'Flash'
A new series by local artist Robert Villamagna at Gallery on 43rd Street, Lawrenceville, derives impact from a combination of bureaucracy and pop culture, expanding upon the assembled found object work for which he is known.
The title, "Flash: mixed media & works on paper," comes from the name tattoo artists use for the design boards that customers select images from. Villamagna has drawn enlarged versions of historic tattoo designs -- "Love Bird," "Serpent," "Hula Girl" -- onto pages from a defunct Lawrenceville Department of Public Safety Police Inspector's Docket that he bought at auction.
Written in fine script on the oversized pages alongside the names of persons arrested is such information as age, nationality and "color," making for enticing reading on its own.
What elevates the work, though, is the juxtaposition of tattoo art and criminal record, pointing out that what has become a trend among middle-class youth was once associated with the bawdy and even criminal element, and that attitudes -- toward body ornamentation, criminal offense, appropriateness of categorizations and more -- change over time.
Also at the gallery are a large selection of pottery (pinch, thrown, hand built), jewelry and paintings, along with owner Mary Coleman's finely woven carpets and other functional wares.
"Flash" continues through June 10 at 187 43rd St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and until 8 p.m. Thursdays. For information, call 412-683-6488 or visit www.galleryon43rdstreet.com.
-- Mary Thomas, Post-Gazette art critic
Renaissance City Winds
The Renaissance City Winds concluded its 30th anniversary season with "Birds in the Wind," but not with the imitative songbird pieces that are plentiful in the classical repertoire.
Instead, Sunday afternoon's concert at Carlow University's Kresge Theater displayed another kind of aviary connection, bookending William Byrd's Elizabethan piece "The Earle of Oxford's Marche" and Arthur Bird's Romantic "Suite in D."
The "Marche" led off with an arrangement by Renaissance bassoonist R. James Whipple. The straightforward presentation, as becoming any march, became ever more fanciful with the doubling of flute and piccolo (Barbara O'Brien) and oboe and English horn (Renate Sakins), making for a delightful appetizer.
Where Byrd was distinctly British, Bird was quintessentially American. With airy chords in the first movement and dapper runs in the third, this was a work that sped to a playful conclusion.
In between that musical pairing, Cuban composer Paquita D'Rivera's "Aires Tropicales" added another airy feel of a sunny sort. Filled with a jazz swing and a Latino sway, it included a few steps inserted by the musicians in an uptempo dance.
The Winds also included Mozart's "Serenade No. 11," continuing a secondary theme by the composer that has run throughout the season. This octet was performed with an elegant control that weighed on the side of a conservative interpretation, before giving way to an exuberant conclusion.
-- Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette staff writer
Mary Cleere Haran
It's a treat to catch a celebrity cabaret artist from New York in Pittsburgh. Mary Cleere Haran's Friday performances at the Renaissance Hotel, the first of Cabaret Pittsburgh's 2006 Riverview Series, offered a sophisticated showcase of great old songs, mostly by Cole Porter.
Accompanied by pianist Kenny Asher on a small riser, Haran reprised the set from her recent four-week stand at New York City's' Cafe Carlyle. In the first of two shows, she saluted the "Friday night sophisticates" in the crowd, talked of her long stage career and the "perpetual cultural bewilderment" of her native California.
Asher's whimsical, uptempo arrangement of "Let's Do It" was followed by a brooding take on "I Concentrate on You" from "Broadway Melody of 1938." Haran hopped onto the piano for "Put the Blame on Mame" from "Gilda" and drifted to songs of Rodgers & Hart and Johnny Mercer for a tongue-in-cheek cowboy medley.
Following Haran's long, funny story about gushing at her first meeting with cabaret crooner Bobby Short, Asher led Haran in Short's interpretation of the Irving Berlin standard "Harlem on My Mind." The audience joined in on Haran's recitation of Pittsburgh jazz greats, and she closed with Rodgers & Hart's "Blue Room."
-- John Hayes, Post-Gazette staff writer
First Published: May 9, 2006, 4:00 a.m.
