Urban Art Pittsburgh Style

In The Studio

We have So much going on in the studio lately as many of the artists in residence here have been busy creating many new and exciting projects!

Jenifer Bechak has been working with our new oxy acetylene torches creating some beautiful bent metal work for a project she has been working to complete.










Olof Berner and James Sichak have been collaborating together for a cool project using some City Wood, salvage wood from industry and some driftwood recovered from our rivers. It's still early on in theis project, but you can see the great flow between these artists already.










Nate Lucas is working on a couple projects here as he works to complete a coffee table for one client, and a set of oars for another client.












James Sichak has been working to create some new jewelry items, preparing for the regional festivals season, and working on Urban Tree Forge projects in addition to his collaboration with Olof Berner.

I have had a couple projects going on myself in the studio. First I started working on a branch section from the Smithfield East end Cemetery sycamore tree and have been working this into what may be deemed my version of Bench 2009.















With my second project, I had another great opportunity to demonstrate with the Children's Museum for two days, and used the time to get things moving forward on the Moon River headboard sculpture after a full year of drying. I am hoping to complete this as 3 Rivers, a sculpture, in time to submit it for consideration for the Pittsburgh Tech Council's June 15 Minute Gallery show... submissions are due in two more days!!! I wonder if this would be considered suitable as public art?
Still lots to do to get this one ready! Better get back to this or I won't have anything to submit regardless of what it is!

Cemetery Gate Opening

We had a wonderful turn out for the opening of the Cemetery Gate exhibit at The Clay Place Gallery this past Friday the 13th. Elvira Peake, Owner of The Clay Place, was a wonderful hostess providing us a venue for the exhibit. We had participation from many great artists from the area demonstrating the creative possibilities for considering our Urban trees for reuse within our community.
My thanks and gratitude to all the artists who participated in the event.








The exhibit will be running through the first week of April. So, if you haven't had the opportunity to stop in... there's still time.

My Cemetery Valentines... Allegheny style

A busy weekend
for the Forge

We had a great turnout this past Valentines weekend as a number of artisans showed their love for the trees of our urban forest by coming out for this endeavor. We spent the day in Allegheny Cemetery seeking and finding some amazing opportunities. Jonathan Shapiro came out this weekend looking for some fresh material for a new sculpture he wants to work on,Jason Boone and Julie came out to lend a hand and look for his next creative outburst.
Jen Bechak came in search of some interesting tree rings for another cache of Citywood for her series of metal infused furniture.

And Nate Lucas came out to help us with slabbing some beautiful maple slabs for a furniture project a client in another city requested, wanting us to utilize material from back home in Pittsburgh for their new home away from home.
The city trees showed up as well, providing us once again with the the characteristic beauty that are the trees of our beautiful urban forest of Pittsburgh. Thank you so much to the folks of Allegheny Cemetery for giving us the permission for recovering these wonderful pieces that are the legacy of our fair city.

Art theft

Art Theft

Stolen Art

Sad news this week as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. I had three significant works of art stolen as I delivered them to family in Millcreek, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. I had just driven the works out to family from Pittsburgh, PA with my brother-in-law Doug Belnap... (Thanks Doug!) completing the cross-country trip in just 27 hours, arriving at the home of Steve and Maura Cantwell late Thanksgiving eve. I left the pieces in the vehicle overnight with the intention of unloading first thing in the morning. What we awoke to was a morning of loss and grief as we realized the car had been ransacked of all personal items. Our loss included two end tables/nightstands created exclusively for Maura and Steve Cantwell as well as a sculpture titled "Touched" for the family of my brother, Eric Metzler, who died two years ago.

The loss of "Touched" was the most devastating of the day. After hundreds of hours of work,I was bringing this to our family gathering so that my brothers and sisters could contribute and impart a little of each of themselves to this gift for Eric's family. "Touched" was carved from a section of a birch tree recovered from one of my brothers last jobs as Metz Tree Service before his passing two years ago November 1st. Eric was lost to us when the tree he was climbing fell with him tied into the tree's crown. I helped his sons Josh and Justin clean up some of his open jobs. We were able to complete and recover the birch section from one of these projects. The base of the sculpture starts in six sections representing each of the members of his family and diverges to represent how our actions touch other lives in ways we could never comprehend.


The other two casualties in this ordeal are a pair of original night stand end tables I made for my sister and her husband (Maura and Steve Cantwell). The stands are made from oak and sycamore from Pttsburgh, our hometown. The sycamore is from the Point Park University, where my sister attended, studying dance and theater. The oak tops are from an urban tree, a local white oak crotch. The remainder of the oak was salvaged from a local steel supplier. These pieces are also incomplete as I needed to be able to pack them flat for transport to be assembled when I arrived. The stands were packed as 4 sides, the top, and the floor, all as separate sections. The doors were not hung and the drawer fronts were also not attached to the drawers.

In addition to the irreplaceable sculpture and original end tables I also lost a camera I received as a gift from my dear friend and love of my life, Randie Snow; my collection of CDs; my sleeping bag; and a hand made quilt that "Touched" was wrapped in. I had just received the camera days before my departure... (a Canon A1000IS) upon which were stored the only pictures of the lost pieces in their latest stages of completion. The images here are all of earlier stages of construction of the works.
Local Salt Lake City television station KSL TV was gracious enough to report on our loss and inform viewers of the works in hopes that someone would return them. We give our thanks and gratitude to Sandra Yi for her time and efforts to aid in the recovery of these pieces.

Friends.... and Friends friends

I was talking with a friend last week, who asked me what I had been up to lately, sooo... I told her about the wonderful opportunity I had received to convert some urban trees into flooring for Friends of the Urban Forest. I told her about their Floor Raiser Drive, which has been established to help them raise the necessary funds needed to install the floor... "Friends" is a great asset to our region, not only are they dedicated to restoring and protecting the urban forest, but they're also inspiring and engaging citizens to maintain, plant and protect trees with their Tree Tender program!!

I then began telling her about Tree Vitalize, and the tree stakes that I was making with Rich Haviland the sawyer... when she interrupted me with a

"nooooooo... What have you been working on...?"

Ohhh, I nodded... "working on"...

So, I started telling her all about a new initiative that I was exploring with Wilkinsburg Borough to help them establish their own municipal tree utilization program...

I mentioned that I was working on possibilities for Allegheny Commons on their restoration project, which includes the removal of over 30 ailing trees, along with a ground breaking for the new Carnegie Library, all in the same neighborhood... and, how we're developing plans to promote awareness and unification between the north side and the local design firms, so that they can see how using their own local resources can be beneficial for the environment and the community...

And, lastly, I started talking about the Cemetery Gates project... how we've been able to gather 10–15 artists together to do a show... and how each artist will be incorporating pieces of wood from the Allegheny Cemetery to demonstrate the range of creative possibilities for using the urban forest materials... I told her that we just received a very nice write up about it in the newest Tech Vibe newsletter...


My friend interrupted, again with "Noooo.... not that... what have you been making, working on, creating... Haven't you been creating anything?"


She continued, "Not that I don't care, but I don't want to know about that other stuff... I want to know about YOU... you know... what are you sculpting?"

Well, I began... the Cemetery Gates project is a sculpture show as well as a part of a fund raising event for Friends of the Urban Forest, so I will also be contributing a sculpture of my own...
I have a table that I'm creating from an arborvitae that I found on Penn Avenue, while looking at properties; Then there's Moon Willow Point... a sculpture and bed, which is currently in the drying stage; there's Touched... a sculpture for my brother's family that will be done any day now; and Trinity... a dogwood from Trinity Cathedral; there's some Ohio river drift wood; and finally, Mr. Appleseed... an apple tree that fell in the Regent Square neighborhood.

After my lengthy story, she said, "Well then, you haven't forgotten to keep creating... that's so wonderful!"

I replied, "We are trying to "create" awareness about the amazing diversity of products that we can create from our urban forest ... I have new trees and materials available all the time... maple, elm, oaks, cedars, and sycamore... all of them crying out to have a future other than a dump site or fireplace. Wouldn't you like a piece of furniture, or perhaps a sculpture, for your home or office?

She smiled, and then said, "Show me some possibilities..."

Urban Tree Forge Gives City Trees a Second Life

NEWS
NEWS!

We've had so much happening in the city the past couple weeks....

For starters we received a wonderful write up in Pop City Media "Urban Tree Forge Gives City Trees a Second Life" concerning our efforts to utilize our urban trees. Pop City writes about so many relevant local happenings... I'm always amazed at all the things going on in our city I wasn't aware were happening. Thanks to Debra Smit for her consideration, and for providing us a voice in our community.

I received a personal mention by Kurt Shaw , the art critic for The Pittsburgh Tribune Review for my sculpture "Becoming Fish" in his review of the Society of Sculptors show at Elan fine Arts gallery in Sewickley. Our thanks to Joan for hosting the SOS show in her venue. The sculpture "Becoming Fish" will be leaving us and moving to a new home in a residence in The Cork Factory along with a recently completed table from an urban tree and industrial salvage woods. See our earlier post "Greensburg White and Ryerson oak" for more on this table.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council hosted the 15 Minutes Gallery exhibit last month. I received an award for my work "The Giving Tree" and my partner, best friend and designer responsible for this blog's existence, Randie Snow won BEST IN SHOW for her assemblage sculpture "Flight of the Imagination". Tech Vibe the online newsletter for the council did a nice write up about Randie in their June newsletter's review of the 15 Minutes gallery show.
Randie is such an amazingly creative and talented artist who has been elemental in developing the marketing presence of The Urban Tree Forge, LLc. She's worked tirelessly for us and we couldn't thank her enough.
Should any of you be seeking creative talent for marketing or advertising that will set your company apart from the crowd, You can reach Randie through Giant Ideas Advertising in Pittsburgh.

Also, I took advantage of an opportunity to give a little Saturday as I joined Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest for a tree maintenance and care day in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. The "Friends" have a great Tree Tender course available for people interested in giving to the care of our urban forest. It's a great educational experience worthy of your time and consideration.

Whew!, and there's so much more... stop in soon as we post about some beautiful trees that are going to have to be removed. We sure would like to provide them with an opportunity to live on in our community and our lives.

Happenings: Think Global Act Local!!

Some of the other happenings in the past month or so keeping us on our toes:
We were fortunate for the opportunity to volunteer with some local organizations like Friends Of the Pittsburgh urban forest planting and pruning trees ; with Tree Vitalize we got to volunteer for the initial planting of trees for the year in the Pittsburgh region. We also had the good fortune to volunteer with the American Institute of Architects on a home remodel with Rebuilding together Pittsburgh, and Tedco Construction . Thanks to all the other volunteers and the companies who so selflessly donated their time and funding for us to have these opportunities to help in our community. Pittsburgh ROCKS!
We also would like to welcome to "Studio" at the Urban Tree Forge; Olof Berner, an industrial designer and Jennifer Bechak a ceramics instructor and artist... Let's Create!!! We still have room for YOU!
Oh Yeah, I have a few sculptures showing around town this month: I have a piece in a Society of Sculptors show in the Elan Gallery in Sewickley and a few pieces in an opening this week @ 15 Minutes Gallery Oh, and I got accepted into the Craftsmens Guild of Pittsburgh... Whew...is that all...??
Next blog: new sculptures and new materials available!!

Moon River for Moon Willow

Oh My Gosh!!... I've been a month without an update!!!
So sorry to all of you! Well, Things have indeed been very busy and there is much happening. I will update you all in the days to come. For now though, an update on "Moon Willow Point".
We moved the pieces for the bed back to the shop and they were just too heavy to be functional. We slimmed the headboard down, laid out the three rivers for the headboard and started roughing out the rivers the islands, and the point...
We still have issues with weight and the overall size of the posts necessary to support the headboard. We may have to consider an alternative. Perhaps a wall hung headboard, we'll see. This is beginning to take shape as a beautiful work! Very exciting!

Peakes Peeks

A base for a local sculptor's work is a pleasure and an honor for Urban Tree Forge... as we are asked to help with and collaborate on a piece with Elvira Peake from The Clay Place. We went on a hunt for a selection of possibilities for our wonderful friend then roughed out a couple to choose from. Then it's on to "Baking Day" as we turn up the heat on any critters that may have taken up residency in our piece. Soon we hope to be showing at the Elan Fine Arts Gallery in Sewickley when we show together with more of our friends from the Society of Sculptors.
Keep an eye out for more progress as we develop this further....

Moon Willow Point:

Moon Willow Point... closer to reality today!!
Hey everyone,
Spent our Saturday afternoon with Wayne's Crane service getting some urban forest logs ready for a local sawyer, Rich Haviland to come mill them for us... We have 5 logs of oak from two trees for a potential flooring project and the willow is destined to become a bed with a sculptural headboard representing Pittsburgh's 3 rivers and point.
The great thing is between the oaks and the willow I should have enough revenue to plant at least 6 trees, maybe 8. Hopefully 2 street trees and the remainder in our parks or greenways.

In the morning I went to a local tree planting event as a tree tender volunteer representing Friends of the Pittsburgh urban Forest... The event was a Tree vitalize planting in conjunction with the Mt Washington CDC from what I understand.
Alas,... I soon learned the planting was to be Sunday and not Saturday. I spent a good hour or more looking before I found anyone. I found 2 members of the CDC getting mulch dropped off @ the site and learned I was a day early.
Since I wasn't able to be of service to these folks this day, I took a walk back into the scenic byway park and planted some seeds of my own:
I planted 6 oak acorns, 4 beechnuts, and a horse chestnut. I wanted some of these planted as a little something in remembrance of my brother Eric for his birthday. Happy Birthday Eric!!
I noticed our woods are in some dire straights!! I saw vines growing up many of the trees and I can see they cause much stress in our local forest. Many of the trees prevalent in our woods also seem to be of a very limited range of species. I think perhaps many species had been harvested in our city's younger days and have not recovered.... I sure hope that I can contribute to the recovery efforts...
More to come people, please stay tuned!!

everybody wants a log!

sycamore maple, sycamore oak...
Everybody wants a log!

Urban Tree Forge got to spend a couple days in Allegheny Cemetery this week working to recover some hardwood from our urban forest. We'd sure like to keep this material from becoming landfill.
Anybody need a table? A sculpture? A chair or a bed?
I also got some pieces for our sculptor friend Elvire Peake from The Clay Place to choose from for one of her sculptures... should become a nice collaborative effort and we'll be honored to be of assistance to such a wonderful Pittsburgh artist.
In addition I individually submitted some works for consideration for acceptance to the Craftmans Guild of Pittsburgh.... and as of Wednesday of this week... I Was Accepted!! Woooh!! Hooo!!