Brittany Reilly, founder and chair of Pittsburgh Modern Committee, recommends a look at some underknown (but creatively rich) spaces and places in Pittsburgh. 

Ice House Studios

100 43rd Street
Opened in early 2020, the deRoy Gruber Foundation houses its art collection, archives, and gallery tucked within the historic Ice House Studios building in Lawrenceville. Focused on the creative legacy of Pittsburgh artist Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918-2011), the space is open by appointment for visitors wishing to explore her abstract paintings, kinetic sculptures, and vibrant screen prints created between the 1950s and ‘80s, along with historic print material related to her process and to Pittsburgh’s modern art history. 

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild

1815 Metropolitan Street
The gallery at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild is a special venue within the organization’s building designed by Pittsburgh architect Tasso Katselas, itself chock-full of a remarkable design and art collection, including George Nakashima and Carl Richard “Dingbat” Smith. Hosting exhibitions by students, faculty, and esteemed regional artists, it’s worth keeping an eye on the MCG program. A memorable 2022 exhibit showcased the recent work of Japanese-American sculptor-woodworker, Tadao Arimoto, and Pennsylvania-based ceramist Willi Singleton. 

Public Art

Various Locations
Public art throughout Pittsburgh, commissioned during the 20^th to 21^st centuries, and its relationship to surrounding settings and architecture is something you can go seek out or simply enjoy when you happen upon it. A few of my favorites include Sol LeWitt’s Thirteen Geometric Figures, a 1984 large-scale slate and marble composition within the Wood Street T Station; Mary Callery’s aluminum sculpture, Three Birds in Flight, suspended within the atrium of the ALCOA building completed in the early 1950s by architects Harrison & Abramovitz; or Thaddeus Mosley’s carved wood or cast-bronze monumental outdoor and indoor works, from the Hill District to East Liberty to CMU’s campus. 

Discover Modern Pittsburgh
Grab a copy of 1983’s Discovering Pittsburgh’s Sculpture by Marilyn Evert (author) and Vernon Gay (photographer); check out the Pittsburgh Modern Committee’s Art & Architecture guides; or view the free PDF guides published by the Office for Public Art. 

Story by Brittany Reilly

Dynamic and unusual techniques mark the current works of prolific Pittsburgh-based artist and arts educator Jo-Anne Bates. By folding prints to create a look that is more sculptural than flat, and utilizing ink in bold color combinations before topping it all with a shredded junk mail mixture, Bates’s artwork goes beyond traditional printmaking and veers into an entirely new medium.

These creations are best encountered in person: pictures viewed on paper and online do not even scratch the surface of Bates’s depth and impact. The textures allow for movement in the work that changes depending on the closeness and angle of the viewer. Nestled text draws the eye even further.

Bates cites a visit to South Africa’s Rainbow Country, a landscape providing vivid colors and texture, as the inspiration for her latest creations. The text stems from her experience as a woman, mother, grandmother, and art teacher.

“This perspective has allowed me as an artist to explore new and different ways of using text, representing that people see, say, and hear,” Bates says in her artist statement. “This is especially true of verbal injustices often directed at young African Americans. My work has often been referred to as philosophical road maps and with these works, I continue in that direction.”

Frame of Reference: Jo-Anne Bates

August Wilson African American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Avenue, Downtown
Running from March 22 to August 31

Story by Jordan Snowden

TABLE staff suggests a handful of upcoming art exhibits that promise to stimulate the optic nerve and excite the mind.

Ester Petukhova

here Gallery, 527 N. Taylor Avenue
July 7-August 12

Since former Christie’s art specialist Lexi Bishop opened this intimate gallery space in North Side’s Mexican War Streets neighborhood in 2022, the space has featured a variety of exciting exhibits. This summer, don’t miss Ester Petukhova, curated by Sean Beauford, manager of community relationships at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Russian-born Petukhova is currently pursuing a bachelor’s in fine arts with a concentration in painting at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art.

Traveling While Black

820 Liberty Gallery, 820 Liberty Avenue
May 18-September 2

This Pittsburgh Cultural Trust gallery continues its record of innovative programming with Traveling While Black, a cinematic VR experience that aims to give viewers a deeper historical understanding of “stop and frisk” and the importance of creating safe spaces for Black Americans..

Joan Brown

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
May 27-September 24

If you’re not familiar with the late artist Joan Brown, expect a mix of impasto paintings and vivid graphics. This exhibit is the first major survey of Brown in over 20 years, giving recognition to a deserving artist known best for her large-scale portraits of people and animals.

Asim Waqif

Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way
Through June

We’ll be honest: The Mattress Factory is a must-see stop no matter what time of the year you’re in town. But mark your calendars for June when the installation art museum brings the brilliant sculpture work of Indian visual artist Asim Waqif to its main building.

Reverent Ornament: Art from the Islamic World

The Frick Art Museum, 7227 Reynolds Street
November 4, 2023-February 25, 2024

This exhibit promises to celebrate the life, history, and culture of Iran, Egypt, India, Syria, and Turkey with an assortment of works, some centuries old, including glassware, ceramics, metalwork, weaponry, weaving, and more.

The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studios Sessions

The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street
May 12-September 25

Expect a multidimensional sensory experience with the Velvet Underground’s first recording sessions in 1966 at Scepter Studios in New York City playing continuously while patrons view a collection of related photographs; rare, unseen footage; 30-plus Warhol Screen Tests featuring the band; and more.

I’m fine.

Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media, 1047 Shady Avenue
May 19-July 22

This statewide community project, which is bringing Pittsburgh masks, stories, and faces to Shadyside, is dedicated to mental health awareness.

in spite of me, here you are

707 Penn Gallery, 707 Penn Avenue
March 10-June 11

Pittsburgh artist Steve Alexis explores the idea of the unknown and the turmoil of questioning one’s identity, using paintings, sculptural objects, and video.

AAP New Member Exhibition

Brew House Association, 711 S. 21st Street
June 29-September 9

The newest members of The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, a group of visual artists from the greater Pittsburgh region, bring a new gallery show to the South Side.

Story by Lisa Cunningham

Brittany Reilly, executive director of The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation, suggests three galleries where Pittsburghers could look to extend, or start, their art collections.

Silver Eye Center for Photography

4808 Penn Avenue 

This gallery focuses on contemporary photography, and along with allowing patrons to purchase the works from their revolving exhibitions, Silver Eye offers workshops and classes for artists of all skill levels.

here Gallery

527 N. Taylor Avenue

Nestled in the Mexican War Streets just a stone’s throw away from the Mattress Factory and Randyland, Lexi Bishop’s recently opened here Gallery features a rotating cast of contemporary exhibitions from local and national artists alike.

Bunker Projects

5106 Penn Avenue

Founded in 2013 by Penn State grads who felt their work didn’t fit into Pittsburgh’s conventional art world, Bunker Projects doubles as an experimental gallery and nonprofit artist residency for up-and-coming artists, allowing them to grow in an intimate, eccentric environment.

Recommendations by Brittany Reilly / Story by Jordan Snowden

Patrick Moore, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, lists five artworks held in Pittsburgh-area museums that we all need to see in 2023.

Nicole Eisenman, Prince of Swords, 2013

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
Eisenman’s work combines schoolboy humor with a deeply personal depiction of the queer communities to which she belongs. Her sculptural practice, rendered in lumpy white plaster, updates classical statuary with determined, everyday figures. Prince of Swords at first disappears into the line of classical figures lining the mezzanine of the museum’s Hall of Sculpture. It is only on closer inspection that the form reveals itself as the prototypical contemporary figure, slumped over and gazing at a cell phone.

Bruce Conner, Crossroads, 1976

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
Conner’s hypnotic loops of found film depict the slow-motion horror and beauty of atomic weapons being detonated over the Pacific. The installation at the Carnegie is particularly beautiful as it can be glimpsed through a window from the permanent collection galleries. Before entering the gallery dedicated to the film, one experiences its terror even while being surrounded by serenity in the larger painting galleries.

Andy Warhol, Skulls, 1976

The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street
The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates every aspect of Warhol’s wildly prolific career, showing both the fascination with fame and glamour alongside a darker side that relates to the fragility of life as informed by these monumental memento mori, or reminders of death. Warhol’s Skulls are indeed a reminder that we live in this world for only a moment. However, they are also relentlessly cool and rebellious, serving as the backdrop for a recent Calvin Klein underwear campaign and countless selfies taken by museum visitors.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1981

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
This massive work on tarpaulin echoes the streets and subways where Haring first made his reputation as a graffiti artist who would pass into the larger popular culture through his relentlessly cheerful figures that were perfectly suited to hats and t-shirts. However, being at the center of the New York art world during the 1980s, Haring’s work is inevitably shot through with reminders of the AIDS crisis. As an active participant in groups such as ACT UP, Haring utilized his art to urge others to “take direct collective action to end the AIDS crisis.”

Gavin Benjamin, Cynsere, Jeannette, PA, From the Series Museum Picture, 2021

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 221 N. Main Street, Greensburg
Benjamin set out to demonstrate that communities of color are intertwined into the daily life of a seemingly white and conservative area. The artist not only documented these Westmoreland residents but invited them into the dark paneled formality of the museum to be photographed.

Story by Patrick Moore

David Oresick, executive director of the Mattress Factory, suggests a visit to three Pittsburgh arts institutions to dive into important works on view.

On Kawara, Feb. 29, 1988, 1988

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
As a native Pittsburgher, I’ve loved this painting since I was a teenager. It’s a piece that opened my mind to what painting and art was or could be, in part because it is an ongoing meditation on the present, travel, creation, and time. I’m always inspired by CMoA’s collection.

Andy Warhol, Sprite Heads Playing Violins, 1948

The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street
I’m always drawn to Warhol’s very early works. There is something I find compelling about the work of artists who are still learning how to speak in their own voice. This drawing is warm, funny, and playful, and it just pulls me in right away.

Greer Lankton, It’s All About ME, not you, 1996

Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way
Lankton’s incredible It’s All About ME, not you is one of my favorite works in our collection. It’s so raw, heartbreaking, and honest, but profoundly beautiful and moving to me. The apartment Greer created is so real and clearly lived in. The density of material provides me something new to discover, no matter how many times I go through it.

Story by David Oresick