2010 Car Free Fridays Success!

We are happy to share the success of our friends at Bike PGH! Their Car Free Fridays initiative has been hugely successful! I am reposted their blog below. Hope to see you all in the bike lane in 2011.

Thank you for supporting Car Free Fridays in 2010!

At BikePGH we’re really happy with the results. A special thanks to the organization and businesses. It is exciting for us to be part of an initiative that involves so many different organizations and businesses with the mutual goal of promoting not driving alone to work. that supported Car Free Fridays this year. 

Be sure to check out the City Paper’s Car Free Fridays webcast. We also started collecting some metrics this year.

• PARTICIPANTS: 1158 people participated in Car Free Fridays events and activities. 795 people took the Car Free Friday pledge. 178 signed up online.
• ACTIVITIES: 115 organizations and businesses supported 38 activities in 8 neighborhoods and municipalities.
• SUPPORT: 15 funding organizations, $54,950 of in-kind support, including raffle prizes worth $2500.

Next year we will launch several initiatives that will encourage even more people to try commuting by foot, bike, transit and car-sharing.

1. Bike Friendly Employers will launch on February 9th when we will recognize the programs first honorees at our annual membership meeting. This service assists our region’s employers in creating a workplace culture and environment that is friendly to their current bike-riding employees and that encourages even more people to try commuting by bike.
2. We will launch the long-awaited Car Free Calculator to track the calories burned, CO2e kept out of our atmosphere, and the money we save as individuals and as a region by replacing car trips with biking and walking trips.
3. We are working with the City of Pittsburgh to plan for, design and install 20 more miles of on-street bike facilities.

The staff of BikePGH thanks you for a great 2010 and we look forward to an even better 2011.

Vessels that Echo the Natural World

I just finished installing a new exhibition in SCC's Satellite Gallery in downtown Pittsburgh. The show is called Ron Layport: Vessel Narratives and includes 12 pieces by local artist Ron Layport. 

I have been installing exhibitions at this gallery for about two years. It's a strange but very neat place, part underground, part above ground. It's filled with light and always bustling with foot traffic as it is in the lobby of the Steel Plaza T-station. I love being at the gallery, which is basically a 3-foot deep window display ( there is no public access), because I can work quietly and at my own pace to hang shows. It kind of feels private when behind the glass, but it is an incredibly pubic space. I can watch all manner of folks strolling, or running, to and from the train, and they can watch me hammer nails and adjust lighting. When I need to take a step back and look at the display I end up talking with passers-by and they always tell me how much they enjoy the shows here, how much it brightens their morning to be able to see such amazing art on their daily commute. 

Most of the time I am installing alone. Last week I had the pleasure of the artist's company for two full days. Ron was just as floored by the space as I am—it exceeded his expectations. The fact that all kinds of people pass by, not just museum goers, was not lost on him and he seemed to really enjoy chatting with folks as he used his hands to direct me in lighting his work. I can say with out a doubt that this current show is one of the most spectacular I have installed in this space. The works take full advantage of the light and the space. Below are some choice shots from the show. The full exhibition is also on our website where you can read more about the artist, a fellow Pittsburgher and all around awesome guy!

Never New Furniture....What a Find!

This past Friday I went to the I Made It Market in South Side with some friends. While there were many amazing crafters tucked into every nook of the old Ann Taylor shop (even in the dressing rooms!), there was only one booth that attracted my attention over and over again. As I stood by the door to leave, after perusing the fair and not finding quite what I was looking for, I paused. For the first time, after attending many a craft fair, I found something I could not live another day with out. Maybe it was timing, maybe there was something in the air, but most likely it is all due to the amazing, whimsical, and rustic work of Never New Furniture. 

I snagged a sweet shelf made from a found Coca Cola crate, a quirky little drawer filled with coasters sliced from either a very skinny tree or a very fat branch, and a three-hooked coat hanger made from old wood trim, whose chipping and deteriorated paint was given new life with some subtle color and a coat of varnish to seal in the sexy cracks. 

Zakaria Tefft, a self-taught carpenter, and Meghan McCaffery, an illustrator, work as a team to make one-of-a-kind work from reused materials that is artistic, modern, and functional. You can find their work at WildCard or on their website.

Jewelry N'at

I am SUPER excited about a ring I commissioned from Jewelry N'at, a local jeweler who makes Pittsburgh inspired fine jewelry for men and women. And so my excitement leads me to share with all of you the wonders of this work!

Her work has been featured in the September 2010 issue of Pittsburgh Fashion Magazine and is available at the Heinz History Center and Mattress Factory. Even better, though, she will be at the I Made It Market on Saturday, December 4th in the South Side. Check out her brand new inventory or order something custom guaranteed to be ready by the holidays!

My custom "Yinz" ring

Classy Cufflinks

Belt Buckles that make a statement!