“Eye of newt and toe of frog...”

The three witches in Shakespeare’s MacBeth could have picked up most of the ingredients for their potions at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s  Alcohol House. Constructed in 1907, the collection contains more than 250,000 preserved reptile and amphibian specimens.

Until recently, the facility has only been open to researchers, but, with a grant from the National Science Foundation, plans are underway to improve preservation of the collection and to make the space accessible to students and visitors. The study of the extinct or critically endangered specimens in the collection will be beneficial to researchers and students as they examine our changing environment.



For more fascinating photos of the Alcohol House and the work that’s
being  done there, visit the Alcohol House curatorial assistant Kaylin Martin’s
Instagram account:  queen of jars

Amani Lewis: Subjective Nature

Amani Lewis
Negroes  in the Trees#6 (AZN in da FLWRS), 2019

 Currently on view at the August Wilson African American Culture Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Amani Lewis: Subjective Nature, presents mixed media portraits of the artists friends and family.  Lewis’ goal is to show the humanity of members of the African American community, which often goes unnoticed. As a member of the artist collective, Clr’D ( pronounced “colored”) in Baltimore, Maryland, Lewis and his fellow artists create works that reference the daily struggles of their daily lives, and celebrate the beauty of people of color.

Amani Lewis
Negroes in the Trees#5 (self-portrait) 2019

In his series of works, “Negroes in the Trees”, Lewis combines digital  imagery, vibrant color, glitter, and swatches of fabric his subjects clothing to present the Black experience in contemporary society.

Amani Lewis: Subjective Nature will be on view at the August Wilson African American Culture Center through December 15, 2019.

A Passion For Pumpkins

Pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup-Americans have a passion for pumpkin. The humble gourd sparks our creativity in  art as well as gastronomy. Fall Pumpkin Festivals inspire our competitive spirit with prizes for the largest specimen or the most creatively decorated one, like this giant pumpkin boat from the 2018 festival along Pittsburgh’s North Shore.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama shares our fascination with these colorful vegetables. At The Hirshorn Museum in Washington D.C. in 2017, Kusama’s installation, “All the Eternal Love I Have For Pumpkins”, featured over 60 pumpkin sculptures inside a tiny  13 foot square room. The exhibit was one of the Hirshorn’s most highly attended shows, and Kusama’s works consistently attract huge crowds. The Hirshorn also displays this oversized pumpkin, one of a series that can be seen across the globe, in it’s Sculpture  Garden.

No Laughing Matter

Editorial cartoonists,  on the other hand, believe that humor may be just what the public needs to see the news of the day from a fresh point of view.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is currently featuring samples of comics by Pittsburgh’s Sy Hungerford (1889-1983) at the Oakland branch. Hungerford created more than 50,000 cartoons over a period of 70 years.  Hungerford once said of his style, "You can’t preach. Bitterness and viciousness defeat their own purpose. Make people smile and think while they’re smiling.”

Born in Indiana and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Hungerford published his first cartoon in the Parkersburg Sentinel in 1903. He joined the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 1927, and continued his long career until his retirement in 1977 at the age of 89.

In 1962, Hungerford drew this comic as Ted Kennedy began his run for the Senate. In the summer of 2019, Kennedy's  grand nephew, Joe Kennedy, announced his bid for a Senate seat.

During the course of his career, Hungerford chronicled wars,  politics, government, sports, and daily life.  In 1954,  Hungerford took on the eternal distain for taxes, as well as big government versus the little man.

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Editorial cartoons by Herb Block (1909-2001), are on permanent
display at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. While Hungerford was publishing in the Pittsburgh Sun and Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pulitzer Prize winner Herb Block, who penned his works under the name “Herblock," documented national and international events over a period of 70 years with the Washington Post. Just as Hungerford’s retrospective exhibit shows that history repeats itself, Block took on topics that are still timely today. This cartoon appeared in 1968, after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The rich heritage of  editorial cartoons in the Unites States comes full circle with this drawing Block created in 1972, prior to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

The Cy Hungerford Collection is currently on view on the second floor of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland. The Library of Congress commemorates the long career of Herb Block at the Herblock Gallery on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building.