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Artist Rochelle Blumenfeld remembers the very first Three Rivers Arts Festival. The year was 1960, and like numerous years since, the rain was a constant threat.

But back then, the festival was nothing more than a small gathering of local artists near the fountain at Point State Park. That particular year, it was so stormy that some of the artists' paintings got blown into the river and floated away.

"My husband was disappointed that none of mine floated because they were insured," Blumenfeld says.

Now in its 45th year, Three Rivers Arts Festival has become a sophisticated and well-planned annual event. Blumenfeld, whose paintings are featured in a solo show in conjunction with this year's festival, no longer has to worry that her paintings are going to float away -- or even get wet.

Located in a second-floor gallery at One Oxford Center, Blumenfeld's exhibition, "Celebration of Spirit," not only represents three years of work for the artist but shows how one art form can passionately inspire another. Each of the 13 expressionist-style paintings on view was inspired by the African-American ballet "Revelations."

"I just loved it because it's full of hope and spirit," Blumenfeld says of Alvin Ailey's ballet, which she has seen nearly every time it has been performed in Pittsburgh. Blumenfeld claims she is such a fan of that particular ballet that she has gone to see it two nights in a row.

Based on the different acts in the ballet, Blumenfeld's series of paintings builds on her usual abstract-expressionist style, but includes strong figurative elements that emerge from textural grounds to interact with abstract representations of motion, light and space.

In this way, Blumenfeld captures the sheer energy, raw spirit and emotion of the ballet while at the same time, much like the ballet itself, reveals that feelings of hope, inspiration and exhilaration have no cultural boundaries.

As it turns out, Blumenfeld's ballet-inspired series sparked some inspiration of its own. Today, the Mary Miller Dance Company will perform a dance of the same title as the exhibition that will reflect the colors, energy and spirit conveyed on Blumenfeld's canvases.

The choreography, which will be accompanied by gospel music sung by the East End Men's Chorus, will utilize the outside and inside spaces of One Oxford Center along with the escalators and elevators as the dance troupe travels to their final destination in front of the second-floor gallery.

Today in particular, the collaborative efforts by all of the artists involved will reveal how one art form inspires another and how one artist's idea can inspire many. Thus making for a festival event that should not be missed.

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