Strickland to receive Westmoreland Medal
William E. Strickland Jr. will be presented with the 24th Westmoreland Society Gold Medal on Dec. 3 at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg. The medal recognizes the contributions of individuals or organizations that have made an impact on the arts.

Strickland is president/CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corp. and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and Bidwell Training Center, on the North Side.

Museum director and CEO Judith Hansen O'Toole said Strickland was chosen for his "lifelong work in using the power of the arts to improve the life and self-esteem of at-risk youth ... and for being a visionary leader in the arena of social enterprise, creating ventures that support the artistic mission of his organization."

She also praised his organization's promotion of jazz and drew parallels to the goals of the museum's Jazz Society.

17th-century art book
University of Pittsburgh Professor Ann Sutherland Harris will sign her book "Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture," newly published by Prentice Hall, at a reception that begins at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Michael Berger Gallery, 6022 Penn Circle South, Shadyside. Information: 412-441-4282.

Neapolitan presepio
When Carnegie Museum of Art unveils its 18th-century Neapolitan presepio in the Hall of Architecture Dec. 2, as it has done each Christmas season since 1957, it will have a new dimension. Pittsburgh artist Robert Bowden has painted a detailed backdrop of an 18th-century Italian cityscape, measuring 15 by 10 feet.

A presepio is a miniature Nativity display embellished with figures of period-appropriate townspeople and the accouterments of their livelihoods. Such scenes have been created for centuries in Naples and Southern Italy. The presepio remains through Jan. 2. For information, call 412-622-3131 or visit www.carnegiemuseums.org.