SPOTLIGHT: Fri., April 3 — Art
A new pop-up shop in Garfield aims to make gender-based wage inequality a little more palpable. Retail outlet 76<100, the latest recipient of a grant from the nonprofit Awesome Pittsburgh, reflects the U.S. Department of Labor statistic that the median earnings of full-time female workers in Pennsylvania are 76 percent of those of their male counterparts. The shop contains work by U.S.-based women artists, including handmade ceramics and textiles, along with photography prints, publications, stationery and packaged food. The pricing will reflect the wage gap: Male shoppers will be charged 100 percent of the retail price of any item, while female shoppers will be charged 76 percent. Says project creator Elana Schlenker: "Beyond simply raising awareness of the wage gap, we hope to serve as a hub for local women and girls. We've organized programming that fosters dialogue, provides practical advice related to this issue, and empowers women to recognize their full value." An opening reception will be held during Penn Avenue's Unblurred gallery crawl on Fri., April 3. The shop will be open from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays during the month of April; the project coincides with Equal Pay Day, on April 14. Zacchiaus McKee Opening reception: 6-10 p.m. Fri., April 3. Continues through April 30. 4901 Penn Ave., Garfield. Free. www.lessthan100.org
Thu., April 2 — Talk
Cities are often called "concrete jungles" — the antithesis of plant life except in carefully set-aside areas. However, the integration of plant life in cities is the topic of the next installment of Phipps Conservatory's Biophilia: Pittsburgh series. Kelly Ksiazek, a researcher on plant biology and conservation at Northwestern University, gives a talk entitled "Island in the Sky: Connecting Plants and People on Green Roofs." She will share her research on using urban green roofs as habitat for conservation of native grasses and wildflowers. A discussion follows. Zacchiaus McKee 5:30-7:30 p.m. 1 Schenley Drive, Oakland. Free with RSVP. 412-622-6914 or www.phipps.conservatory.org
Thu., April 2 — Art
Personal and intimate relationships are often the hardest to capture in photographs. In their Silver Eye Center exhibit A World Imagined, artists Kelli Connell and Sara Macel examine how we define subjective experiences. Connell's project, now in its 13th year, uses digital manipulation to depict a woman in a relationship with herself. Macel strives to understand her relationship with her father in a series of photographs inspired by his career. A World Imagined is organized by Carnegie Mellon professor Leo Hsu and Silver Eye executive director David Oresick. Macel speaks tonight at Point Park University, and both artists speak before tomorrow's opening reception at Silver Eye. ZM 6 p.m. (JVH Auditorium, 201 Wood St., Downtown; free). Talk and opening reception: 6 p.m. Fri., April 3 (1015 E. Carson St., South Side; free; www.silvereye.org). Exhibit continues through June 6.
Thu., April 2 — Gardening
Composting isn't all that hard; microbes do most of the work. But we humans can help give the little buggers better conditions for turning our kitchen scraps and yard debris into rich fertilizer (and keeping them out of landfills). The Pennsylvania Resources Council's series of Backyard Composting Workshops continues tonight at Phipps Garden Center. Learn all about composting in 90 minutes, then head home with an 80-gallon Earth Machine Compost Bin. Bill O'Driscoll 7-8:30 p.m. 1059 Shady Ave., Shadyside. $50 ($55 per couple). Register at 412-488-7490 x226 or www.zerowastepgh.org.
Thu., April 2 — Acrobatics
Known for their grace and exquisitely executed stunts, the Peking Acrobats are one of the world's top acrobatic troupes, and they're on stage at the Byham Theater tonight. The troupe has been featured in Ocean's 11 and on the Wayne Brady Show and Ellen's Really Big Show. Peking Acrobats also set the world record for the Human Chair Stack, when they balanced six people atop six chairs 21 feet in the air. Plate spinning, contortions and balancing acts take over the stage in this Pittsburgh Cultural Trust show. ZM 7:30 p.m. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $20-35. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org
Thu., April 2 — Stage
Great American playwright Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class is often considered the first of a string of plays about family tragedies. The 1978 work follows the dysfunctional Tate family as they struggle for control of the rundown family farm. University of Pittsburgh Stages' new production, directed by Cynthia Croot, features Ricardo Vila-Roger as alcoholic father Weston, with Lucy Clabby, Christopher Collier and Amy Wooler playing his wife, son and daughter, respectively. The first of 10 performances is tonight. ZM 8 p.m. Continues through April 12. Henry Heymann Theatre, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $12-25. 412-624-6568 or www.play.pitt.edu
Fri., April 3 — Screen
Shimmer, waver, refract, undulate — there's plenty the images will be doing in your heart is a prism, the new video installation at the Mattress Factory. Kevin Clancy, a locally based artist with an international résumé, produced all the work's visuals "through analog and physical processes, bending light through a series of crystals, prisms, colored Plexiglas" and more during a recent residency in Michigan. The video, part of the museum's Screenings series, opens today. Expect rainbows. BO 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through April 23. 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side. $15-20. www.mattress.org
Fri., April 3 — Music
Tasty as they might be, dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies are not the only form of Easter art. Shadyside Presbyterian Church offers somewhat more challenging fare with Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God"), famed 20th-century Norwegian composer Egil Hovland's unusual hybrid of choral mass and bassoon concerto. Tonight's Good Friday service performance, An Evening of Music and Readings, features bassonist Linda Morton Fisher and the Shadyside Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir. BO 7 p.m. 5121 Westminster Place, Shadyside. Free. 412-682-4300 or www.shadysidepres.org
Fri., April 3 — Art
Though we spotlight socially conscious pop-up gallery 76<100 above, there's plenty more at the 20 or so venues at tonight's Unblurred gallery crawl. Openings include Thad Dachille (Circus Animals Not Included) at ModernFormations; The Big Little Show: Art in Miniature, a group exhibit at The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination; The New York Gumbo Show (plus live music) at Most Wanted Fine Art; and Chatham University professor Molly Mehling's exhibit BiodverCITY (about urban nature) at Assemble. Elsewhere, BOOM Concepts hosts the POC Zine Distro, for zines with radical perspectives, and Pittsburgh Glass Center offers one of its Hot Jam glass-blowing demos. BO Most events start by 7 p.m. 4900-5500 Penn Ave., Bloomfield/Friendship/Garfield. Free. 412-441-6950 or www.pennavenue.org
Sat., April 4 — Art
Kate Joyce has a great story: In the early 1970s, the Pitt grad filed (and eventually won) a lawsuit opening trade unions to women. Joyce herself went on not to carpentry per se, but to careers as a woodworker and art consultant. Now returned to Pittsburgh, Joyce presents her first solo exhibit here. Kate Joyce: Original Furniture and Sculpture opens with today's reception at Borelli-Edwards Galleries. BO 1-4 p.m. 3583 Butler St., Lawrenceville. Free. 412-687-2606 or www.begalleries.com
Sat., April 4 — Art
Unholy Smoke — City of Steel is a group show featuring work by Steve Staso, Rebecca Zilenziger and Anne Delaney. It opens tonight, appropriately enough, with a reception at a gallery in the shadow of a working steel mill: Braddock's UnSmoke Systems Artspace. Unholy Smoke explores the American dream and the legacy left by our cities, industries and people. Brooklyn-based Staso is a resolutely anti-commercial artist who'll create large scale-model prisons ... and film them after he sets them on fire. Zilenziger, based in Puerto Rico, showcases her photos of post-Katrina New Orleans. New York City-based Delaney's paintings and drawings are inspired by the physical material of the steel industry, from blast furnaces to railroad tracks. BO 5-9 p.m. Exhibit continues through April 28. 1137 Braddock Ave., Braddock. Free. unsmokeartspace.com
Tue., April 7 — Words
"It seems the harder we work at finding love, the more prone we are to second-guessing the results. ... We may admire hard work in most endeavors, but we admire laziness when it comes to finding love." So wrote Daniel Jones recently in "Modern Love," the wildly popular New York Times column he's edited since its inception 11 years ago. Love Illuminated, his 2014 book drawing on the column, is new in paperback. Tonight, Jones — a Pittsburgh-area native who now lives in Massachusetts — returns to celebrate "Modern Love." Local authors Lori Jakiela and Aubrey Hirsch join him for this free reading in Pitt's Cathedral of Learning. BO 7 p.m. 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. Free. www.writing.pitt.edu
