venangago-go: December 15, 2008 - Gingerbread Houses, Bluegrass, and Regional Art Criticism at Risk

The results from the Franklin Library's Gingerbread House contest will be on display in the Children's Room this week. A detail from the entry my daughter and I submitted which was a bit more...conceptual than the others:

As well as a shot of the $9 DIY lightbox I threw together to take the photos:

You can see other detail shots of the house here.

Jeff Fonzo is the Franklin Fine Arts Council artist of the month.

The Oil City Arts Council and United Way of Venango County are again teaming to host Oil City’s Second Annual Oil Country Bluegrass Festival. This second annual event will be held on February 13, 14 and 15, 2009 at The Arlington Hotel in Oil City, PA. All proceeds will benefit United Way of Venango County and the Oil City Arts Council, both non-profit organizations.
This year the Oil Country Bluegrass Festival will include a songwriting competition that your band may wish to enter. The winning band will receive $300 and the runner-up band will receive $100. For an application or to schedule a performance time. contact Ron Shoup at (814) 676-3465 (e-mail: rshoup@csonline.net.) or Bob Flath at (814) 797-1504 (e-mail: flabas1@hotmail.com)

What little girl wouldn't want a Zombie Barbie for Christmas?

Christopher Rawson, theatre Critic at the Post-Gazette is accepting a buy-out package as part of the paper's attempt to stop bleeding money. While I've never hid the opinion that I almost universally dislike all of the PG's art criticism (full disclosure: I unsuccessfully pitched a comic/graphic novel themed criticism column for the PG's online presence several years ago) , finding that it tends to spend more time talking about the writer than the art and has tastes that reflect the aging boomer demographic of the staff (and readership one would imagine...) I do find it interesting that while Rawson goes into detail tracing his "chosen one" lineage, he makes no statement as to who will be taken his job over. Leading me to fear that, like the travel section before it, it will be mostly wire reports with an occasional (e.g. Sunday) PG Staff review, or worse that the paper will replace thoughtful criticism with "blog' entries like the ones they're currently sponsoring:

I was blown away by the Jupiter String Quartet last night at Carnegie Music Hall. Tell me what you thought about it. If you didn't get to the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society concert (and the hall was only half full), please read the review and put this group on your radar. They will be big.

That deftly written exploration by PG Classical Critic Andrew Druckenbrod.

That's not healthy. The City Paper does a great job covering the artistic sub-stream of the Burgh arts, but I think there still needs to be some voice talking about the shows that attract a more settled audience.

The Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards have opened nominations - all of Western PA is eligible. So let's represent the 814!