Kusama, redux/recall

Last time we were in Pittsburgh on our way to Indiana, we stopped off at the ultra cool Mattress Factory, a museum that specializes in installation art.

They have a couple of rooms of Yayoi Kusama, and we took the appropriate (and practically mandatory) photos. I sincerely thought about going home and putting dots on everything. I'm sorry I missed the Whitney show you blogged about! You may notice we had to take off our shoes to enter the installations—I'm not sure if that was the artist's choice (very Japanese), or the museum's.

In-Game Entertainment

To commemorate the last weeks of baseball season, here's a bit of what I enjoyed during last week in the Pittsburgh Pirates' PNC Park. The Pirates aren't at the top of their league. But PNC is a lovely park, my favorite Pittsburgh fan is a lovely man, and the Bucs won 2 out of 3 games. The big surprises to me were the short videos played prior to each Pirate's at-bat. The videos were sophisticated, witty, and showcased the home team's town. There were even a few different visual styles in the rotation. From my brief exchange with someone at the Pirates.com site, I learned that the videos were created by the In-Game Entertainment department; unfortunately, I don't have specific credits.









Although the trick of aged paper or graphics to make new books "look" old is itself old, the screen for the Pirates player stats were amusing. )Maybe it was the atmosphere.) They must have a custom font, too, for the swash initials.

The most memorable part of the days out at the ballgame was the sports propaganda. At a crucial point in the 9th inning in the best of the three games, a clip from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean," featuring the battle cry "Hoist the Colors!" whipped every Pirates fan into a frenzy. Hoisting the colors/waving those symbols (not to mention the night's free tee shirts) did the trick. The Pirates won.

Every Spring's a new season. Let's go Bucs (and for this season, Good Luck, Yankees (big payroll and what we've learned from "Moneyball" aside).





Sorry about all that extra, uncropped, possibly redundant branding for PNC and PNC Park!

A mother's hand

We've been so sporty lately! Superbowl's over, but a short visit to the Steeler Nation (aka the Eastern PA division of Pat's family, to watch the game) yielded a Pittsburgh treasure that to me is far greater than Big Ben Roethlisberger: recipe cards that Pat's mom handwrote when youngest son/bro left the nest. I'm astounded by the beautiful handwriting, especially the swash "T."

Another of Grace O'Neill's recipes has a gorgeous "heading" for the "Ham Loaf", written with the thoughtful care she put into everything. The letterforms are gorgeous, far fancier than you'd expect/spec for a loaf with ham etc. If I were typecasting, I'd set a bold sans. This is better—and honors the home cooking of a family without vast resources. Humbling!



Note to self: see if the baby digital camera works on macro; good tip, Suz!

Mattress Factory

We were lucky enough to visit The Mattress Factory while we were in Pittsburgh—it's the preeminent installation art museum in the country. One whole floor is devoted entirely to James Turrell, who does site specific work with light—he plays with the interchange between created space and actual space. The light installations actually seem to extrude and then recede . . . when you walk up to them and put your hand out it's surprising to find out there's a hole there with light in it!


This one is Danaë, 2003, shot by Florian Holzherr (it's so impossible to get a good snapshot, so I had to borrow).
Here are R&N playing in the blue hole:


We also got to play in Yayoi Kusama's Repetitive Vision from 1996, and got some fun (if not predictable) shots!

The Golden Triangle

Here's a shout-out to one of the hot spots that Suzanne, Rob, and Nina will visit on their vacation. Which hot spot? The Golden Triangle. Not the one in Asia. Better. Pittsburgh—shown in non-precious metal on this ash(?)tray from the Wendell August Forge in Grove City, PA. How odd and wonderful to see something that was hand-made 50 miles away from the souvenir locale. I love the vernacular hallmark on the back of the ashtray, along with the outline of the keystone, the symbol of Pennsylvania, The Keystone State.

The history of the Wendell August Forge seems to echo the history of Pittsburgh itself—i.e. moving from manufacturing to a new life. On the Wendell August Forge site, check out the video from Antiques Roadshow about the keepsake (Yikes) from the Hindenburg's Millionaire's Flight. Big thanks to Martha Cansler, Artist Awesome, who gave Pat this memento of Pittsburgh.