What you perceive may not be what you're actually seeing in a work by artist Michael Hardesty.

In the installation "Was/Is," for example, a 10-foot-high, studded, gold globe rotates in the corner of a dark room. Or does it? In actuality, the planetary form is stationary. Upon it is projected the image of a rotating ball, carefully, painstakingly fitted to the curve of the physically present sphere.

A sound akin to running water contributes to the room's calm, while the regular tick of a metronome reminds of time's inexorable passing.

	"Was/Is" by Michael Hardesty at Wood Street Galleries. Click photo for larger image. 'Echo' Where: 601 Wood St., above the T station. When: Through Sept. 8. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission: Free Information: woodstreetgalleries.org. or 412-471-5605 Related article Events mark year of glass: 8/08/07

The work is typical of Hardesty's adept mix of clean minimalist aesthetic and metaphysical underpinning that simultaneously tug at the viewer's emotions and intellect.

The installation is among four in Wood Street Galleries' "Echo."

The show's title work, commissioned by Wood Street, tweaks expectations in a different way. The wall-mounted word "echo," spelled out in blue neon tubing, reflects in a pan of oil on the floor below. Something is askew, but that notion may register subconsciously before the viewer articulates what it is: The reflected word is not upside-down, as would be expected, because all of its letters are symmetrical.

A third work, "Offering," is a color-saturated room that immerses the visitor in dancing fuchsia laser patterns and blacklight. On one wall, a cast of the artist's hand cups a small speaker that emits the word "listen."

Lastly, visitors not only experience but also complete "Feedback," set in a large gallery with live interactive video projections on the far walls. Here Hardesty, using false walls and back-projected imagery, updates the Hall of Mirrors idea, resulting in potential for endless permutations of what is recorded by two cameras -- most notably viewers. The more people in the room the better, as bodies interact in multiple ways.

"Offering" and "Was/Is" were exhibited at The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, in 2005, differing here mainly in the way Hardesty has configured them to larger spaces.

Some readers may remember the artist's enveloping and elegant "Blue/Field," installed in 1989 at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts during Murray Horne's tenure as curator.

Horne, who is now Wood Street curator, and Louis Zona, the Butler's executive director, have long recognized Hardesty's gift and given him deserved support and recognition.

Born in 1952 in Louisville, Ky., Hardesty has a varied background, including work as a designer and an art director at public and commercial television stations. After living in New York City for more than a decade, Hardesty moved permanently to northeastern Pennsylvania in 1996.

You can visit his extensive Web site at www.michaelhardesty.com to view more projects and to learn about their technical complexities -- which Hardesty makes look so effortless -- and to explore his candid bio.

But, as with all art, the best way to experience it is in person.

Sharing the wealth

Sarah Nichols stepped in Aug. 1 as interim executive director of the Pittsburgh Glass Center while a replacement is being sought for Karen Block Johnese, who had filled the position since October 2003. Johnese says her immediate plans are to relax and enjoy two months of vacation, including travel to Italy, France and San Francisco.

Nichols, also president of the center's board of directors, is adjunct curator of decorative arts at Carnegie Museum of Art and curated the museum's current "Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America." She was the Carnegie's chief decorative arts curator until retirement in April 2006, and exhibitions of contemporary glass and ceramics were among those she organized.

Nichols provided input recently to Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, site organizer for the 2008 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference. Guild founder and Manchester Bidwell Corp. CEO Bill Strickland will be keynote speaker at the March event, which will be held in Pittsburgh.

Another professional who enriches the local arts scene in a number of capacities is Vicky A. Clark, formerly of the Carnegie and of Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Now an independent curator who organizes exhibitions across the country while remaining Pittsburgh-based, Clark recently curated an exhibition, "Double Consciousness," for the Mattress Factory. She's currently organizing "The Popular Salon of the People" for the Carnegie, an historical survey of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh members who have exhibited in the annual shows, which will run concurrently with the fall Associated Artists of Pittsburgh 97th Annual Exhibition. She's also writing the exhibition's accompanying catalog.

Our region is gifted with professionals who have expertise in the visual arts, and it's to everyone's benefit when they accept positions that allow them to continue to contribute to the region's cultural dynamics.