Have A Seat

Like  haute  couture fashions at a designer runway show that are meant more to inspire than to be worn, architects and industrial designers often choose form over function while challenging traditional norms. In Carnegie Museum’s Heinz Architecture Centers exhibit, “Influencers: The Pritzker Architecture Prize”, the simple chair has been re-imagined by three award-winning architects.

The Nee Side Chair, produced in 1988 by architect Thom Mayne, is constructed from cast aluminum, steel, and perforated steel. Mayne founded the Post Modern design group, Morphosis, believing that anything which is designed should reference the materials and culture of it’s time. The Née Side Chair, a new interpretation of an auditorium chair,  uses materials that are industrial or technical in appearance.

Robert Venturi’s And Denise Scott Brown’s Queen Anne Chairs, 1984, demonstrate the duos interest in looking at historical styles in a new way, while making furniture that could be cheaply and easily manufactured. The ornate carving of the traditional Chippendale style has been flattened in the Post Modern aesthetic, and produced from plywood and plastic laminate.

Often using non-traditional materials in his buildings and furniture designs,  Architect Frank Gehry used corrugated cardboard for  tables, chairs, and ottomans. Little Beaver Chair and Ottoman, 1991,  consists of layers of corrugated  cardboard with gnawed edges.

Sometimes You Just Need a Bigger Eraser

“I am for an art,” Claes Oldenburg wrote in 1961 “that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.” The artist went on to make his name in Pop Art by creating huge public sculptures depicting everyday objects. Typewriter Erase, Scale X, constructed  in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. in 1999, is one of a series of over sized erasers that were constructed in various  cities. Common objects such as clothes pins, spoons, bowling balls and pins, and a huge ice cream cone dripping down from the top of a tall building, brought a sense of playfulness and whimsy to an art world that is far to serious for Oldenburg’s taste.

Gemstones-There’s More in Pennsylvania Than Just Coal!

Coal isn’t the only rock found in Pennsylvania, although, born and raised in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s coal country, it always seemed that way! The Hillman Hall of Gems and Minerals is a great place to learn about some of the gemstones that can be found in Pennsylvania. In May of 2019, a temporary exhibit was installed in the Wertz Gallery of the Hall of Gems and Minerals featuring gemstones found in the state.  A permanent display also features various minerals  and gemstones from the region, and explains their importance in the industrial and economic development of the area.

Some states have a State Gemstone-but Pennsylvania isn’t one of them! Rep. Tom Mehaffie ( R., Dauphin County), introduced a resolution in 2018 to declare amethyst the state gemstone. The eastern counties of Lancaster, Chester, and Delaware have been sources of a variety of gem material, including amethyst, and the Miss Pennsylvania crown features a large, keystone shaped amethyst in the center. On display in the Wertz Gallery and the Hillman Hall of Gems and Minerals, you will find examples of amethyst, various faceted quartz crystals, aquamarine, amazonite, malachite, and other materials. And of course, there are several examples of jet-not to leave out coal!