August’s Monthly Installment of “Unblurred: First Fridays on Penn”

Published On August 3, 2015 | By Megan Tomasic | Community

Photo Cred: Penn Avenue

On August 7, organizers of Unblurred: First Fridays on Penn will host the next edition of their monthly showcase in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood. Each month, several galleries along Penn Avenue put on and display fresh events and exhibits for the public, featuring a mix of dance, photography, painting, music, sculpture, and spoken word performances.

Sponsored by the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, Unblurred began as an attempt to revitalize Penn Avenue into one of the city’s best cultural hot spots. Unblurred occurs on the first Friday of every month, attracting families, singles, workers, students, long-time residents, and first-time visitors to explore Penn Avenue’s blocks (4800-5500).

Moon Baby

This month, Assemble will feature artist and designer, Moon Baby. A celestial-deity-turned-media-mogul, Moon Baby’s artistic focus is deconstructing and repurposing pop culture and places. To portray this, she’ll bring Moonbabyland – a pop-up, interactive department store – to life. Moonbabyland will be “set [up] to discover the meanings of self-mythologizing spaces and bodies.”

The Garfield Night Market opened up during May’s edition of Unblurred, and will be here again this August. Guests can enjoy food, crafts, and family fun, all taking place on North Pacific Avenue. The Night Market has four goals: to give families a place to spend Friday night, to support Garfield’s small business owners, to introduce Garfield to the Pittsburgh community, and to focus on Garfield as a community, itself, by focusing on its creativity and energy.

Photo Cred: Unblurred

Most Wanted Fine Art will host mixed media artists, Daniel Shapiro and Nora Gilchrist. Both artists create images that reflect the overlooked aspects of history and artifacts often left out or forgotten in old photographs and history books. By using found objects and open source images, Shapiro and Gilchrist portray the myth and legend that is found between one person’s truth and another person’s lie. Also at the gallery will be artist Theta, performing hip hop instrumental music, with refreshments provided by Rock Bottom.

The Pittsburgh Glass Center will also be showcasing their ongoing exhibit, “Out of the Archives and Into the Gallery.” The exhibit is a collaboration with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), where 17 glass artists had the opportunity to visit the museum, identify an ancient piece of glass to research, and then recreate and reinterpret the piece for the exhibition. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Pgh Glass Center

Unblurred: First Fridays on Penn takes place on August 7 from 6-10PM. The event is free and open to guests of all ages, and some events may run later into the evening, depending on the venue. Come check out the local art while getting to know the business community on Penn Avenue.

A full list of participating galleries and businesses is listed below: