FInally! A Bridge To East Liberty

Sketch of Pedestrian Bridge

Construction of a pedestrian bridge linking Shadyside to the Eastside shopping complex in East Liberty will begin on Monday. The 100-foot-long bridge will stretch from Ellsworth Avenue at Spahr Street to the southwest corner of the Eastside parking garage, hopping over the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and railroad tracks parallel to it.

Plans for the bridge go back at least seven years. Planners and developers had to work through myriad issues involving financing, right of way, property acquisition and design.  Starting Monday and continuing through November, Ellsworth Avenue will be closed from Spahr Street to Lamont Place. These streets will be open only to local and business traffic: Ellsworth from Maryland Avenue to Spahr and from Shady Avenue to Lamont, and Spahr from Alder Street to Ellsworth.  Northbound traffic on Spahr will be required to turn left at Ellsworth. Access to all businesses in the construction area will be maintained at all times.

The project features an innovative design by Pittsburgh native Sheila Klein that includes a curving fence bedecked with glass sequins, an undulating pathway bordered with landscaping and railings that were salvaged from the 31st Street Bridge when it was rehabilitated.

The glass is being made at Pittsburgh Glass Center in Friendship and restoration of the railings was by Keystone Metals in Larimer.
Completion of the $1.55 million project is scheduled for late December.

East Liberty
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
Shadyside

Iron Eden A Natural For Pittsburgh

What could be more fitting than for a city once known as the iron and steel making capital of the world than to become the home of John Walter, a blacksmith and owner of Iron Eden?

Walter's free-flowing, nature-based creations – gates, chairs, staircases, trellises, tables and sculptures featuring trees and flowers that curve and jut in all directions- would look at home in Alice's Wonderland or in a scene from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." 


Admittedly, organic iron work is his signature style.  Iron Eden's one-of-a-kind artwork has been springing up all over the city for the past quarter of a century. At Phipps Conservatory, Walter conjured up "Gates of Hell," featuring iron tree branches rising from the ground like flame.  He also restored gates at the 100-room Sewickley Heights estate of industrialist Benjamin Franklin Jones. The fixtures and mirrors at Maxalto and Moda  in Shadyside and a wood-burning pizza oven at Enrico's are all his creations.


The material for many of Walter's creations comes from industrial and manufacturing leftovers. He says their scrap is his beginning piece.  Walter's shop, Iron Eden,  is located in Bloomfield at 4071 Liberty Ave. Take a drive by, or even stop in.  Either way you'll instantly know this is a very very extraordinary place.

Bloomfield
Enrico's
Iron Eden
Maxalto
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
Moda
Phipps Conservatory
Shadyside

Unleash The Inner-Artist Inside You

If you have an untapped creative side waiting to come out ..... or even if you don't ..... Spending some of your leisure time indoors in these frigid temps creating a mug, collage or sketching might be a fun thing to do.  There are a surprising number of creative opportunities for the novice in the Pittsburgh Area:

Carnegie Museum of Art

Carnegie Museum of Natural History 

4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.  412-622-3288
-  Creating Wildlife Art (Collage)   Participants will create a mixed-media collage of insect or bird illustrations.  Feb 19th, Noon to 3 p.m. $35; $30 for members (includes materials).
-  Pastel Painting   Participants will create fantastical pastel paintings using museum artifacts for inspiration, such as specimen butterflies.  Learning how to combine pastels with tempera, charcoal and watercolor. March 6th & 13th, April 3rd, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $48; $40 for members.
-  Drawing Wildlife Class   Participants will practice their mammal-drawing skills in the Hall of North American Wildlife with scientific illustrator Mark Klingler.  April 7th, 14th & 21st, 6 to 9 p.m.  $50; $40 for members.

Sweetwater Center for the Arts

200 Broad St., Sewickley.  412-741-4405

-  Photographic Lighting Workshop  Instructor is commercial photographer David Cooper. Feb 5th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $60; $45 for nonmembers.
-  Acrylic Painting Techniques, Faux Woodblock Prints  Instructor is Tara Zalewskiy-Nease, who has a master of fine arts degree in painting from the University of New Mexico. Participants will use watercolor masking flue to create a bold image, similar to a wood block carving print. Feb 19th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  $60; $45 for members.
-  Collage and Assemblage Art  Instructor is Carnegie Mellon University School of Art graduate, Danielle Worst.  Participants will create a work that combines two-dimensional images and three-dimensional forms.  March 5th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  $60; $45 for nonmembers.


Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
1047 Shady Ave., Shadyside.  412-361-0455 -  Mosaics    Participants will make a small, decorative square with instructor Rachael Cooper.  Feb 6th, noon to 1 p.m., 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 4 p.m.  $10.
-  Ceramic Mugs  Participants will make a decorative, greenware mug with instructor Rachael Cooper. March 6th, noon to 1 p.m., 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 4 p.m.  $10.
-  Arts Crash Course   Participants will work with instructors in the center's printmaking, ceramics and jewelry studios to create take-home works of art.  March 19th, noon to 4 p.m.  $60; $35 for members.
-  Anatomy of the Figure   Participants will study anatomy and the human form while making drawings and sculpture with Italian artist and art professor, Eva Rorandelli.  March 20th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $100; $75 for members.
-  Introduction to Precious Metal Clay Jewelry  Participants will make silver pendants and charms with instructor Donna Penoyer.  March 26th, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  $95; $70 for members.

Greensburg Art Center

230 Todd School Road, Hempfield.  724-837-6791-  Learning to Throw a Pot  Participants will explore ceramics with with instructor Ann Gravelle.  Fridays, 7 to 10 p.m. $50 per couple, or $25 per couple for two couples. The fee includes materials.
-  Still Life Drawing & Painting   Drop-in still-life sessions. Wednesdays, 7 to 9:30 p.m.  Drop-in sessions with model in pose.  4th Monday of each month, 7 to 9:30 p.m.   $3 per person.

Pittsburgh Glass Center

5472 Penn Ave, Friendship.  412-365-2145
A number of introductory workshops and classes offered are listed in their online catalog.

Society For Contemporary Craft

2100 Smallman St., Strip District.  412-261-1941

A number of introductory workshops and classes offered are listed in their online catalog.

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate