Mt Lebanon Main Park Playground

The kids and I just returned from Mt. Lebanon Main Park. How do other people feel about this park? It use to be our favorite place to hang out, now we just don’t last more than a half hour there. It’s still a beautiful park, great for playing ball and basic frolicking, but what is with the new play equipment. I understand it was put in as a memorial so I hate to complain about it, but…
I may just be upset because we left there today with one kid having a bloody ear after being whacked by a big metal bar that hangs out of one of the multitude of spinny rides. But really, it’s more than that. It’s more than the fact that I have seen kids vomit from spinning and that I have seen kids get their feet stuck under the big circle that spins or that no one really gets what to do when you climb to the top of the strange rock climbing wall. I think what really bugged me today was when I overheard some kids talking about the fact that they should have signs that tell you what you are suppose to do with some of the equipment. It’s not that these kids don’t have great imaginations (they can have endless fun with a stick at times), it’s that the equipment isn’t really designed for play. Believe me I tried it, you climb up two feet and there is nowhere to go, just climb back down, you do it once you are done.

Also the slides are too small for anyone over 2 to really get a kick out of. I would say this is because of safety issues, but then you look at the spinning circle of death that every other kids falls off of and bust there knees or gets their foot jammed underneath it and you know that safety isn’t the issue. So the boys just came in and they have conducted a survey of the neighborhood kids, asking if the “love it” or “hate it” and so far they have 10 “hate it’s” and no “love it’s”. They said that they all say they wish the old playground was back.
One more thing about the park. We noticed some spray painted vandalism on the equipment and the tops of the hand rails to all the steps are missing their paint so we figured it was skateboarders who were riding on the rails and tagging stuff (yes, I know not all skaters are vandal’s, but let’s just say these one’s are). I know when we lived in Maryland they built a skate park, it wasn’t too big, but it had enough ramps for all the kids to skate on and one big plywood wall where there was plenty of graffiti art and it was kinda cool. I think skating is really cool and I wish there was somewhere to practice that kind of thing without getting into trouble.

Ron Mueck at the Warhol

Last night we went to see the Ron Mueck exhibit at the Warhol Museum. If there is any possible way you can get yourself over to see this show you MUST go. It ends today tomorrow, GO NOW!!

The sculptures are realistic beyond belief, every little pore and goose bump and scar and moistness is there. But what makes them so amazing is the scale. Some are small, some are huge — it just one of those things that can’t be explained and must be experienced.

NCECA Show Picture

I wish I had some pictures of the opening, we forgot to take any.  I’ll ask around to see if anyone has any.

One week until the “Echoes” Exhibit Starts

Aldo Coffee in the Trib

There was a really nice article about Aldo Coffee and Latte art in the Trib today.

Echoes from the Rustbelt hold up

Theresa Yondo called from Cleveland and Northern Ohio Clay was suppose to come down tomorrow to bring all the pedestals and the art for the Echoes show, but it is snowing! Maybe two feet in Cleveland. So we had to put the trip on hold. I hope we have enough time to to get this whole thing together.

The gallery is going to be completely transformed. It’s all very exciting!

Frustration with Mt. Lebanon Schools

I am so frustrated right now with the Mt. Lebanon school district. First let me say, my kids go to school here, I love the schools. Having said that, here’s my complaint. Two years ago I tried to plan a Mt Lebanon School night up here on Washington Rd. I managed to get almost all the businesses on the street (including the restaurant’s) to give 10% of one nights sales to the PTA. I had this sweet hometown idea of local people supporting local business who then help support the schools, lovely really. So I was really disappointed when I heard that the school district had to decide if they could put it in the newsletters — it would be free advertising for the businesses you see. Word of PTA night did go out in at least one school’s newsletter, but most of the parents at other school’s I have talked to never heard about it. It was basically a huge flop.
Next we had a nonprofit art group, South Arts, in our space upstairs, they couldn’t afford to pay rent so they paid us a percentage of whatever classes they could run. They printed up a flyer to advertise their classes and made the mistake of putting my logo on the back of it, this was enough to keep it out of all the Mt. Lebanon schools and they couldn’t afford to print any more flyers.

Now, all that is fine, but here is what has me upset. Since all this has happened I have gotten so many ads home in the newsletters. I have been to events at the schools where they have a cow from a local fast food chain who is there to tell us all about a great fund raiser. I have gotten notes home from bakeries about cakes the kids can make (not a fund raiser and there was a charge for the cake), today a consignment store sent a coupon home with my kids homework. It’s not that I care about all this, I am all for fund raiser wherever the school can find them, but I am left wondering who makes the decision on what is OK and what isn’t and what are these decisions based on?

Kevin Snipes for NCECA Concurrent Show

New image of a piece from the “Echoes from the Rustbelt” show later this month, this is by Kevin Snipes.

Google likes me, they really like me

What is up with all the sales people who come in here telling me they can make the search engines like me and find my site.  Do people really pay for this?  I don’t get it, the search engines seem to be finding our site and I haven’t hired anyone.

Here’s the one thing I haven’t figured out, how do I change it from saying “set stats” under our listing.  Greg says he set the stats so he doesn’t know what that means.

Looking for a new building for the Art Gallery

We still don’t have heat in over half the space here and it is really starting to drive me crazy.  My feet are so cold every day I am beginning to dread coming to work. Our landlord has vanished and the bank says it’s his responsiblility to fix everything so we are stuck for now.  We are looking for a new space to rent or buy.  We really want to stay on Washington Rd because we love Mt. Lebanon and we live here and we like to walk to work.  You wouldn’t think it would be so hard to find space up here.  We are contemplating moving to the Galleria.  The rent is more, but you also get a gazillion more people. 

If anyone knows of anything coming available, please, let us know.