"The Touch and Feel of Art, Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art," by William D. Wade is among 30 photographs in his exhibition, "Art in Our Lives," at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Click photo for larger image.

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts has maintained a full exhibition schedule, especially supportive of local artists, since shortly after its fall 2004 re-opening, and currently hosts several noteworthy solo exhibitions and Group A's "Secrets."

The latter -- presented in collaboration with Gallery 10, Washington, D.C., and juried by Pittsburgh psychologist William F. Cornell -- is one of the Group's finest presentations in recent years. Standouts include strong works by Tim Fabian, Adrienne Heinrich and Elaine Morris, and successful new and/or refined directions taken by Rich Brown, Connie Cantor and Cory Rockwood.

"Big and Little," one of three solo exhibitions Dai Morgan has prepared within a year, offers opportunity to see an overview of the excellent work of this observant and technically proficient painter, from the political commentary of "Lost Soldier" to the compositionally inventive "Four Sides of the Incline."

Ronald Nigro exhibits "Reliquaries of Past Technology," a title succinctly appropriate for his tidily worked assemblage sculptures comprising discarded techno components.

Rounding things out are four photography exhibitions, each highly individualistic in expression.

"Art in Our Lives," a series begun in the early 1990s by William D. Wade, is an engaging, sophisticated and excellent selection of 30 images from a much larger portfolio that begs publication in book form.

Wade, a Post-Gazette photographer who was one of nine invited to exhibit in "Pittsburgh NOW" at Silver Eye Center for Photography this year, photographed visitors observing art in museums and galleries here and abroad. The images have special meaning for anyone involved with visual arts, but the body language recorded will speak to cultural observers from psychologists to dramatists.

"Retrieving the Scattered" by Anderson English also is intriguing, in no small part because of the way the photographer counters predictability. His pictorial recording of found objects in the landscape not only challenges how one looks and sees, but delivers imagery that is surprising to the viewer even after having been tipped off to the photographer's intent, such as a goldfish lying on an asphalt road or a small headstone isolated in a patch of weeds. Startling and eminently enjoyable.

A detail of "Mommy's Toys" by Connie Cantor. Click photo for larger image.

The slightly eerie, slightly titillating subject matter of Richard Hurst's "Mammals," while fascinating, reaches new aesthetic heights in his almost completely abstracted works, #5 and #18.

And Jill Larson's jewel-like, illuminated presentation, "In the Dark," inspires new ways -- physical and emotional -- of envisioning sometimes overlooked subjects.

The exhibitions continue through Jan. 22 at 6300 Fifth Ave. (corner of Shady). Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Suggested admission is $5; members free. Information: 412-361-0873 or visit pittsburgharts.org.

PCA talk

South American artist and designer Gavin Benjamin, recently of New York and now residing in Pittsburgh, will speak at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts about the mixed-media work in his "Flowers Gone Wild" show (which opens Friday). An exhibition reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 19, co-hosted by Pittsburgh AIDS Taskforce, which will receive 20 percent of sales of works in the exhibition. Information, 412-361-0873.

Glass Center reception

Included in Gavin Benjamin's PCA exhibition is a chandelier made in collaboration with flame-worker Duff O'Brien. Benjamin and O'Brien also exhibit in "Well Hung: Chandeliers Revealed" at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, which will throw an exhibition- closing reception, complete with glass blowing demonstrations, from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday. Information: 412-365-2145 or www. pittsburghglasscenter.org.

AACC photographer

North Carolina photographer Jerry Taliaferro will attend the closing reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday of his exhibition "Women of a New Tribe" at the African American Cultural Center of Greater Pittsburgh's 209 Ninth St. Gallery, Downtown. Admission is free. Information: 412-281-5484 or www.africanaculture.org.

Memory of James Church

	"Lost Soldier" by Dai Morgan. Click photo for larger image.

Friends offer ways to remember artist James Church, who was 46 when he died Dec. 27 at his Lawrenceville home.

Pittsburgh artist David Pohl has created an "In Memoriam" post on his blog "for those who would like to honor [Church's] memory and leave thoughts, prayers, and reflections on [his] life, love and work." Go to http://findthetimetorhyme.blogspot.com/2005/12/in-memoriam-james-church-1958-2005.html.

Fe director Jill Larson will hold a memorial exhibition of Church's work at the Lawrence-ville gallery Jan. 14. If you have art by Church you would like to lend to the exhibition, drop it off at 4102 Butler St. from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday or contact Larson at buyarttoday@mindspring.com or 412-860-6028 by Saturday.

Church's obituary appeared in the Post-Gazette Dec. 30 ("Obituary: James Church / Collage artist called 'creative presence' in city)".

2005 Notables

"COLOR: Ten African American Artists," at the Society for Contemporary Craft, was inadvertently left off of a year-end list, published last Thursday, of 2005 exhibitions that were "aesthetically exceptional and raised levels of consciousness about specific cultural identities."