Passive ArchitectJoin Main Street Gallery this Thursday as we host The Crofts!
I was happily surprised to discover that the family of Narcisi Winery has roots that come from the same town my great-grandparents were from!
~ Giulianova in the Abruzzo area of Italy ~
I attended a wedding shower here this past spring. The winery resides in a lovely setting in Gibsonia PA, just north of Pittsburgh. Learning about where the Narcisi family was from is a coincidence because my family will be traveling to Italy next year to find our relatives. The task is taking longer than I anticipated. Our family name must have been changed from Campetti to Competti at some point. My great grandmother’s family name was Stellarini. I’ve contacted the Registration Office, or the ‘Ufficio Anagrafe” of Giulianova to try to find records of my grandparent’s siblings. My idea is that I can trace down lineage to find someone we can visit today! If anyone else has any ideas to offer I’d love to hear them!
~ The lovely seaside community of Giulianova ~
Barnes & Noble booksellers and West Virginia Northern’s latest improvement to downtown Wheeling has created a necessary connection for the city. This renovated building proves to be the necessary link between business and culture, as it is situated between the downtown business district and historic Center Market. Since it’s opening this past summer, it has continued to generate recognition for the college as well as SMG Architects. Creating a quadrant that saddles a busy intersection, WVNCC has enabled one more beautiful area for passersby to admire. The campus stretches from Main Street to Eoff Street, and can be enjoyed from the green and lively plaza beneath the façade of the prestigious B&O building, the campus’ main building.
Thanks to Julie Doerr for every one of these lovely photos!
I may have been the first customer too, as suggested in the above shot.
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The lower level serves the public as the upper space is reserved for students.
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The upper floor was designed to be used as a secondary service counter during the college’s busiest times, and at the start of each semester.
Enjoy a cup of coffee while watching the streets at this high bar located at the ground level.
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Things ‘Perking’ Up In Town
It has been another great week of restoration and revitalization in Wheeling.
Kudos go to West Virginia Northern Community College for repurposing and revitalizing another corner of 16th and Market streets in downtown Wheeling.
Congratulations and thanks also are extended to the Wheeling chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and its partners, the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp. and the Wheeling Park Commission, for spearheading the restoration of the historic Madonna of the Trail monument along National Road.
The week began with the much-anticipated opening of West Virginia Northern’s latest facility on the southwest corner of 16th and Market streets, featuring a combination Barnes & Noble bookstore and Starbucks shop on the new building’s first floor and the college’s student activities center on the second floor. Public officials, civic leaders and other guests joined college representatives for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of the new facility Monday, July 15.
Wheeling architect Victor Greco, who also is the genius behind the transformation of the intersection’s northwest corner for Northern’s new Applied Technology Center, noted that his design for the new bookstore-student union picks up architectural elements of Northern’s historic B&O Building located across the street. Greco explained that the new facility’s clock tower is a historic nod to a clock tower that once stood at the former B&O Railroad station. The architect added that he wanted the new clock tower to create a piazza-like look for the plaza area adjacent to the center’s entrance.
As with the Applied Technology Center, the new building’s copper accents complement the copper trim on the roof of the B&O Building, Greco pointed out.
For many years, a large building on the intersection’s southwest corner was occupied by a bank until that institution moved to a new facility out the pike in the 1970s.
Later, a Winky’s restaurant operated in part of the building for a time. Eventually, the vacant former bank building was razed. More recently, the corner lot was occupied by the Straub Hyundai sales office until the dealership built a new complex at The Highlands.
July 21, 2013 by Linda Comnis at The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
–An article that ran before the event:
College to Cut Ribbon On New Student Union
July 13, 2013 By SHELLEY HANSON – Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
West Virginia Northern Community College officials plan to unveil their new Student Union building during a ribbon cutting ceremony for local and state officials Monday.
The structure, once home to a Straub Hyundai car dealership, will also house a Barnes & Noble Bookstore and coffee shop on the first floor that will also serve the public.
Construction on the $2.1 million project began last September. In addition to local, state and college officials, representatives of Barnes & Noble also are expected to attend the event.
Photo by Shelley Hanson
Lash Paving of Colerain workers, from left, Brian Gosbin, Randy Homan and Paul Ondrick spread pavement Friday on the parking lot of West Virginia Northern Community College’s student union building in downtown Wheeling. The college is planning a Monday ribbon cutting ceremony for the building.
On Friday, there was a flurry of activity at the site with men working quickly on paving the parking lot, installing signage and lights, and laying tile inside and brick on the sidewalks outside. Workers also could be seen putting the finishing touches on the bookstore and its offerings.Lash Paving of Colerain workers said they would finish laying the base coat and then install the top coat of pavement today on the parking lot. Fresh landscaping also is expected to be planted around the building in preparation for the outdoor ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday.
The Student Union building is located adjacent to WVNCC’s other newly renovated structure, the Applied Technology Center, which was the former Straub Honda dealership, at the corner of 16th and Market streets. That project cost $3.88 million and is expected to open for classes this fall.
Enjoy what Wheeling has to offer this Friday -it’s a First Friday!
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A New Wheeling from Grindley Productions on Vimeo
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Sitting outside of Kitty Hoynes enjoying the architecture of Armory Square.
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Syracuse University Campus
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Vacation began on a July Thursday. We headed east from Ohio, crossed West Virginia, went north through Pennsylvania and found ourselves in New York by noon. Four states in a morning. Luckily for us we found an impromptu farmers market table set up at a rest stop off of the turnpike. Fresh blueberries and cherries paired well with a store-bough pizza. We stopped for the night in Syracuse NY and noticed a heavy Irish influence in the food and brew options. In Armory Square many older adults were enjoying the shops, sights and sounds of a weekend to come. The Blue Tusk offered sidewalk seating outside of their interesting building with phone booth nooks and crannies.
I visited with two ladies involved with Syracuse’s Architecture department about what Syracuse University is doing to actively improve the connectivity of the town to design. They introduced me to the work of Architect Rasem Kamal. I was also able to read the department’s Graduate Level publication called ‘Graduate Sessions.’ The print highlights a famous architect in an interview session that is documented and distributed in an effort to partake in a different perspective from these well-known practitioners. Bravo on the Preston Scott Cohen and Aureli + Tattara Dogma publications!
From here my husband and I headed further north, and into New England.
This Friday is 3rd Friday!
Please join us this Friday, August 16th, for An Evening of Words with Marc Harshman. Marc will be sharing poems from his new book ALL THAT FEEDS US: THE WEST VIRGINIA POEMS, some for the first time in West Virginia. While Marc reads, Aaron Carey will be playing classical compositions on guitar. Aaron will also play a solo set during the intermission.
The evening will start with a 30 minute open mic for anyone who would like to share a poem. Poems may be original or covers. If you are interested in reading at the start of this event please RSVP by email at ThirdFridayArtworks@gmail.com or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/3rdFridayArtworks.
Doors open at 7:00pm and the open mic begins at 7:30.
Snacks and refreshments will be on sale, BYOBeer.
As always admission at 3rd Friday at Artworks is FREE!
Marc Harshman
In May of 2012 Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Marc Harshman as the new Poet Laureate for West Virginia in recognition of his work in both poetry and children’s books.
For many years Marc Harshman taught fifth and sixth grades at the Sand Hill School, one of the last of the three-room country schools. Raised in Indiana, he has lived his adult life in West Virginia with his wife, Cheryl Ryan (author, artist, & librarian), and his twenty-three-year-old daughter, Sarah. The author of eleven picture books for children, he is also a poet and storyteller. His children’s books have been published in Spanish, Korean, Danish, and Swedish. ONLY ONE was a Reading Rainbow review title on PBS TV and THE STORM was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, a Children’s Book Council Notable Book for Social Studies, and a 1995 Parent’s Choice Award recipient. “Booklist” has called this same title “a knowing book that will speak to all children about self-image and hard-won success.” Mr. Harshman was honored in 1994 by receiving the Ezra Jack Keats / Kerlan Collection Fellowship from the University of Minnesota for research on Scandinavian myth and folklore. He was also named the West Virginia state English teacher of the year by the West Virginia English Language Arts Council in 1995. More recently he was named the recipient of the WV Arts Commission Fellowship in Poetry for the year 2000 and the Fellowship in Children’s Literature for 2008. He holds degrees from Bethany College, Yale University Divinity School, and the University of Pittsburgh.
His newest children’s book is ONLY ONE NEIGHBORHOOD, (co-authored & illustrated by Barbara Garrison, 2007.) This newest title was hailed as the “rich companion to the classic ONLY ONE.” Other recent children’s titles include ROADS (Cavendish, 2002) and RED ARE THE APPLES (Harcourt, 2001), the latter co-written with his wife, Cheryl Ryan. Two new books are forthcoming. His first full-length collection of poetry, GREEN-SILVER AND SILENT was published by Bottom Dog Press in 2012. His fourth chapbook of poems, ALL THAT FEEDS US: THE WEST VIRGINIA POEMS has just been published by Quarrier Press. Short prose works have recently won awards from Newport Review and Literal Latté and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Anthology publication of poems include Kent State University, the University of Iowa, University of Georgia, and the University of Arizona. He has also served as an instructor for the historic Appalachian Writers Workshop at the Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, KY.
Mr. Harshman’s children’s books are represented by Liza Pulitzer-Voges of Eden Street LLC / PO Box 30 /1628 Route 55 /Billings, NY 12510
Marc Harshman / PO Box 2111 / Wheeling, WV 26003 / 304-243-9711www.marcharshman.com // marcharshman@hotmail.com
Note: A Little Excitement, Snow Company, Rocks in My Pockets, and All the Way to Morning, have been re-issued in paperback by the Quarrier Press, Charleston, WV.
Over the past two decades, Aaron Carey has performed music in a wide variety of genres and venues throughout the Pittsburgh area and beyond. He has taught guitar to hundreds of students in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, in all levels and styles, but is probably best known for his classical guitar playing and teaching. A graduate of West Virginia University’s guitar program with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, he was able to study in master classes with internationally acclaimed artists Larry Coryell, David Burgess, and Grammy-Nominee Paul Galbraith. Carey was President of the WVU Chamber Guitar Ensemble and a member of the WVU Community Music Faculty. For the past eight years, he has been a Lecturer in Music at Bethany College and an active guitar and banjo teacher throughout the tri-state area. His compositions, arrangements, and performances have been used in Bethany College Theater performances for almost a decade. Recently, he has been coaching students in the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program with great success. Honors achieved by students include two gold medals for the nation’s highest test scores and radio/performance opportunities through Carnegie Hall and WQED Pittsburgh.
Carey plays an eclectic variety of classical and jazz pieces from all over the world when, and his own compositions are heavily influenced by Celtic and American Indian music. His live performances are soothing and entrancing, perfect for cafes, weddings, and fine dining establishments. He also releases albums as an international recording artist under the name ‘Nechochwen’, his Lenni-Lenape Indian name. The music written as Nechochwen is a unique blend of classical guitar, atmospheric soundscapes, and acoustic guitar passages. CD and LP releases from Nechochwen and a folk/rock/classical project called Forest of the Soul are currently available through Bindrune Recordings, both of which have received critical acclaim in publications and on websites worldwide. When not teaching or performing, Aaron records his compositions and works as a session musician at Sacred Sound Studio in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio.
Odile Decq began practicing in Paris, directly out of school, thirty-three years ago. Her first work that caught my eye had blood orange ribbons flowing through antique spaces. That is, the restaurant renovation of the l’opera restaurant in Paris. I found facades that fold back into the earth in Austria. Two newer projects host beating hearts in the expansive spaces of art museums. The orange theaters hold the place where thoughts are shared; the hearts (of all things central to a building) are suspended to create a place where ideas must be shared to live.
Odile Decq speaks to Architectural Record in June 2013’s issue article titled ‘Women in Architecture Now’
“…practicing architecture is really complicated and it’s very hard, but it’s possible. I discovered early on that to be an architect you have to have a little bit of talent and a maximum of determination and not focus on the complications.”
– June 2013 Architectural Record by By Beth Broome
Taken from the architect’s site:
The Liaunig Collection Museum reinterprets the dual idea, apparently in contradictions of the conxtextual inscription and the immaterial escaping, of natural and artificial, heavy and light, shadow and light.
Between the site and the museum no one is before the other. Their interaction defines the exhibition promenade. Nevertheless, the museum is distinct from the slop by its artificiality and its porosity clearly seen through the interstices in between the curved lines.
The envelopp of the museum finds its origin in the slop itself by its pleats and drapes in softly sinuous tension.Lifted up, the curves of the slop are re-interpreted in volumes. Compressed, twisted and redevelopped they re-constitute the idea of a belvedere looking toward the valley, the village and the castle. Forward, the lines of the museum and the lines of the park are prolonged and blended, increasing the perception of a landscape museum.
On the façades the lines become waves. Then, the envelopp becomes an in-between: the outside and the inside, the enclosed and the opened, a building and a landscape, Art and Nature. The envelopp as light filter gives a transition ibetween the full light of outside and the inside of the art promenade.
The walk through the building becomes a sequential discovery, an event.
In the landscape around, the sinuous roads take the topography into account and every travel is a scenic discovery. In the museum every space is conceived to lead the visitors to move, to travel through the building, to experiment the art exhibitions.
Spaces are never centered. The inside space is not static but dynamic and gives to the visitors the attractivity of a constant discovery.A sinuous ditch in the middle of the park re-orientates the ondulations of the park territory. A path is turning all around it and on its way, three belvederes are looking to the Drau below. The Artist Residence is ‘the house in the trees’ above the Drau. Three free black cubes spreaded in the park will be developped by individual artists.
One month ago there was a great art event in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Musicians, painters, photographers, professional, and amateur poets got together and shared the evening. The turn out was overwhelming. Our community that night was flourishing.
The gallery decided to open the doors a little wider and invited 15 people to participate in a poetry and photography show. It was titled ‘Journeys: an exploration through photography and poetry,’ and was defined by each individual in their own creative way. There was a photo of a bright horizon in Aruba, one taken at a silence retreat in front of a fire, and another of a stairway strewn with over-growing vines. Our work looked lovely, floating in the low-lit room before everyone arrived. Our collaborative was successful in many ways. The participants were filled with anticipation and pride. There is an entire new perspective of what you feel you can do when your work hangs up on a wall.
The positive response came from the excitement in the artists that had never had the chance to ‘show’ in a gallery, and their many friends who came to support them. Many people there that night had never attended a Main Street Gallery function, but were eager to come back again. The discussions lasted until 11 in the evening, but the memories made a lasting impact on me.
Thanks Josie, for the wonderful panoramic and collage photos above!
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Our floating work and conversations as the gallery filled with people.
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The deep fluid sound of trombone and keyboard held together the mood that night.
A few artists took a moment to explain their ‘Journeys.’ It was an impromptu and informal presentation that the entire gallery paused to be apart of. Marc Harshman shared poetry from his newly published collection ‘All That Feeds Us‘ and unraveled his poem ‘Why Not Wish’ with animation, that was printed for the evening’s event. Local painter, Melanie Steffl-Thompson encouraged everyone with her words of soothing advice. Creative things are happening here, positive things are happening here, here where we live in Ohio. She encouraged the young and old people listening; people listening and playing their own part in the evening where we all came together to share art.
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Technically my title is wrong. It should take about 75 miles to get from one destination to the other, but I’m including the extra to account for the necessary back and forth trip we biked from Cedar Creek campsite to an evening brew at the Trailside Restaurant and Pub Saturday night. The trip between Ohiopyle and Pittsburgh began earlier for my brother who took off from Pittsburgh Thursday morning on the Great Allegheny Passage – GAP trail. He made it to Ohiopyle Friday and Phil and I joined him for the return trip. We biked a longer trip last year and decided to shorten the mileage per day in order to incorporate more sight-seeing along the way. Connellsville was hosting a river-side arts festival, breakfast at Gary’s Chuck Wagon Restaurant surprised us with great coffee and dense donuts, and at the terminus Point Park in Pittsburgh we were greeted by a fantastic thunderstorm!
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It’s been a wet June. We were more fortunate on the return trip to find an underpass, or to be sleeping beneath a lean-to when storms crossed the trial. Beginning in Ohiopyle Saturday morning was bright and sunny. Outdoor adventurists were crawling over the rock studded river sides, cyclists were gazing to the cascading falls from the bridges, and we were partaking in the breakfast bar at Falls Market and Restaurant. After scampering along the water’s edge ourselves we hit the trail and took the scenic ‘GAP’ bridge over the river. We followed the Youghiogheny River as it wove at a downward grade through the tulip forest. Ferns feathered the hillside as brush beneath the many single-filed tree trunks. Waterfalls generously poured into the thickening river, turning over stair-stepped banks of rock. We were shaded, the trail muddier than usual, and we could hear a few raindrops falling late from the previous night’s storm. From Mile 70, to 80, to 90, we rode mostly in quick conversations side by side at 13 mph. Then, at other times, in the pure silence of nature rushing by.
GAP Trail Maps
We set-up camp at Cedar Creek for free. With a hikers hut and restrooms available we were set for the night. Sharing the campsite with only four other campers made for a very peaceful evening. Well, that’s what we thought until we had a rude awakening.
Storms rolled around us through the night, but that was nothing compared to the sound of the train! Three or more times a thumping, screeching, rambling distraction made noise like we were about to be run over. This was the music of progress I suppose, the only sound cutting through the crickets and raindrops in an otherwise secluded (feeling) place.
As I mentioned earlier, before turning in we biked to the Trailside Restaurant and Pub in West Newton, PA. We enjoyed fresh food and bottled beer along with another small rain storm. The Pirates were playing and the mood on the deck porch was easy-going.
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We woke up as well as we could and biked the four miles back into West Newton where we found coffee at Gary’s Chuckwagon restaurant. The placed filled up as Sunday service concluded and as we left. We were only thirty miles out of downtown Pittsburgh.
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The map below is a piece of what can be found on the GAP website. It details the places along the trail for bikers and hikers alike to enjoy between Greenock and Pittsburgh, PA. We were in luck pulling into little Boston that a bike shop / kayak and canoe rental had WD-40 to help with my brothers’ squeaking bike chain. They were really helpful and I told the man there that I’d blog about his shop. The place is called Ted’s Peddler’s Village, and the brochure is here:
~Trail side rentals near Boston PA aerial below~
We felt so close to Pittsburgh, but drove through the pathways around McKeesport, up and over the bridges crossing railway tracks near Duquesne, and into Homestead for quite a few more miles.
The trail at Homestead is a very nice trail running between the river and new development. The path alone made me want to live there. The iron fencing running for miles would make iron workers drool. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail criss-crosses the GAP here, and offers bikers another reason to bike in Pittsburgh. The GAP leads to the rear side of Kennywood and skims the side of Sandcastle Water park, teasing hot cyclists as we drive on to finish our ride. And, finish our ride we did, just before the thunder show. We rode through the raindrops and circled the Point. We stopped quickly for pictures before the fountain and found cover beneath the concrete shell overpass at the point with many others as the storm passed.
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A good ride, good company, and a great accomplishment achieving 85 miles feels good for a weekend!
