Shirley McMarlin stories, Page 14

Artisan gift shopping Hours for the annual Holiday Mart will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 221 N. Main St., Greensburg. More than a dozen artists and artisans will offer American-made items suitable for gift-giving, including jewelry, architectural illustrations, prints,...

An exhibition juxtaposing long-unused industrial materials with new artworks opens Thursday in the welcome center of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. “Patterns of Meaning,” by Pittsburgh artist Cory Bonnet, will be on display through Feb. 26 at the facility in Settlers Cabin Park in Oakdale. Bonnet’s exhibition derived inspiration from a...

Visitors will take an arctic adventure when they visit the Holiday Magic! Winter Flower Show and Light Garden at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The rooms of the historic glass house in Oakland will be populated with displays imagining the landscapes and denizens of the frozen north. “Holiday Magic” opens...

The treasures of the Greater Latrobe School District’s permanent art collection aren’t all hanging on the walls. They include the people who have helped to expand and preserve it since the first pieces were acquired in 1936, according to Superintendent Michael Porembka. Among those he considers priceless gems is Barbara...

The halls and walls are decked for the annual Art of GIFTing holiday show and sale at the Greensburg Art Center in Hempfield. Featuring items handcrafted by area artists and artisans, the show opened with a Saturday afternoon reception. It will run through Dec. 21. Merchandise includes holiday-themed fine arts...

With the holidays fast approaching, folks who attended Greensburg Garden Center’s Punch Up Your Holidays party are better prepared. Held Thursday evening at Rizzo’s Banquet Hall in Crabtree, the event offered a variety of ways to add a little pizzazz to the festivities. For gentlemen wanting to look their best,...

Pittsburgh and its people will be celebrated this weekend through music, running and the unveiling of a musical dedicated to a hero of the Depression era. Jazz week wrap-up Saxophonist and composer Tia Fuller, a member of Beyonce’s all-female tour band, will perform during concerts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and...

Holiday marketplace The annual Holiday Market is planned for noon-4 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of the Ligonier Country Market, at West Main Street and Springer Road in Ligonier. The market features holiday-themed items and other merchandise handcrafted by dozens of area vendors. Food and beverages will be available. For...

Let’s face it — winter in Pittsburgh is a little gloomy. The Carnegie Museum of Art aims to be a bright spot in the midst of that with its “Welcome This Winter” slate of programming. “The winter is always challenging in Pittsburgh. It gets dark, we struggle with not getting...

Movie and theater-goers are widely familiar with “Frankenstein,” the eerie tale of a scientist’s ill-advised creation of life in a laboratory. Not so well-known is that Frankenstein is the name of the creator, and not of the creation, as well as the story’s origin — how it was imagined by...

The idea for Greensburg Garden Center’s upcoming “Punch Up Your Holidays” program came from someone wanting to donate a punch bowl to the group. That got members thinking of different ways to put some new pizzazz into holiday drinks, decor and dress, co-president Carla Rusnica said. They’ll share some ideas...

Visitors often don’t recognize the portrait of George Washington in the art gallery at Fort Ligonier. They expect to find an image of the elder statesman, like the many created by early American portraitist Gilbert Stuart. What they find instead is a depiction of the young Col. Washington, who spent...

In a small town with quaint shops, a choice of restaurants and multiple widely popular community events throughout the year, you could argue that life is good already. And yet, for Ligonier, things might just have gotten yet another notch better with the addition of a Life Is Good branded-merchandise...

It seems fitting that two people long involved in the artistic and cultural life of Pittsburgh should tell the story of Pittsburgh artist John Kane. Authors Maxwell King and Louise “Lulu” Lippincott will discuss “American Workman: The Life and Art of John Kane,” their book about the self-taught, early 20th-century...

Haunted history Glowing jack-o’-lanterns will light the way as a ghostly figure welcomes guests to “Hair-Raising History: Frightfully True Stories from the Ligonier Valley,” with tours from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Compass Inn Museum, 1386 Route 30, Laughlintown. Storytellers will relate eerie tales of local 19th-century...

Natural wonders — like dinosaurs and other spooky specimens, talented teens and musical geniuses — are in the spotlight this weekend in Pittsburgh. Tyrannosaurus time Dinosaurs roam the earth again in the Jurassic World Live Tour, coming this weekend to PPG Paints Arena, 1001 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh. Show times are...

As much fun as actors might have on stage, sometimes performing is just a job. That’s not the case for those involved in the Westmoreland Performing Arts production of “The Rocky Horror Show.” “There are shows that actors do because they’re actors, and there are shows they do because it’s...

Traveling from Pittsburgh to Boulder, Colo., to drop off her son at college, Kate Benz ended up with an honorary hometown and new extended family in Kansas — and a book about it all. Her plan was to take the shortest route west, then fulfill a longtime desire to explore...

It almost looked like Kentucky Derby day as more than 300 guests in stylish headgear filed into Stratigos Banquet Center in North Huntingdon on Saturday evening. In a way, that’s what it was. Derby Dreams was the theme for the signature Highlands Fling fundraiser held annually for Redstone Highlands Seniorcare....

Shoppers have a new option for sweet treats in Unity, with the Oct. 7 opening of the School House Bakery in the Latrobe 30 Plaza. Display cases are filled with grab-and-go cookies, brownies, scones, cupcakes, small cakes, muffins, seasonally flavored cinnamon rolls and more, all baked on site. Young patrons...

When she got the invitation, Shannon Pultz thought she was too busy to participate in a student-teacher art exhibition at Seton Hill University. It took a sixth-grader at Pittsburgh CAPA, where Pultz is chair of the visual art department, to change her mind. Their work is showing in “Cultivations: Art...

At its 22nd annual Arthur St. Clair Historical Preservation Awards Dinner, the Westmoreland Historical Society recognized two groups that have been key to its mission of developing, managing and sharing the area’s abundant historical resources. Honorees at the event held Wednesday evening at Rizzo’s Banquet Hall in Crabtree were the...