How does a cartoonist's brain work?

If you've been wanting to purchase a copy of No Cartoon Left Behind: The Best of Rob Rogers, the new retrospective book by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers, you're not going to want to miss the artist's free lecture this Thurs. Feb. 4th at Carnegie Mellon.

Pick up a signed copy of the stunning new publication, meet Rogers and get the inside scoop about his creative practice and multi-faceted profession, a career he's insightfully called "hockey player meets rodeo clown." In addition to discussing the book, published by Carnegie Mellon University Press, Rogers will address the challenges of balancing serious subject matter with clever wit, in the talk, "How a Cartoonist's Brain Works."

Equal parts personal memoir and cartoon collection, No Cartoon Left Behind chronicles Rogers' trajectory to and through the art and career  of cartooning, providing readers with his unique take on some of the most significant news stories and enduring images of the past quarter-century.

In the book, Rogers uses his signature blend of image and wit to confront a diverse spectrum of topics, from gun control and racism, to 9/11 and education. Also featured are cartoons created during seven presidential elections Rogers has covered, including Obama's historic 2008 victory.  ?

The program will also feature a commentary called "Those Damned Pictures: Rob Rogers in Historical Perspective," presented by Tim Haggerty, director of Carnegie Mellon's Humanities Scholars Program, and the lecture, "Thievery: Cartoons and Comics in Contemporary Art," by Carnegie Mellon professor of art, Patricia Bellan-Gillen.?? The program is free and open to the public.

CLUSTER takes over PCA

Spacial sensations: For the next two months, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts' (PCA) Shadyside galleries will be occupied by Cluster, a new group exhibition featuring some 20 local and regional artists.

Brought together by curator Adam Welch to investigate "the spatial device of connections," featured artists experiment with a wide range of media, including site-specific installations, videos, painted, printed, drawn and cut works, and black and white and digital color photographs.

Activating the entire art center via multiple levels of viewing experiences and unexpected juxtapositions, artists explore everything from the notion of information overload and mass consumption, to the relationship between history and social constructs and the expressive power of objects.

Encounter a barrage of images and collage with "Frozen and Trapped Forever," a massive mixed-media installation by Jacob Ciocci that features HD video, painting, TV and film outtakes, comics and self-drawn animations. In another room, Jason Lee's site-specific installation "Euthenic Set Series" is populated by safety-orange painted light boxes, wires, picket fences and even plastic ducks, all arranged to present contemporary landscape that's eerily sanitized, pristine and compartmentalized.

Don't miss the show's opening reception this Friday Feb. 5 from 5:30 to 8p.m. Cluster also kicks off the PCA's Dialogue Series, which continues in March, with a public program featuring Welch, along with featured artists Dee Briggs, Connie Cantor, David Pohl, and Jacob Ciocci.

Go behind the lens at PGC

Glass-less: This month at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, what happens behind the lens doesn't stay behind the lens.

You've seen the fire, the flames and the brilliant colors, now go behind the lens at a bold new show on view at the PCG's Hodge Galleries. The center's premiere photography exhibition, Behind the Lens features more than 75 photographs taken by artist Nathan J. Shaulis on site at the Penn Avenue glass facility.

Viewers will get a rare chance to see the exhilarating glass-making process from the unique perspective of Shaulis, who's been documenting the center's evolution over the last five years. Born and raised in Ben Avon,  Shaulis received an Honorable Mention Award in the Louisiana State University Union Art Gallery's Compact Competition Exhibition in 2008.

A collaboration with Pittsburgh Filmmakers, the PGC show features a diverse collection of images, many that have never before been seen by the public. Captruing the molten magic on film, Shaulis's work ranges from emotional snapshots of glass artists taming the fiery medium, to the gritty, traditional and innovative sides of glass studios and polished fine art.

Follow Shaulis as he and his lens dance around hard-working alchemist-artists, dodge hot glass amidst 2000-degree furnaces, document the fragility and fickleness of the medium, and immortalize stunning creations as they unfold.

Get into glass at the center's free opening reception this Friday, Feb. 5 from 6 to 9p.m. To mark its 10th anniversary, the PGC will host ongoing festivities and special events throughout 2011.

Junk Culture shakes up Helter Shelter

It's a mash-up mash-up mash-up mash-up world: Live performance, sample-drenched production and DJ culture unite the latest sound event hosted by Helter Shelter.

Featuring appearances by Junk Culture, Atmosfear, Johnny Jitters, and Wizzard Mountain, as well as tunes spun by Pittsburgh-based multi-media artist Jacob Ciocci, known for his work with art collective Paper Rad and band Extreme Animals, the all-ages event takes place at the corner of 50th and Harrison Streets in Lawrenceville.

Event centerpiece Junk Culture is the latest musical project headed up by Deepak Mantena, who was recently signed to Girl Talk's much-buzzed about Illegal Art label. Known for creating sonic tapestries that weave ambient, dance electronica music with
raw sound, gritty lo-fi loops, fractured vocals, and catchy pop hooks, Junk Culture has been gaining momentum among a national fanbase with its visceral live sets.

More live band than electronic act, the high-octane Junk Culture show boasts sampled patterns, live percussion and vocals, projections of footage from films of the 1950s and 1960s, and drum work provided by Mantena's brother, Nitin.

This spring, look for a new 7" and EP by Junk Culture released on Illegal Art.

Ménage à tuba in Lawrenceville

What happens when contagious comedy collides with infectious instruments?

This Sat. Feb. 6, three zany musical forces will converge on the stage of Geno's Restaurant and Big Belly Deli in Lawrenceville. The pun-loving bands, Truth in Advertising, Uke Skywalker & Tuba Fett and Eric & the Electric MP3 Player, will share the stage for the eclectic show, which is free and open to the public.

The country's only tuba-and-ukulele-fusion band, Uke Skywalker & Tuba Fett is known for leaving audiences in stitches. Accompanying its signature ukulele and tuba sound with dancers and accordion player, the outfit can usually been found putting their fresh twist on everything from The Velvet Underground to M.I.A.

Dubbed a cross between They Might Be Giants and The Violent Femmes, Truth in Advertising blends goofiness and folk-punk with a distinct concoction of contagious candy-coated pop. Compositions from the group's second full-length album, Inconsequential Background Music, have been enjoying airplay and online hits via numerous college radio and podcasts.

Rounding out the upbeat evening will be a set by Eric & the Electric MP3 Player, which features the duo musical of Eric Donaldson and Banjo Joe, and is known for rousing audiences with its blend of sublime humor, lilting melodies and boisterous audience sing-alongs.

Civil Rights Superheroes debuts at ToonSeum

Think superheroes are all about x-ray vision, steely strength and leaping tall buildings in a single bound? Think again.

Did you know that one of the four men who courageously sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC on February 1, 1960—helping to ignite racial justice activities throughout the South and usher in the ultimate desegregation of the site six months later—was inspired by a comic book? Celebrate Black History Month with the first exhibition of its kind at Downtown's ToonSeum, featuring the empowering words and images of rare 1958 comic book, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.

Accompanied by primary documents such as letters from Dr. King, the 1956 film, A Walk To Freedom, and editorial cartoons of the day, Civil Rights Superheroes: Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story reveals how comic books and cartoons have inspired everyday citizens to work for racial equality and peace both here at home and around the globe.

Published in 1958, the powerful book ventured where no others of its genre did at the time. Neither the seedy crime-centric comic nor the family-friendly Sunday funnies of the era, the groundbreaking work immortalizes the extraordinary feats of everyday superheroes such as MLK and the citizens of Montgomery, Alabama. Eschewing the terrains and trappings of typical comic books, such as far-away galaxies and gritty city streets, the heroic story captures 381 days of Montgomery, Alabama's legendary Bus Boycott. Drawn by the Al Capp Organization, the famed creators of L'il Abner, and penned by blacklisted comic book writer Benton Resnick, the pioneering work serves as a mini-primer on the history and practice of non-violent resistance.

Visitors will learn about the comic book's trajectory, from production to censorship to global impact, and will discover how the work galvanized a movement and spread Montgomery's poignant story with a nationwide audience. Although the book was distributed by churches, labor unions and civic organizations throughout the South, very few original copies survive.

Inspiring international social justice movements, the book has been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Farsi and Vietnamese and distributed in Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Civil Rights Superheroes: Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story is on view at ToonSeum Feb. 10 to March 14.

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