Office of Public Art Leadership Transition Announced
Founding Director of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art to step down at the end of 2017
Pittsburgh, PA, August 17, 2017…..Renee Piechocki, founding Director of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art (OPA), announced that she will be passing the torch to OPA Associate Director Sallyann Kluz by the end of 2017, marking an end to her 13-year tenure at building the public art legacy in our region. Over the past several years, Piechocki has increased the office’s capacity from one to five staff members, and growing the portfolio to include one of only two 2016 Our Town grants given by the National Endowment for the Arts in the state of Pennsylvania. Piechocki, a national public art consultant and an artist, herself, will continue to pursue artistic endeavors and related projects, taking the coming year to travel the world. Incoming director Sallyann Kluz, at OPA since January 2014, brings a breadth of technical experience and planning as a registered architect, having worked almost exclusively on community development and public places.
About Ms. Piechocki, Janet Sarbaugh, Vice President of Creativity and Senior Program Officer at The Heinz Endowments, shared, “In 2004, my colleague Mary Navarro and I heard a rumor that a nationally known public art expert was moving to Pittsburgh. We wondered if she was really as good as we had heard. Now it is 2017, and we and more importantly the community have certainly learned the answer. Through her energy, vision, encyclopedic knowledge of the field, love of artists and passionate advocacy for artists in the public realm, Renee Piechocki has forever changed the way Pittsburgh thinks about the connections between artists, public spaces, and neighborhoods. Thanks to her a path has been established to ensure that artists’ contributions can and will be ‘baked in’ to regional development, and that all our communities will be places where people love to live. We wish her the best and hope that Pittsburgh will stay in her heart wherever her journeys take her.”
Mitch Swain, CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, has worked with Ms. Piechocki for 11 years. He said, “Renee’s contributions to the field of public art are real and lasting, helping to put Pittsburgh on the map as a vital destination for culture and connecting artists with communities in meaningful ways. We all greatly benefit from Renee’s years of dedicated work in the field of public art. Her knowledge and committed vision of artistic vibrancy have certainly helped make our region a better place, and we look forward to Sallyann’s continuation of this cultural legacy, taking it even farther.”
Through publications, tours, online resources, workshops, and projects, Office of Public Art has engaged hundreds of artists, community planners, civic leaders and developers in creating, promoting, protecting, and preserving public art in Greater Pittsburgh. Ms. Piechocki led the development of Pittsburgh Artist Registry, Pittsburgh Art Places, and multiple editions of the Public Art Walking Tour Book – all designed to support and strengthen Pittsburgh’s creative community and make good on the promise of public art as an important part of the built landscape and our shared culture. Office of Public Art is currently working on a series of NEA-funded artist residencies and six temporary public artworks in collaboration with Neighborhood Allies. In 2017, the Washington Post highlighted Pittsburgh’s public art scene as a major reason to visit the city.
About the Office of Public Art
The Office of Public Art (OPA) is a public private partnership between the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. Founded in 2005, OPA provides technical assistance and educational programs about public art in the Pittsburgh region. We work with organizations and individuals in the public and private sector to facilitate the development of and information about public art.
About Renee Piechocki
Renee Piechocki is an artist and public art consultant. She is the founding director of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art, a partnership of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning, which provides technical assistance and educational programs to the public and private sectors in the Pittsburgh region. Previous positions include Facilitator of Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Network (2000-2004); studio manager for Vito Acconci and Acconci Studio (1998-2000); and public art project manager for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (1994-1998). Recent consulting projects include a public art plans for Lancaster, Pennsylvania (2016), the Cross Charlotte Trail in Charlotte, North Carolina (2016), and Laramie, Wyoming (2015); the development of a public art strategy for the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway in Boston, Massachusetts (2012); and developing public art guidelines and procedures for the City of Charleston, West Virginia (2012). Piechocki is the author of public art publications, tour books, and guide, both locally and nationally. Renee earned her BA in Studio Art and Honors Program from Hunter College of the City University of New York.
About Sallyann Kluz, RA
Sallyann Kluz is a Pittsburgh-based architect and urban designer with over 20 years of practice in the region. Her practice of architecture, urban design, and design education has been focused primarily on works in the public realm, including public libraries, streetscapes, public art, and neighborhood development strategies. Sallyann has served as the Associate Director of the Office of Public Art since 2014. The Office of Public Art provides technical assistance and educational programs about public art to public and private sectors in the Pittsburgh region. In her role at OPA, Sallyann is focused on providing technical assistance to artists and clients, and expanding the role of artists in community development and civic design. Prior to joining the Office of Public Art, Sallyann was an associate and project architect with Loysen + Kreuthmeier Architects (1998 – 2013), and served as an urban design, planning, and facilitation consultant in the Pittsburgh region. Sallyann earned her Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in Art from Carnegie Mellon University, where she has also taught urban design and architecture. A registered architect in Pennsylvania, she serves on the Investment Advisory Committee of Neighborhood Allies, the Board of Directors of East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI), the Board of the East End Food Co-op Federal Credit Union, and as the chair of ELDI’s Community Planning Committee.
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