Pittsburgh Magazine top picks right here on Washington Rd.

Whoohoo!!!  I’m getting all these emails about the Pittsburgh Magazine article!  We were voted best art gallery, out-of-this-world!!!  This is very exciting.  Thanks to everyone who wrote to tell me and to Donna Kearns for sending the article.  I have been to 5 stores and have only found the August issue, this is in the September.  I have a subscription, but I haven’t received it yet.  I also heard that the barista’s at Aldo coffee and the wine bar at Il Pizzaiola were voted top notch.  Washington Rd Rocks!!

Now that I look at this picture a little closer it almost looks like it says “Worst” next to us, ha.   I don’t know who that guy is, but he looks pretty cool.  If your that guy you get 10% off your next purchase for being in the picture!

I just found the card of the gal who took the photo of the gallery, her name is Laura Petrilla, check out her website.

Art Opening Tonight

Tonight 6-9 pm is the opening of Thematic Developments here at Planet Art.  Please join us.  If you can’t come tonight, no worries,  the show is on for two weeks.

A crazy drunk guy with a knife

A crazy drunk guy with a knife (a closed big Swiss Army, but a knife) came in the other day and scared me and a customer half to death.  Luckily, after screaming some obscenities he left without hurting anyone or anything. The police talked to him outside of Rolliers and then gave him a ride home.  This guy has been kicked out of here before (last year) for acting disorderly.  So now I want to say “thank you” to all the really nice, supportive, non-threatening customers that we have come in everyday — Thanks guys! 

In other news, we are getting prepped for Thematic Developments show.  Stop by Satuday night to meet a few of the artists and have a glass of wine, I’m just hoping we can keep those pesky fruit flies away!  Everytime we open the door and serve wine they show up.

Pottery demonstration tonight

Here are just a few of the new pieces Joe brought in for the “The Pottery of Joseph Sendek” exhibit we are having for the next two weeks.  He will be here tonight working on the pottery wheel.  He loves interacting with people and children and really teaching people a little about what goes into crafting a piece of pottery.  The pieces above are “Naked Raku” which are made like this:  first Joe throws the pot, trims the foot, let’s it get leather hard, fires it once so that it is bisque (or without any moisture), then he puts slip all over it (slip is watered down clay basically), then he fires to about 1800 degrees, pulls out the burning hot pot, sticks it in some newspaper and as it cools the slip clay and the base pot cool at different rates so the outside cracks a little and gives it this really cool look (shew, that was a mouthful).  So, through the cracks of the slip you are seeing the “naked raku”.

The point of all this is — stop by tonight and check out Joe.  Also tonight the road will be blocked off until midnight for the Ultra Party.  It’s hot out and I heard the Miller Lite Girls will be here so leave the kids with a sitter and plan to party all night (I just hope no one pukes on the front window like a few Saturdays ago)!!

Pottery demonstration Friday Night with Joe Sendek

We are having a two week show of Joe Sendek’s new pottery starting Friday night and to kick it off Joe is going to do a meet and greet and pottery demonstration.  He has done demo’s here before and it really is entertaining for everyone.  My kids still have “Mr. Play-doh”, which was a crazy intentionally wonky pot that Joe made per their request.  6-9, Friday night, which is also the night of the Ultra Party (more on that later).