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Sunday, March 10, 2002

By Dave Zuchowski

No one had yet arrived for the weekly open-mic acoustic night when I first set foot into Jozart Studios in California around 7 p.m. on a recent Wednesday.

I glanced around and spotted a sign-up sheet that read "three-song limit" posted at the top of the stairs, then noticed the 14-foot tall ceilings supported by a succession of original cast-iron columns. Plenty of room to roam around, I surmised. With 7,000 square feet, the spacious gallery/artist studio/performance space should be a comfortable oasis of culture to nearly everyone.

"Welcome," said co-owner Jay Paroda, as I eyed the mosaic of padded (and neatly arranged) sofas, potted plants and end tables with warm, glowing lamps. Dim light poured into the room from the streetlights outside through the bank of long windows that fronted two of the walls. It was an inviting first impression.

Something like Jozart Studios had been percolating in the back of Joe "Bish" Morosky's mind for years -- ever since he attended Ivy's School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s. Morosky, a package designer for Interstate Paper Company in Roscoe, and Paroda, a project coordinator for Maccabee Construction of Belle Vernon, took the first step to realizing their shared dream in August, 2000. That's when they rented the second-floor space above the Dollar General Store on the corner of Second and Wood streets in California.

Six months ago, the partners staged their first open-mic night, but the event only scratched the surface of what they envision for their studio. By day, they hope to have painters, woodworkers, stained glass artists, sculptors, weavers, potters, sculptors and a tattoo artist working in the studio. The public will be invited in to watch, ask questions, enjoy and perhaps purchase the artwork the proprietors expect to display on every available wall.

Along the side of the room opposite Second Street next to the kitchen, a series of 9-foot-by 12-foot rooms will be used for music lessons, leased working/show rooms for perhaps a photographer or jewelry maker, and the Jozart Studio offices.

"We hope to be open from nine in the morning to nine at night, even later during cultural event evenings," Morosky said. "In addition to touching on all the arts, we want to be a part of the community revitalization effort and hope to draw a mix of students from the university and people from town and the surrounding area."

Tuesdays already have been designated Open Venue Night, when poets, prose writers, dramatists and filmmakers can recite or screen their work. A 12-hour film festival has been scheduled for April 20, and local and regional filmmakers are being asked to submit their work for consideration.

The literary open-mic nights recently have drawn poets such as R. Scott Stewart from the Artists Co-op of Wheeling, W.Va., Peter Wright, professor at California University of Pennsylvania, and Brandon Lawrence of Vestaburg, just back from Kosovo, where he was part of the NATO peacekeeping force. The events have been hosted by Carla Anderton, poet and founder of Peer Amid, a literary periodical based in California.

To support their wives and children, Morosky and Paroda have kept their day jobs and worked at getting the studio in shape in the evening. To pay the studio's monthly rental fee, they've operated a desktop publishing enterprise out of their office designing signs, banners and vehicle graphics and printing business cards, fabricating air brush illustrations and more.

Recently they've also become the marketing agents for local author Philip Garrow, whose 1999 romantic novel "Souls of Steel" is set in the Monongahela Valley circa 1974-1985 during the collapse of the steel industry.

Still to come is a coffee bar where they'll sell cappuccino, espresso and pastries. They also plan to schedule a series of workshops including American Indian dream-catcher making, which will be taught by Paroda, and stained glass design and construction.

Morosky, from Centerville, and Paroda, from Malden, have more than a casual interest in American Indian culture. Both attend regional powwows, and Paroda is proficient in several American Indian crafts, including beadwork.

A section near the back of the studio devoted to aboriginal culture is stocked with books, such as "Mother Earth Spirituality" by Ed McGaa (Eagle Man), "God is Red" by Vine Deloria Jr. and "Where White Men Fear to Tread" by Russell Means.

Sometime around 8 that evening, five names were listed on the sign-in sheet. The first to perform was Krisse Jadyk, a sophomore at Cal U from Uniontown, who's been working at the Underground Cafe in Herron Hall hosting the open-mic program every Thursday to give the university students an entertaining alternative in an alcohol-free environment.

"Almost everyone who comes to Jozart tells us what a great place this is," said Morosky, as I bid him farewell. "Since we opened, we've been getting nothing but positive vibes."

Jozart Studios is at 333 Second St., California. Call 724-938-9730 or visit http://www.jozartstudios.com.

Dave Zuchowski is a free-lance writer who covers arts and entertainment for Washington Sunday. He can be reached by e-mail at: owlscribe@yahoo.com