Valley.  My sister Nicole usually drives and I jump out of the car when I see an interesting display.  I wanted to go back to get some night shots at the red brick house, but the display mysteriously disappeared several days before Halloween.  I’m guessing that neighbors complained, as the arrangement was pretty gruesome. My favorite displays always make use of household items like aluminum foil, old clothes and Heavy Metal posters.

performance stills

I transformed an ordered world into an oozing mess of fluids, plastic bottles, and shredded packaging materials in Digestion, a 45 minute performance at Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh.   During each of two performances, I circulated through a wooden “body” structure, dragging items along and cleaning my path.  Here are some stills from the first performance on September 16, 2011 taken by Kevin Clancy.  Digestion was included in the exhibition Your Place at the Banquet.

I stopped by Conneaut Lake Park near the end of the summer on my way back from Lake Erie.  The park used to be a major regional amusement center. Over the years some of the rides have been shipped off.  Structure has slowly deteriorated.  Locals take pride in the legendary rides that have survived, including the Blue Streak and Devil’s Den. The park is still open through October for special events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digestion performance

Video documentation of my first performance of “Digestion.”

Friday, September 16th, 2011 at Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh.  (Opening night of the group show titled “Your Place at the Banquet).

Digestion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary sketch for Digestion, a performance and installation piece opening on Friday, September 16th at Future Tenant Gallery, Downtown Pittsburgh (as part of the group exhibition Your Place at the Banquet).

I’ve constructed a structure of wood, pipes, tubes, and found objects.  The assemblage is both body and ecosystem.  I will begin the “digestive process” as a live performance at 6:15 PM on opening night.

www.yourplaceatthebanquet.org

Our Story: Artists Reflect on the Destruction of an Ecosystem

Lately fossil fuel advertisements have been bombarding Western Pennsylvanians with “real” stories of people and families whose lives have changed for the better after dealing with the industry.  Whether the subjects “sold the farm” to drillers (and bought dream condos), or can now afford to retire in style (after leasing their land), what we get is a glazed-over momentary snapshot produced by corporate image-makers.  What we don’t see is the long-term picture revealing contamination of drinking water supplies, destruction of ecosystems, and health issues related to exposure to toxic substances.  These negative effects creep up slowly after the windfall and the photo moments are long past.  Smiling corporate execs (or actors playing them) warmly assure us of the benefits of using the resources under our feet.  We don’t see them discussing the amount of environmental damage (and compensation) that they are willing to take on.  Throughout history, corporations have taken whatever they can get, unless people rally to stop them.

In the neighboring states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, visual artists have come together to consider the ways in which hasty actions can have disastrous effects on our ecosystems.  In organizing, Reflections: Homage to Dunkard Creek, West Virginia artist Ann Payne was compelled to take a look at the big picture.  Dunkard Creek experienced a total fish kill in 2009. Water from the creek eventually makes it way to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River, a water supply for thousands.

In Reflections, artists from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and beyond were asked to remember the ecosystem of Dunkard Creek by creating renderings of the lost species.  The traveling display of over 90 works (watercolors, oils, etc.) opens September 9th at an art gallery in Morgantown, West Virginia.  The show is also scheduled to travel.  I hope it will generate awareness and positive action.  The long-term health of our country depends on it!

The piece above is my entry in the show, the freshwater drum.  

For more info, please check out the project website:

Reflections: Homage to Dunkard Creek

Your Place at the Banquet

Please check out this exciting project that I am involved in at Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA.

Illustrations are by David Pohl.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Katy Peace, Co-Executive Director

info@futuretenant.org 

Your Place at the Banquet

September 16  – October 15, 2011

Opening Reception: September 16 6-9pm

Future Tenant / 819 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Your Place at the Banquet is a visual art exhibition and public awareness initiative that critically examines the mechanisms of our industrialized food system and aims to empower people to sow the seeds of change through their daily choices and actions.

A central exhibition hub will be open to the public from September 16 – October 15, 2011 at Future Tenant in Downtown Pittsburgh. From this central hub, bike-powered mobile programming, a poster campaign, street interviews, and public performances will travel beyond the gallery walls to extend the social impact throughout the Greater Pittsburgh region.

The exhibition features new works by Rose Clancy, H.E.A.P. HQ (Kevin Clancy, Dan Mooradian, Ali Reid), David Pohl, Tom Sarver, and Zayde Buti that seek to generate public awareness, critical discussion, and collective action around issues of food politics.

Rose Clancy will contribute Local Soup, a multifaceted work that includes the serving of homemade soups during the opening reception, a sculptural banquet table, and a series of video conversations with gardeners about their sustainable methods and practices. David Pohl will illustrate a series of posters that draw public awareness to key issues, such as industrial food, safe drinking water, genetically modified organisms, and seed saving. These posters will be printed and distributed widely throughout the city. Tom Sarver will perform Digestion at the opening, a piece that comments on the unnatural qualities of processed foods and the cravings that we develop for them. H.E.A.P. HQ will construct distinct bike-powered mobile units that will travel around the city, bringing transient platforms of exchange directly to the public and returning to the exhibition space to park during gallery hours. Zayde Buti will include a collection of his parodic music videos and perform his live one-man show Hungry.

www.yourplaceatthebanquet.org

www.futuretenant.org

Your Place at the Banquet is made possible by a grant from The Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative. The Heinz Endowments supports efforts to make southwestern Pennsylvania a premier place to live and work, a center for learning and educational excellence, and a region that embraces diversity and inclusion.

Future Tenant is a non-profit art space located in downtown Pittsburgh at 819 Penn Avenue dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging artists through exhibitions that offer a cutting edge perspective on the Pittsburgh art scene.

Wall doodles

I’ve drifted away from the blog a bit.  Here are some doodles that I drew on the wall this week for a Downtown Pittsburgh event.  The wall is 9′ x 24′ and the subject is the new industrialization of Pennsylvania wilderness areas resulting from the boom of deep shale drilling.