Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

Wood Street to Mon Wharf Connection

The Office of Public Art is working with Point Park University and Riverlife on a project that connects Mon Wharf Park to Wood Street.  The artist chosen to work with the La Quatra Bonci Associates is Brooklyn-based Nobuho Nagasawa.  The project’s conceptual design was presented to the public on March 16, 2012. 

To read more about this project and the conceptual design, click the below news links:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Pop-City Media
Trib Live

The Pittsburgh Artist Registry and the Artist Opportunities Listserv Need Your Help!

We love helping artists do their work! The Office of Public Art developed the Pittsburgh Artist Registry and the Artist Opportunities Listserv as a way to connect artists with new audiences and learn about opportunities to create. From the feedback we have received, we know these tools are valuable resources for artists, curators, collectors, and performance venues locally and nationally. Artists have received commissions, exhibitions, booked performances, produced new work, and sold existing work because they use the registry and listserv.

In spring 2012, we are going to be launching an updated Pittsburgh Artist Registry. We are working to make it better looking and easier to use for artists, curators, collectors, performance venues, and administrators.  Although there is no cost to use these services, they are not free to produce. The Office of Public Art will pay over $15,000 this year to update the registry, server space, staff time, and web hosting. We need your help.  Please consider a contribution to the Office of Public Art Listserv and Registry campaign. If you have benefited from these service and are able to give, please consider a tax-deductible donation in any amount.

Some ways to consider how the Office of Public Art has been valuable to you:

If you read the Artist Opportunities Listserv, consider a gift of $20. The Artist Opportunities Listserv gives you more creative time and less administrative time! We spend almost ten hours each month combing through local and national artist opportunities so you don’t have to.

If you have ever been accepted into an exhibition advertised on the listserv, given a performance, attended a helpful workshop, or received a commission, consider a gift of $25.

If you have a profile on the Pittsburgh Artist Registry or would like to see updates to the site made, consider a gift of $35.

If you have ever been contacted via your registry profile, consider a gift of $50.

If you have used the registry or listserv to find artists to participate in one of your programs, consider a gift of $75.

Any gifts of $500 or more will get you and ten friends a guided tour of public art in downtown or Oakland with Office of Public Art staff. Or a bowling party. Your choice!

Even a gift of $10 will help us keep helping artists in our region!

To make a contribution, click here. You can also send a check made out to the Office of Public Art. Mail checks to the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, 810 Penn Avenue Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

All of our supporters will be thanked on the Office of Public Art website. Please note that your contribution can be made anonymously or to honor someone you admire. If you have a day job with a company that offers matching gifts, please utilize that program to increase the impact of your contribution to the Office of Public Art.

Thanks for your consideration!  A  very special thanks to our most recent donors:

Mr. Frank Rossi and the Pittsburgh Banjo Club
Mr. Stuart R. Thompson
Ms. Beth Magyan
Mr. Norman Brown
Ms. Karen Hansen
Ms. Cindy Stallings in memory of Mr. John Stallings
The Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival
Dr. Nancy Schuster and Terry Schuster
Mr. James Bove and Yoko Sekino-Bove
Ms. Christiane Leach
Ms. Martha Ressler
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
Ms. Lynn Angelelli
R.  Huckestein Studio
Ms. Dana Elmendorf
Ms. Ivette Spradlin
Ms. Faith Eaton
Mr. Jon Fornof
Ms. Sheree Cockrell

Contributions to the Office of Public Art, a program of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.  A copy of the official registration and financial information for the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council may be obtained from the PA Department of State by calling toll-free within Pennsylvania 1.800.732.0999.  Registration does not imply endorsement.  The thank you letter you will receive is your IRS acceptable receipt.  Please save as proof of your charitable gift.

East End Pedestrian Bridge

The East Side Pedestrian Bridge located at Ellsworth Avenue and Spahr Street is now open to pedestrians. This bridge, designed by native Pittsburgh artist Sheila Klein, was completed in collaboration with SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc. Elements of the design include re-purposed sections of the 31st Street Bridge railing, thousands of glass sequins crafted at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and custom light poles. The bridge is a new and artful connection between East Liberty and Shadyside. The bridge will be 100% finished this spring when plants and bridge deck paintings are completed.

Congratulations to the City of Pittsburgh, Urban Redevelopment Authority, East Liberty Development, Inc., Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the design team, the contractors, and everyone in the community who was involved in this great team effort. The Office of Public Art assisted early on, serving as ELDI’s consultant to lead the process to select Sheila Klein.

We are proud to have been a part of this exciting new project.We will keep you posted about the opening celebration planned for later this year.

 Sculptures Installed in Mellon Park

Through an ongoing conservation effort of the City’s art collection made possible through a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the Department of City Planning announce today that three freshly restored City-owned sculptures have been installed in Mellon Park, near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Penn Avenue in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

This location in Mellon Park is within the green space between Fifth Avenue and Penn Avenue, across from the new Bakery Square development and the Chatham University facility. It is intended that this new “sculpture park” will attract new users to the space and enhance the pedestrian experience within.

The sculptures are City-owned pieces that have been restored through a private grant to the City. A grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation was secured by the Department of City Planning and its non-profit partner, the Office of Public Art in 2007 that allowed the City’s Public Art Manager to conserve, restore and re-install artworks within the City’s collection that were in the most dire need of restoration.

The sculptures in Mellon Park are Five Factors (1973) by Peter Calaboyias, Steelcityscape (1977) by Aaronel deRoy Gruber, and Untitled (January Sprinter) (1973), by Tom Morandi. All of these pieces are exterior, abstract metal sculpture dating from 1973 – 1976.  Three of these pieces (Bordas, Myford, and Morandi) were once installed at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill, but were removed when the renovations to the library commenced. Steelcityscape by Aaronel deRoy Gruber, was once installed on the portico of the City-County Building, moved to the current site of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and then removed and placed in storage due to the construction of the new center.

The three sculptures are placed with a in a “ring” around the existing pedestrian path of the park, allowing for an accessible viewing experience while preserving the central green space of the park as an open area for gatherings and special events.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl recognizes that public art strongly contributes to the quality of life of Pittsburgh residents and offers visitors a glimpse into the vibrant culture of the City. To that end, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has tasked the Department of City Planning to not only care for the City’s existing art collection, but plan for the future of public art integrated into the City’s urban landscape in the future. The City will schedule a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for the park later in the spring.

For more information on this and other City-owned artworks, please contact Morton Brown, Public Art Manager for the City of Pittsburgh at 412-255-8996, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For a quick facts and images of City-owned artworks and other demographic information by neighborhood, please visit www.pghsnap.com.

For more info, check out this article by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review!

Arch by Glenn Kaino to be Restored and Relocated in Pittsburgh

The Office of Public Art is working to restore and relocate Arch by Glenn Kaino.  This popular sculpture was originally located Downtown for six months to help celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary.  It is so loved that we are trying to keep in downtown permanently.  The sculpture is being restored by McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, Inc.  A new location will be announced soon.  To make a donation to the conservation fund, click here.  To read an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the project, click here.

 Carin Mincemoyer, Diamond Diamonds, New Public Artwork Downtown

Pittsburgh artist Carin Mincemoyer has installed Diamond Diamonds, her new work of public art on Market Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.   Diamond Diamonds is Ms. Mincemoyer’s first public commission. The two parts of the illuminated sculpture, made of steel, acrylic and LED lighting, are mounted on City of Pittsburgh light poles on opposite sides of Market Street.  The blue steel structures reference the molecular form of the diamond crystal. Suspended within this framework, the popular image of the gemstone appears as individually lit, brilliant-cut diamond shapes in Plexiglas.

Pittsburgh Recognized in the Public Art Network's Year in Review

On Thursday, June 16, 2011 three public art projects in Pittsburgh were included in the Year In Review, a highly competitive, national survey that features the best public art projects completed in the previous year. The Year in Review is produced by the Public Art Network, a program of Americans for the Arts. The Year In Review was presented in San Diego, CA at the Americans for the Arts annual convention in front of an audience of 500 people. This year, three curators chose 47 projects from a pool of 450 submissions.

7:11 am 11.20.1979 79º55'w 40º27'n
by Janet Zweig
This project was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and is in the City of Pittsburgh’s art collection. Both a work for the general public and a memorial, this artwork brings 150 stars and planets down to the lawn of the of the walled garden in Mellon Park, reflecting the exact sky above Pittsburgh at the moment of Ann Katharine Seamans' birth in 1979. The title refers to that specific time, date, longitude, and latitude of Mellon Park. The project also received the Mayor’s Public Art Award by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. More information about the project can be found at www.pittsburghparks.org/publicart or http://www.janetzweig.com/public/Pittsburgh_01.html.

Cell Phone Disco
by Informationlab (Auke Touwslager, Ursula Lavrencic)
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has commissioned the Netherlands-based artist collective, Informationlab, to create Cell Phone Disco, an outdoor, art and science, interactive installation. Located at Tito and Exchange Ways (behind Crazy Mocha Coffee at 801 Liberty Avenue), Cell Phone Disco visualizes the electromagnetic field of an active mobile phone. A 16x16’ light screen receives electromagnetic data from a receiver that continuously scans cell phone usage. The data is fed to processors embedded in the digital display, illuminating 2,034 individually controlled LED lights. For more information: http://pgharts.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=158787.

Conflict Kitchen
by Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski
Conflict Kitchen is an artist-initiated project located at Highland and Baum in East Liberty. Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which United States is in conflict. The food is rotated every four months, and currently food from Afghanistan is featured. Each Conflict Kitchen iteration is augmented by events, performances, and discussion about the culture, politics, and issues at stake with each country focused on. For more information, visit www.conflictkitchen.org.

The Year in Review curators who chose these projects are: Gail Goldman, public art consultant, San Diego, CA; Kendal Henry, curator and public art consultant, New York, NY; and Richard Turner, artist, Orange, CA. Americans for the Arts' Public Art Network (PAN) is the only professional network in the United States dedicated to the field of public art. For more information, visit http://www.americansforthearts.org/PAN

Public Art Walking Tours

Join the Office of Public Art for one-hour, guided walking tours! Expert guides and exciting narratives will cast a new light on art in public places. Click here for more information or to register for a tour.