Here are some images of Puppet World at Nutting Gallery, West Liberty University.
Display of puppets.
Puppet World @ West Liberty University
Puppets head to Wheeling, West Virginia.
Puppet World, a solo exhibition of my paintings, puppets, drawings and mixed media works opens with a reception (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM) on Wednesday, March 25th at the Nutting Gallery of West Liberty University. The show runs through April 17th. Puppets on display will include a selection of twenty-five used in performance. The drawings, paintings and mixed media works, heavy in collage methods, juxtapose anecdotal sketches with critical views of social and environmental issues.
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Out of Hand @ Contemporary Craft
Dancing puppet will be available at the Out of Hand art auction.
Contemporary Craft will be holding their annual fundraiser gala event this Saturday, March 21st. The event is one of the best of its kind in the Pittsburgh area (creative drinks, an amazing variety of art to bid on, cool crowd and fun craft activities). I’ve had work in their art auction for many years. This year it’s a dancing puppet. If you haven’t been to an arts gala, this is a good one to try (and SCC is a great organization to support)!
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have museum, will travel
Sideways Museum seeking next home.
May 3rd is the final day for viewing the Sideways Museum at its current location on Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. I’d like to take the project to another gallery, window space or alternative viewing location in the Greater Pittsburgh area. I’m also thinking about traveling the project to a nearby city (Cleveland, Buffalo or Philadelphia???). Space permitting, I’d like to continue with the seven artists currently represented. Ideal locations will offer a secure place for art to be on view, with free access to the work. Please contact me if you have a space and are interested in hosting the project.
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Remember Flux?
“World Stage” performance at Flux 12, Downtown Pittsburgh, summer 2005. Photo by L. Rippel.
Detail of work in progress, World Stage. L. Rippel
The FLUX series of late-night art parties in massive vacant industrial buildings were a major part of the Pittsburgh art scene ten years ago. Developed by Traci Jackson, the one-day events featured a mix of visual arts, films, bands, theatrical performances and lots of beer. For FLUX 12 (held in the former Art Institute of Pittsburgh facilities, Penn Avenue, Downtown) I created a junk model of the world, decorating it with illustrations of polemical issues. As I jumped from one end of the sculpture to the other, I touched on destruction of the Amazon rain forest, pre-emptive missile strikes and other current issues involving U.S. consumption and policy (and resulting ripple effects throughout the world). As I completed one side, visitors moved in to view new developments.
Kinetic Art
Here is a piece I made in 2008 using random junk, some toy motors, and scrap wood.
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Opening Night – The Sideways Museum
An assortment of photographs by Larry Rippel from the opening. All images copyright, 2015.
Three visitors at a time entered The Sideways Museum on opening night. Image by Larry Rippel.
Visitors checking out Joann Kielar’s Puppets.
Five “Simple Cell” fibers sculptures by Liz Hammond float in the space. Image by Larry Rippel.
The Sideways museum included handmade puppets, cardboard gadgets, paintings, drawings, assemblage, fibers and ceramics works.
The Sideways Museum opened in the new Window SPACE extension of SPACE Gallery, Pittsburgh.
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The Sideways Museum – Featuring Pittsburgh Visionary Art
The Sideways Museum begins as a window installation at 812 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh.
The Sideways Museum is officially up for viewing today. The project features the work of seven Pittsburgh artists including Jim Rettinger, Liz Hammond, the late Dorothy Williams, Steve Smith, Joann Kielar and Doug Hill. As organizer, I’ve styled the show with logo, Chartreuse green walls and a few of my own works.
Liz Hammond is showing her hanging fiber arts sculptures for the first time at The Sideways Museum. Five pieces gently spin with the changing air currents.
Items are numbered for viewing from the window. Private tours are available by request.
At middle, robotic hand and other cardboard sculptures by Doug Hill. At bottom, paintings by Steve Smith.
Post-War, a piece by Joann Kielar.
Click here for more information.
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Dancing for the Bees
Obsessions at SPACE Gallery will be wrapping up this weekend. It’s been a great show. Lots of people are drawn in by the buzzing sound of insects in the outdoor video piece by Jason Lockyer. I encountered these children “dancing for the bees” on a cold January morning.
Here is a link to Lissa Brennan’s review of the show in the Pittsburgh CP: Artists explore their Obsessions at Space
And more by Mike May in Pittsburgh Magazine.
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Extraordinary String Paintings by Dorothy Williams @ Sideways Museum
Dance Contest, embroidery floss on cardboard by Dorothy Williams.
I’ll be rotating work by the late Pittsburgh visionary artist Dorothy Williams through The Sideways Museum starting Friday, January 23rd. Williams (1926-2005) created dozens of works in her retirement remembering important events of her life growing up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. The works were created by gluing strands of embroidery floss, one string at a time, to various types of cardboard. Her subject matter included family and social scenes, floral arrangements, nature and abstractions. I’ve been trying to spark some interest in her works since 2001.
Masks, embroidery floss on cardboard, by the late Pittsburgh visionary artist Dorothy Williams.
Tom Sarver with visionary artists Steve Smith and Dorothy Williams in 2001.
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Tom Sarver 