The Jewel on the Hill, Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall

My two exhibits of local photography, “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” and “Carnegie Photographed”, are once again on display in the Reception Hall at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. Stop by to peruse them and read the notes on the photos, or if you aren’t local, I have provided links to slide shows of each of the exhibits. Photos are for sale, and each sale benefits the ACFL&MH Capital Campaign.

Of Harps and Fig Leaves, an Exhibit of Photographs

This exhibit of sixteen of my color photographs of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall includes a variety of views, from grand and distant to detailed and intimate. The exhibit opened for the 2010 benefit event on October 2, Marianne Cornetti Returns, and will hang in the Reception Hall as a permanent exhibit between other shows and exhibits. The Reception Hall is open during regular hours; please visit www.carnegiecarnegie.org for more information and directions. I have also included a list of the included images, below, with a link to a brief slideshow of the images.

The genesis of the show

"Clawfoot", detail of the original organ bench and replica carpet in the Espy Post.

When I bought my first camera, a Pentax K-1000, one of my first subjects was Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. I lived two doors down, I was practicing with black and white film, and the massive, elegant building surrounded by tall trees was a feast for my eyes.

I’ve been visiting this place for books since before I can remember, but even today looking at the shelves of books interspersed with the tall Corinthian-topped pillars I can still remember feeling very small standing in the quiet of the big room and thinking it was the grandest place that could ever exist.

As an adult, when I began to return again for books, I also began wandering into as many rooms as I could gain access to, enjoying what is now the Reception Hall on a sunny winter afternoon, peeking into the darkness of the Music Hall, imagining myself on the stage.

As renovations began and I was spending more and more time here, all the memories combined with all the activity and inspired an exploration of the space recorded in photos using my new Pentax camera a digital SLR K10D.

"Grand Entrance", those limestone pillars and doorway have stood the test of time.

About the Photos

The photos include “The Jewel on the Hill” shown above, one we’ve used repeatedly as the signature image for the facility. Each photo has a story of its own genesis, but this one in particular was a real stroke of luck and timing. I was walking home on a clear, warm spring dusk in late April, 2005, April 24 to be exact, and arrived at the bottom of Library Hill at just this moment. The sky was fading from brilliant turquoise to cobalt, the still-bare trees were etched against it in silhouette, and the grand building itself stood partially lit by the sunset but with all interior and exterior lights on, solid and stately, serving its public in its 104th year. By the time I had snapped a half dozen or so shots the light had changed completely and the moment was gone. That was part of the timing, the other part that they had only temporarily installed the foundation lighting but never used it again,a nd this was part of what gave the building that lovely definition against the dark hilltop. A few minutes earlier or later, the previous or following week, and this photo would never have existed. And it was taken with my first little point-and-shoot 2MP digital camera, I don’t know how it came out as clearly as it did!

Here is a list of the names of the photos in the show, and you can view a quick little slideshow of them here. But you’ll have to visit the Reception Hall to really see them and know the rest of the stories.

1. Grand Entrance, 2003
2. The Jewel on the Hill, 2005
3. Welcoming on a Winter Night, 2008
4. Familiar View, 2007
5. Overarching, 2008
6. Clawfoot, 2010
7. Of harps and Fig Leaves, 2006
8. Hats, 2009
9. Autumn Expectations, 2009
10. Party on the Stage
11. Cubbage Hill, 2009
12. Champagne Reception, 2008
13. Book Stacks, 2005
14. View of Carnegie, 2008
15. The New Seats, 2009
16. Classic Curve, 2007

————————————————————

“Carnegie Photographed” Photo Exhibit

Spring Dusk on Main Street

This exhibit includes fourteen of my photographs of the town of Carnegie in all seasons, from details to distant views. The exhibit will hang in the Reception Hall as a permanent exhibit between other shows and exhibits along with “Of Harps and Fig Leaves, images of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall”.

Two Shows in One Room

The Night Gallery, 3rd Street Gallery exhibit and jazz

Once we had “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” hung in the room, ACFL&MH executive director Maggie Forbes suggested this show to fill the other walls of the room. The 3rd Street Gallery hosts a show entitled “Carnegie Painted” each year, and as a central point in the community, the Reception Hall of ACFL&MH has been host to paintings from that show through the years. I certainly have enough photos of Carnegie to fill a few rooms, and, as with Harps and Fig Leaves, I had a difficult time choosing only 14 images.

All the photos are 11″ x 14″ framed with white mats and black 16″ x 20″ frames and the consistency of the exhibits in the big room, all photos, same mats and frames, is very appealing.

About the Show

Softly Falling Snow, Ross Colonial Cemetery on Library Avenue

A camera of some sort goes with me everywhere, and by living and working here in Carnegie, plus a good bit of walking and bicycling the subject of my photos is often my little town.

From local newspapers to Carnegie’s website and map, my photos have often been used to illustrate Carnegie, capturing Main Street at dusk or the Memorial Day Parade, a detail of everyday life gone unnoticed, or a hidden treasure I’ve found while exploring.

A news photo, those used for publicity, is different from an art photo. While many of the photos I have on f ile are perfect for a quick glance in print or web they’re not always the best subjects for permanently-placed enlargement to be seen and studied in detail.

It’s truly been my pleasure to browse six years of photos and choose 14 which I hope will illustrate the familiar beauty of the streets we travel every day.

Good Night Little Town, a view of Carnegie from a nearby hill

About the Images

The image at the top, “Spring Dusk on Main Street”, is one of my favorites and I think shows the quaint appeal and openness of Carnegie’s Main Street. The decorate street lights are on sensors and come on automatically at dusk, but each of them comes on at a different time. I wanted to catch that pure turquoise sky with enough light to see its color, but not all the lights were on when the sky was best. I had to stake this one out, and returned to Main Street three times during this week to make sure I got the one photo where all the lights are on and the sky is perfect.

Here is a list of the names of the photos in the show, and you can view a quick little slideshow of them here. But you’ll have to visit the Reception Hall to really see them and know the rest of the stories.

Amid the Gold
Banners and Flowers
Good Night Little Town
Icy Berries
Last Day of the Year
Memorial Day
Ornaments
Softly Falling Snow
Spring Dusk on Main Street
Superior
Sycamore Sentinels
Tangled Shadows
The Night Gallery
Welcome

Hours for the exhibit

The Reception Hall is open during regular hours; please visit www.carnegiecarnegie.org for more information, directions and contact information. Remember that these exhibits hang between other exhibits and events at ACFL&MH, so please contact me or call Library to be certain the exhibits are up.

Framed prints size and availability

Each image is 11″ x 14″ matted with a plain white mat in a 16″ x 20″ matte-finish black frame. The photos on display are the property of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, but you can purchase a framed print. Prints are for sale at $75.00 each, and a portion of every sale supports the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.

Canvas prints size and availability

These images are a full 16″ x 20″ printed on quality canvas and gallery-wrapped on canvas stretchers (the canvas wraps around the stretchers and is printed all the way around) for a clean, modern look. Canvas prints are not on display, but you can purchase one by specifying you’d like the canvas print. Canvas prints are also for sale at $75.00 each, and a portion of every sale supports the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.

You can purchase them directly through the Library & Music Hall or contact me with your interest.

Again, the slideshows…

Of Harps and Fig Leaves

You can view a quick little slideshow of them here.

Carnegie Photographed

You can view a quick little slideshow of them here.

The oepning slide in the 2011 Tribute Scroll

Deb Chebatoris and I are pleased to bring the second annual Tribute Scroll to you. I am personally pleased with the way the idea became reality.

The Chartiers Custom Pet Cremation Tribute Scroll includes photos and written tributes from families who have attended the annual Pet Memorial Sunday.

A slide from the Tribute Scroll

Every year Deb encourages Pet Memorial Sunday participants to provide photos of their pets and a written tribute of 50 words or fewer. This year, we decided to begin this new tradition and offer something families could visit even after Pet Memorial Sunday as a memory of the event and as a lasting tribute to their pet.

I enjoy the event as do all of Deb’s families who participate, but we’re always trying to think of other things to offer in between. I know how much I love to revisit events and people who brought me comfort after one of my losses, and how just seeing a favorite photo can make a pet seem so close.

I’ve been working with photo and presentation slideshows for myself and other customers, and as Pet Memorial Sunday drew near I remembered listening to the tributes from past events and looking at the photos, and just being there with everyone, I began envisioning a beautiful and reverent presentation of each family’s pet or pets and its tribute. This could be on the website, well, forever, or at least as long as the website is there. We’d do a new one every year, perhaps add music to make the experience feel loving and relaxing.

I proposed it to Deb and she liked the idea too, and asked families to provide a digital image of their photo if possible.

I had initially only visualized the photos and tributes fading into one another, a pet’s image followed by the written tribute, but the idea grew as I worked on it. Some families didn’t provide a photo so I used images from my own stock of nature, flowers, butterflies and beautiful skies in the place of the pet’s image, somehow relating the image to something about the pet mentioned in the tribute if possible. Then, rather than fade out the image of the pet and run the tribute over top of it, I also chose other images of nature to use as a backdrop. I felt having the words obscuring the pet’s image was somehow disrespectful and also distracting from the moving tributes people had written, and a lovely image of nature can only be more calming. I was just so excited to be able to use my images for this.

As her “publicist”, I photograph all of Deb’s major events, and the slideshow also includes parts of the introduction and closing remarks from Pet Memorial Sunday along with my photos of the memory tables and the dove release.

And I have to warn you, get some tissues ready. It’s not sad, simply very moving to see these everyday pet photos and read the words of the families, sharing this experience even virtually. After watching it repeatedly in the past few weeks you’d think I’d be a little bit immune to it, but when I take a little break and watch it again, off I go sprouting tears.

I don’t have any of my precious kitties in it this year…where would I start? I was a speaker at the event this year, though.

We were initially going to use a piece of music either Deb or I would create or something we could find on the internet, but Deb met a musician who agreed to compose original music for the production.

A slide from the Tribute Scroll.

When you visit the website and click on the link, the Tribute Scroll will open in a new window on top of the page you are viewing and will begin to play after about five seconds. If the page does not open, make sure you temporarily allow pop-ups.

The slideshow is about eight minutes long and pauses on each image and each tribute long enough for you to read be able to ponder and appreciate them. You can also pause and resume the slideshow and scroll through the thumbnails to one you’d like to see using the controls at the bottom of the screen.

Each year, we’ll add another slideshow from the next Pet Memorial Sunday, but all the shows will remain on the “Tribute Scroll” page, so bookmark it!

Please feel free to post any comments about the Tribute Scroll here. We’d love to hear what you think.

Liberti logo

I do a fair amount of design work for this large congregation in Western Pennsylvania near Indiana University of PA, and in this case the traditional limestone Presbyterian church wanted to appeal to youth and college students. They showed me a black and white design they’d noticed and admired, so along with the youth appeal and the black and white I had something to start with.

I am hardly among the youth, but ideas are all around. Are we still using grunge design? I see it everywhere in battered-looking fonts, layered and rough-looking backgrounds, lots of black and white, yet even with the details of the elements themselves, the number of elements in a design is few.

Hence the stark black and white with no shading, the elderly typewriter and faded typestyles, the cut-out shape of the dove, the crumbling background.

I had begun with another typestyle that was a good authentic brushed font, small x-height, emphatic ascenders and descenders and overall really cool look, but the word “Liberti” was lost, unreadable. The all-caps styles with swashes on some letters was unnecessarily complicated. Neither one accommodated the line of text underneath with any type of clarity, even when I created my own swashes. Even with the battered edges adding just a touch of grunge, the old typewriter characters are as clear as if they’d been typed on paper. The faded font underneath, slightly unconventional in its mix of upper and lower-case letters and its extended letters, contrasts nicely and is still clear at the small size.

The background became itself, created from a shape I drew freehand in PhotoShop, then repeatedly faceted it, copied and pasted elements, then removed the ones I felt were too small and distracting. It could be a wall battered down or a container burst open, either one a metaphor for the act of finding liberty and freedom, the dove then either released or found when the barrier was removed.

The dove is symbolic of what doves always symbolize, peace, perhaps the peace in the aftermath of a struggle, a hard-won peace, as finding or keeping with one’s spiritual nature can be in teenage years and in college.

I am not Presbyterian, nor protestant, nor really even Christian, though I was raised Christian and am as familiar as possible with as many faiths as possible, yet subscribe to none. I use a lot of nature in my designs, and in the years I’ve been working with this church they’ve come to enjoy my more secular design sense, telling me it feels more universal than the heavy symbolism they’d been accustomed to using. They tell me this logo is very popular; I’m glad for this.

ACFL&MH News Winter 2011

The Chartiers Valley Partnership has achieved its mission, the long-time executive director (and good friend) leaves, new staff joins and other rearrange to new positions; it’s a milestone of achievement in the capital campaign and the master plan for the restoration and renewal of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.

After all the full-color design I create, I enjoy returning to the green and black palette for this newsletter. All photos of the facility and events at and for the facility are ones I’ve taken as I attend events and just stop by as a regular Library user catching candids of the facility in use by its many visitors.

This Library has served Carnegie and the surrounding towns for 110 years, and it still welcomes everyone in its reach to its open and bright interior. After years of use, then neglect, it has been renovated, room by room, in a huge campaign to restore its original grandeur and update accommodations where necessary.

The Music Hall, with its new and very comfortable seats replacing the tiny wooden theater seats, is modeled on Carnegie Hall in New York, and with its intimate seating capacity performers love the space. There isn’t a bad seat in the house.

The Civil War Room was the meeting place of a chapter of one of the first organized veteran’s organizations in history, certainly in the United States, and housed all the artifacts the members deemed important and held dear. Once there were about 7,000 “posts”, now there are fewer than a dozen and this room is possibly the most intact of all.

Download and read the Fall/Winter 2011 newsletter here.

Or visit the website and read about the event and other programs and performances at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.

I am also very proud to have won four Muse Medallions, the highest honor awarded by the Cat Writers’ Association, these chosen from the awarded Certificates of Excellence announced last month. When the awards list is published, I’ll post a link so you can explore all the winners.

You'll recognize this one.

Blog: Entertainment

The Muse Medallion goes to: Bernadette Kazmarski for “The Creative Cat.”

This very blog won a a Muse Medallion, and I’m a little surprised because there are so many other incredible sites out there in this category. Plus, I have plans for a makeover for The Creative Cat that I couldn’t complete before the contest deadline, so my entry was almost an afterthought because I wanted to wait until it was “there”. However, I know there truly is no “there” there with creative endeavors, each stop is just a pause before beginning the next step. I’ve enjoyed building this site into what it is and am gratified with each new subscriber and seeing my readership increase nearly every day. Thank you for reading, and giving me the feedback and confidence to continue creating this site.

Angel Daisies © © B.E. Kazmarski

Opinion Piece, Essay, or Editorial

The Muse Medallion goes to: Bernadette Kazmarski for “On Dying and Death, and Remembrance” in MEOW.

I was so pleased to share this article in a slightly edited length in the CWA newsletter, MEOW; you need to be a member to read the actual article, but here is a link to the original article on The Creative Cat. I had recognized last fall my mother’s final time was at hand after watching Peaches through the previous year, and did my best with a difficult subject in the days after my mother’s death to show the similarities in the process of death, and how, in one more instance, my cats have been angels of sorts to teach me lessons I needed to know at just the right moment. Sometimes these things are written just as much for me to puzzle something out as they are for you to read…

Peaches

Illustration (single)

“The Muse Medallion goes to: Bernadette Kazmarski for “A Wonderful Gift.”

I created this portrait last fall for fellow cat writer Ingrid King to give as a gift to a dear friend, and I was so pleased that the kitty’s person was more than agreeable that her Peaches’ portrait could be used as a greeting card in my Feline Art Card series. It’s the ongoing joy of creating these portraits, a joy which never ends with giving the portrait to my customer, but always goes on and on. (I was so taken by all the serendipitous twists and turns in Peaches’ rescue story that I also included her portrait and rescue story in Great Rescues.)

Samantha

Illustration (series)

The Muse Medallion goes to: Bernadette Kazmarski for “16 Portraits of Rescued Felines.”

And speaking of the joy of creating my portraits continuing through the years, the collection of portraits published in Great Rescues Calendar and Gift Book also won a Muse Medallion. I still love to look at all those wonderful faces and remember the stories, the cats themselves if I had the chance to meet them, and the people who rescued them. I intend to publish a themed Great Rescues each year after this one, but this first group will always be special to me, the ones who not only inspired me to begin creating the series, but who also in many ways inspired me to create the next portrait and to aspire to ever better art because several were pivotal in my lifelong career as an artist.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the contest and won an award; and now, on to even greater things. Read more about the Cat Writers’ Association and their annual Communications Contest. If you are a writer, illustrator, videographer, artist or in any way create public communications about cats, please read up on the organization and consider becoming a member!

—————————————

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used in any way without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.

Joe Negri

It’s all together now, music and everything, the slideshow from the performance.

We welcomed Joe Negri and and his quartet for the “A Gala Tribute to Joe Negri on October 1, 2011 at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. His quartet includes Max Leake on piano, Tony Dipaolis on bass and Tom Wendt on drums. Special guests included Michelle Bensen on vocals, Sean Jones on trumpet, Mike Tomaro on saxophone and Roger Humphries on drums.

I simply enjoy photographing performers, and I know the hall and stage of this Music Hall so well, even in the dark, tiptoeing around with my camera, trying not to disturb the audience during one of the silent moments of a piece of music, just to get the shot I envision. The lighting on this performance was particularly interesting, and I enjoyed the first set of photos with the violet glow during the rehearsal, and that red background during the performance.

You also get to see the glitterati who attended as we had the largest crowd for a benefit we’ve ever had, nearly 400.

Unfortunately, my 70-200 zoom quit communicating with my camera just after Mike Tomaro came onto the stage, so I didn’t get all the dramatic close ups I usually get during a performance. That lens is f3.5, a little better in low-light situations. The 18-35mm zoom is an f4.5, not very good in low-light and everyone is too far away when I’m photographing during a performance. That left my good old 50mm lens, the original from my Pentax K1000, totally non-digital but an f1.8 and great if I don’t need a zoom. It’s still the best lens I have and saved the day.

You can see this slideshow on Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall’s website in Photo Album under “About Us”. You can go directly to the slideshow here, but please browse the other photo slideshows which are also my work, as is the design of the website itself. In addition, please visit their page on my website to browse newsletters, post cards, posters and other items I’ve designed for them. This is my beloved local public library, the place I’ve been visiting all my life to read and take out books, do research, and just to hang out in big beautiful old building—it’s now one of my customers. I couldn’t be happier to use my skills and talents to help enhance the facility’s image as it moves through its capital campaign to renovate for the first time in over 100 years.

Self-portrait With Kublai

I’ve had several big projects of my own in the past few months which have taken quite a bit of time to complete, promote and follow through. I’ve also had a few customers in transition and we’ve been working in the background organizing files and transferring data from one website to another, for instance, pretty boring stuff.

Also, occasionally a printer or print broker I work brings me work from a customer who prefers I didn’t publicize that I’m the designer; I always used to keep these business relationships in confidence simply for professional reasons, and the rare unscrupulous customer who will try to work around his print representative and approach me directly, thinking he’ll get a better deal.

But I’ll be catching up on the projects I’ve been designing since mid-summer. Pardon me if you suddenly start to get a post each day for a while—I’ve tried to keep these two one or two per week so I don’t flood anybody’s inbox, but I’ll be caught up soon and back on schedule.

A Gala Tribute to Joe Negri

The 2011 benefit for the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall is a gala tribute to jazz legend Joe Negri, a Pittsburgh native, including jazz performers Maureen Budway, Roger Humphries, Mike Tomaro and Sean Jones. Hard to believe it’s this weekend!

This design is also the cover of the foldover invitation and the program cover. All are 5″ x 7″, color outside, black inside/back.

The photo of Joe Negri is one I took one of the other times he played at ACFL&MH, “Joe Negri and Friends” in 2008. Joe is a friendly and garrulous person, even with total strangers, but when he plays his entire focus is on his guitar and the sounds it makes. This photo of him deep into creating his music was one of my favorites from that performance.

Most Pittsburghers will recognize Joe Negri’s name, and most have heard his music, even though they may not know it. His classic jazz guitar sound filled Pittsburgh airwaves in the 1960s and 70s as he was music director at a television station and often performed around Pittsburgh and appeared on television, but many more from all over will know him as “Handyman Negri” on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Those are just the barest highlights of a lifetime of performance in Pittsburgh and out, live and recorded; read more about him on his website.

Jazz Post Card

Mass of Hope Post Card

It’s impossible to sum that up in a 5″ x 7″ post card, but Joe had performed at ACFL&MH in 2008 in a jazz concert in the spring and in a performance in December of his own Mass of Hope, a jazz and choir performance following the format of a religious service, performed by a jazz quartet and jazz choir. I had the opportunity to photograph both events and had a few good photos. (Both designs shown here are mine as well; please visit the ACFL&MH page on my main website to read a little more about those designs.)

As I mentioned above, the photo I used in this design is one of my favorites from both performances: his focus on his guitar and his performance, the hint of the piano behind him and the vintage drums next to him, the spotlight full on him throwing the rest of the stage into darkness. Not only does it describe his love of performance, even in his mid-80s, but it also affords an evenly-toned background to text placement, very handy. The orange of the text and the mahogany bar near the bottom were pulled from colors in Joe’s guitar to tie it together; the BNY Mellon Jazz logo is required to be white or black, so in this case it was white. I kept intending to take out the orange extension cord near his feet, but forgot—musicians always have so much gear; the other orange item behind him is actually the rack that holds his guitar when he sets it down.

Even though  Joe Negri is the principal performer, I also wanted to feature the four tribute performers using more than their names. Pulling little thumbnails from their websites for position, I ended up using them as they were tiny enough that the reduced resolution didn’t affect the print quality. And, thinking the star should be the only one presented in full color, I desaturated their images to appear grayscale in order to preserve all four color channels, then added a 25% filter in one of four colors pulled from somewhere in the main photo so that would tie back in as well as the text and other elements.

I actually visualized all this when the concert was first mentioned, and knew what other likely products would use the same design and set it up with that in mind.

Read more! Cat Blog of the Week: The Creative Cat.

And don’t forget to subscribe to this page and explore all it has to offer—you won’t believe the number of articles on feline care, photos and videos, forums for questions and comments and many other resources. It’s a go-to site for anyone who lives with and love cats!

Every year I choose a different flower for this project, something from my own flower garden from the previous year since I usually design the ticket in January or February, the menu a little later. I design this for a print broker who actually meets with the customer, but the request and feedback are pretty clear. In any case, it’s a joy to design something that’s just plain pretty and has me browsing photos of flowers in the coldest month of the year.

The copy-and-paste of the sections of flowers is pretty obvious, and that was actually initially intentional to create a sort of symmetry, but looking at it now I just don’t like it. Too late!

Below is the accompanying ticket.

To see last year’s version with pink roses, see Ladies’ Luncheon Menu and Tickets, and visit my website in “graphic design and illustration” under Unique Products to see the 2009 version with daisies.