MCG Youth & Arts Student Shares Stage With Obama

Check out Senque, an MCG Youth & Arts student standing to the left of President Obama in this YouTube video.

Photo Expeditions – Summer Course for Adults

Photo Expeditions
Instructors: Jill Wiggins and Jolie Peters
Dates: July 10, 2013 – Sept. 11, 2013
6 – 9 pm
10 weeks – Wednesdays
Tuition: $200
Materials Fee: $60

Join us for a fun filled summer exploring the world of digital photography! In this course you will learn to use digital SLR cameras in manual mode. This will allow you to have more control over your photographs. (Digital SLR cameras will be provided if you don’t have one.) We will spend the first 4 classes taking photos in and around Pittsburgh. For the last 6 classes we will work with those images in Adobe Photoshop learning techniques used by the pros! And finally we will print, matte and frame our best work for an EXHIBITION! No previous experience needed.

Click here to register online or call Rose Mary Gubser at 412-322-1773 x302

Summer Studios Open For Registration

This summer, MCG is offering an exciting opportunity for the Pittsburgh area youth (grades 5-12) to create art in our world-class facility. Use state of the art equipment and professional-grade materials to create one of a kind works of art in our ceramics, photo, design and digital art studios. Three two-week sessions will run June 24 – August 2. Click here for more info.

Miyoshi, MCG Invitational Keynote Speaker

Pittsburgh-based model, actor and presenter Miyoshi Anderson will be the keynote speaker for the 2013 MCG Invitational. Miyoshi embodies the East Asian interpretation of her name meaning, beautiful and good. A Pennsylvania native, she has graced the catwalk and stages throughout the United States.

Miyoshi honed her techique as a dancer at Pittsburgh’s Creative And Performing Arts High School, and furthered her dance aspirations at Point Park College. Seeking opportunity, she moved to New York and then to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands where she crossed into acting.

Upon returning to New York, with valuable experience and a blossoming career, Miyoshi was an unfortunate victim of a severe pedestrian accident. Requiring four surgeries, physical therapy and the need to utilize a walking cane, she had initially accepted the possibility of never dancing again. Several years passed, after which, her doctor challenged her with the idea of becoming a model. Though Miyoshi initially doubted the possibilities, she took on the challenge and today stands as one of Pittsburgh’s top models.

In 2010 Miyoshi organized Pittsburgh Fashion Week, a cultural and social event where fashion designers and retailers, industry insiders, and lovers of style and fashion will converge on Pittsburgh.

Learn more about Miyoshi at www.miyoshianderson.com

Twinning

Twinning will be on display from March 26 through April 12, 2013. A public reception is scheduled for April 11th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

 SAIHOU OMAR NJIE’S STORY

Saihou Omar Njie was born in Banjul, The Gambia, in West Africa.

His mother was a textile artist and his father was a retail merchant. He is the ninth of ten children. One brother was very gifted in drawing and Saihou copied his drawings so much that he thinks he robbed his skills off him. Saihou became the artist and the brother chose accounting.

At age twenty-one, Saihou traveled to the USA to pursue a higher education. He studied Art and photography at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Among other things, Saihou has a wide variety of experiences that include African Dance, Drumming, Fashion Design and Art Therapy. He is renowned for his Batik art, which is collected internationally.

Saihou owns an art business called Makitaara Studios. Also, through the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and ArtsErie, he works as a Teaching Artist for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Artist in Residence Program.

This exhibition, TWINNING, is a dream come true for Saihou. Funded by the Pittsburgh Foundation, Saihou traveled to Gambia, Ghana and Senegal in an effort to find and match one hundred Africans with their African American lookalikes. After centuries of separation and cultural transformation of the African in America, the two people still share traits. Here, Saihou is attempting to highlight the kinship ties by presenting to you hard copies of this reality.

Also in this show, there are a few samples of Saihou’s batiks.

Bill Strickland to be Honored by US Senate

To commemorate Black History Month, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced that he would be honoring William E. “Bill” Strickland, Jr. on February 25th. Strickland is being recognized for his journey from disadvantaged minority in the civil rights era to social innovator and Founder, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation (MBC). Strickland¹s organization, which began in 1968 in Pittsburgh, combines adult career training, youth arts education, and social enterprise in a positive educational and emotional environment. This powerful fusion has a proven record of giving disadvantaged youth and adults the opportunities and skills they need to build a better future by removing social and economic barriers to success.

Following his speech on the Senate floor, Senator Casey will host a
symposium to discuss Strickland¹s contributions to the Pittsburgh community, the nation, and as a visionary social innovator whose simple philosophy‹environment shapes people¹s lives‹has been a catalyst for a proven model for innovation and success in education. Strickland’s pedagogical model has spread beyond Pennsylvania and is having a significant impact in a growing number of communities across the country. Currently, five MBC-affiliated centers are operational, at least two more will open in 2013, and many more are being planned in cities across the US.

“I am humbled by this honor and hope it leads more people to recognize what an impact one hopeful person can have on a struggling community,”
says Strickland.

Visit www.bill-strickland.org for more information on Bill.

Barbara Sorensen on KDKA

Watch as Kristine Sorensen talks to her mother, Barbara, about her recent art exhibit at the Manchester Craftmen’s Guild.