Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 22

Pittsburgh POst-Oazette: Friday, Januaiy 31, 1992 FAMILY RIN GALLERIES Fiddlesticks unpacks his fiddle By Diana Nelson Jones Post-Gazette Staff Writer i iiwiimi, in, i M'l ifii. ft I or the first time in its history, the Pittsburgh Symphony will perform with a big floppy cat in the spotlight. Fiddlesticks, both the name of the cat and the name of the symphony's new program for children, gets under way tomorrow at Heinz Hall. Part workshop, part performance, the event begins with greetings from the cat, whose outfit was made by the woman who made the Pirate Parrot's costume. Children will then be directed through a series of music demonstrations and workshops.

In one, they will make their own instruments to play along with the symphony. They will also meet members of the symphony, as well as Barbara Yahr, assistant conductor of the PSO, and Joseph Willcox Jenkins, who composed a piece called "Fiddlesticks" for the program. The program also includes excerpts from Rossini's William Tell Overture, Grieg's Peer Gynt, Hoist's The Planets and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Fiddlesticks is a project of the symphony's New Leadership Board in an effort to engender love of classical music among children.

It is designed primarily for children between the ages of 5 and 10. If you're going The Symphony program begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for children 10 and under. Refreshments will be provided. Art Space curators Carolla Zap, left, and Anne D.

(Andi) Rieber add to South Oakland's renaissance. CMU students make gallery safe for democracy 9VV WW this is a pretty warm one that draws you in," Rieber said. "This installation is about this space." Showbim's statement that accompanies the show confirms this. It includes a description of a conversation between Zap and a neighbor who installed a bathroom in the space when the house was owned by another fam- fly. "One of our most interesting problems is getting people in off the street," Zap said.

"People are afraid to come in. And once they're in, they're afraid to walk up the stairs because it's a real commitment to look at the art." While making South Oakland safe for expression, Rieber and Zap haven't forgotten their creative needs. "We're working on art dealing with the body right now for a class," Zap said. "We're working our way on collaborative paintings from conceptual abstraction to the formalists. We're also doing a mural for the Beehive, an angel mural for the stairwell." As done at the Beehive coffeehouse.

Zap and Rieber are also interested in hosting music programs, performance art, fiction and poetry readings. By Tony Norman Post-Gazette Staff Writer recent months, Oakland has become re-energized by a very smart, rapidly emerging under- 30 set. Since the summer, busi nesses like the Beehive and the Comic Crypt have sprung up along Forbes Avenue, injecting a fresh, even abrasive style into the area. Now there's one more reason to hang out in the neighborhood: It's called Art Space, a gallery curated by Carolla Zap and Anne D. (Andi) Richer, both 19 and second year art majors at Carnegie Mellon University.

In December, Zap and Rieber opened the non-profit gallery on Atwood Street in South Oakland to showcase work not easily assimilated into Pittsburgh's fine arts mainstream. Located on a quiet block down the street from the Decade, Art Space occupies a central location in a neighborhood shared by students and mostly older Italian families. The space itself is on the ground floor of a two-story house; a separate entrance leads to an area similiar to the cramped rooms in which fortune tellers traditionally listen to confidences. "This used to be a greeting card shop," Zap said with a laugh. "When we were looking around for a place to live, we also looked for a space we could transform into a gallery.

After meeting and becoming fast friends at the now defunct Walden Weekend Editors Susan Puskar Mark S. Murphy Scott Mervis Design Catherine Tigano Listings Arlene Haralson, Call 263-1577 Retail advertising Call 263-1385 Cover Michael Blake of the acclaimed Limon Dance Company performing Tony TyePost-Gazette photos Art Space. we'll consider it. We're not interested in showing for a profit." Currently, the Art Space is hosting a conceptual installation by Showbim, a Swedish MFA student at CMU who penciled squares into the white walls of the gallery so that they resemble cheap bathroom tiles. A pedestal with a half dozen or more cakes of green soap is situated near the center of the gallery like a postmodern totem pole.

Several wooden frames are mounted around brand name toilet paper wrappers, creating an austere, but thoroughly modern effect. "I think as far as installations go, A conceptual piece by Showbim at High School in Manhattan, N.Y., Zap and Rieber applied to CMU's art department with joint and individual portfolios and were admitted. They were given a student undergraduate research grant after making a proposal that eventually became the Art Space. Zap and Rieder work part time at the Carnegie Museum as well. Both are convinced that art should be experienced more democratically than it now is in Pittsburgh.

"We'll look at anything," Zap said. "You don't even have to be an artist as long as you create art," Rieber added. "We may not necessarily show it, but If you're going The Art Space, 3 1 7 Atwood South Oakland. Open 4 p.m.-7 p.m. For additional hours, call 683-0659..