Downtown Film Night - Call for Filmmakers

Photo courtesy of Future Tenant.

Since I have reviewed events held at Future Tenant before and am in support of basically anything that benefits downtown Pittsburgh, I want to share this great opportunity with you guys in hopes that it will apply to some of you and encourage you to submit your films to it! Good Luck! 

Future Tenant and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership announces a call for emerging filmmakers to screen their work at Downtown Film Night to be held on October 12th, 2013.  We are looking for films made by artists local to Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, and we are open to multiple short films or one longer feature film. The call is open to all film genres; 5-10 minute films are highly encouraged.

Film requirements:

• Your film must be any length under two hours.
• Your film must be appropriate for all ages, as this event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. If you feel your film is too risqué, chances are it is. However, if you have specific concerns please let us know with your submission.

Submission instructions: In order to be considered, please submit your interest, a short bio (500 word maximum), and brief synopsis (500 word maximum) to info@futuretenant.org by September 29th, 2013. Additionally, a DVD copy of your film must be mailed to or dropped off at the gallery: Future Tenant, 819 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

About Future Tenant: Located in the heart of Pittsburgh’s cultural district, at 819 Penn Avenue, Future Tenant provides a laboratory setting for artists, arts managers and audiences to explore the limits of the creative expression, presentation and interpretation of various art forms. For more information please visit futuretenant.org or email us at info@futuretenant.org.

About Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership: Formed by Downtown businesses, professionals, civic organizations, foundations, and residents, the PDP develops and implements innovative programs and initiatives to enhance the Downtown neighborhood. We also promote and market this great urban center to millions of people as the region’s premier destination to do business, to call home, or to visit for the best in shopping, dining and entertainment. The PDP also stands as staunch advocates for all those who make Downtown part of their lives, from businesses to workers to residents. For more information please visit http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/.

This is a partnered post but all opinions are my own.

As one closes, another opens...

Well, this is a bit long overdue considering I went to both of these galleries on Friday but, sometimes life happens and you have to deal with the more important things first. But, better late than never.

On Friday, I went to two galleries to check out the work - I was very excited to see both of these exhibits because both were said to be featuring forms of travel, which I would love to do more of. The first, was at 709 Penn Gallery and had new work by Melissa Kuntz the exhibit called Caravan, showcased paintings that were mainly of RVs. I loved every piece. I loved that the canvases still looked wet from the paint, each of them shinny and new. I loved the solid and bold painting style. I loved how Melissa's point of view seemed to come in at an atypical angle, not just straight on and boring. I just loved each piece. Friday (April 13th) was the closing of this exhibit and I'm sorry that I did not go to see it sooner and comment on it, because if you didn't see it, you really missed out on some quality art. And who would have thought I can be that passionate about a bunch of paintings of trailer homes?

The other exhibit I went to was going on at Future Tenant and was actually the opening reception. This was actually the first opening or closing art reception that I have gone to where I did not know the artist, so I kind of felt that that girl that was crashing the party. I'm also one of those people who likes to go about an exhibit by myself so I can make my own observations and take my time looking at certain pieces. (Yes, I am lame.) I might have to go back to this one to get that full effect and to actually appreciate it more. But I also loved this exhibit. This work was right up my alley...or runway rather, since a lot of the pieces here featured airplanes.

"Your Life is an Accident" by Johnathan Chamberlain

At Future Tenant, the exhibit is currently running through May 5th and features artwork by Arthur Mohagen III, Johnathan Chamberlain and John Phillip Abbott is called Broken Slogan. I really liked this exhibit as well because of the focus on travel, but also because there was a quite a bit of text used in each work and if I was an artist, I would put text on everything. I also liked that the guys did more than just paintings, but drawings, sketches and some objects as well. My favorite piece though was done by Johnathan Chamberlain, who is also a Pittsburgh native, called "Your Life is an Accident." I thought the emotion in the work was real and I also liked his use of vertical lines, which to me created a disconnect between the two main figures in the work.

I would suggest checking out Broken Slogan while it's here in Pittsburgh, I can easily say that you will not be disappointed in the technique each artist obviously has and the fresh look on what is art, is not only evident, but poetic throughout each piece represented.  You can do so either on your own during their hours, or there is also a Gallery Crawl on Friday, April 27th from 5:30pm until 9pm, where you'll be able to access every gallery downtown, you might see me out and about there!

dis·til·late (noun)

As part of my February Gallery Fest, I started today at Future Tenant with their exhibit Distillate. Although all of the pieces were beautiful in their own right, three of them really took my attention. Rachel Debuque with Tiffany Lee's mixed media piece, Ruby Jane Jones, Morgan Cann's video The Rock and Ashley Andrews' digital photography pieces. Overall, this was a great exhibit to start on - although it ends tomorrow, if you're able to, you should really try to get into Future Tenant to check it out!

First, let's talk about The Rock. This video was weird but beyond interesting. I watched it about three times, the girl at the desk probably thought I was crazy. Anyway, it was for the most part silent except for a few little sounds of movement that you can barely hear since the TV it's playing on is so quiet. But from what I got out of it, it was about this little creature that goes on this journey through the wilderness (probably someone's backyard) and it finds different things but isn't satisfied until it finds a perfectly round rock. For the next couple of minutes the creature is obsessed with this damn rock and eventually takes it back home to a huge (compared to the creature) pile of rocks and then goes back out on the hunt. My interpretation (though probably missing the artist's intent) was that we all become obsessed with certain things and we become so routine in our lives that it's hard for us to even appreciate other things in the world.....we should probably stop doing that. The video also had sparklers in it, which is always an automatic win in my book.

Ashley Andrews' digital photography pieces were almost completely missed because of the little nook of the space they are in, but on my way out I saw them and was blown away. There are six or seven photos, each depicting a different event from June 12, 2011 until November 15, 2011. Which kinda threw me off at first because those dates are the birthday's of my mom and brother, respectively. (I can never remove myself from art.) Each picture showed an event in the time line of a relationship, I'm assuming between the artist and a lover. Although each one was a simple photo of one person, dressed to represent the event and doing what was going on that day, I could not look away from these pictures. Beyond the fact that they are so well developed, styled and designed, each of their titles is a date accompanied with a short description of what happened that day. Ashley Andrews' voice in the descriptions spoke as loudly and beautifully as her pictures. I was floored. And although there is only one more day for this exhibit, you either need to go in and check them out for yourself or track this work down somehow. Those pictures with their descriptions were the most heartbreakingly beautiful pictures I have ever seen. (Yes, I did just make up the word heartbreakingly.)

Finally, my favorite piece of all was a mixed media piece titled Ruby Jane Jones. I'm always won over by mixed media. This piece is a chair with different elements added to it to create it's character. One of it's most beautiful parts is the face, which is represented by a video of a girl who makes a variety of different facial expressions and displays quite a lot of moods very typical to the average woman. (I laughed to myself at a few of them, knowing I give people some of the same expressions.) I could go on about how and why this is one of my favorite pieces, but let's hear from you...what do you love and hate about this piece? How does it make you feel? Why was it made? Is it art? Let me know your thoughts....

Full view of Ruby Jane Jones by Rachel Debuque & Tiffany Lee at Future Tenant's Distillate

I wish I could have gotten a better view of the face but these were taken with my camera phone.

Nails and a cig.

 

Those cigarettes aren't even fully finished!

Baby plant and the Pall Mall's.

 

Ruby Jane Jones by Rachel Debuque and Tiffany Lee.