Carnegie Museum's latest show honors Pittsburgh's maker tradition
Pittsburgh’s long tradition of artisans and industry is the inspiration for “Locally Sourced,” an exhibition opening Nov. 20 at the Carnegie Museum of Art in the city’s Oakland neighborhood.
Featured artists and makers “are the faces of the next revolution in making,” according to the museum.
With new work by regional artists and makers of functional goods and furnishings, the exhibition will run through March 27, 2022, in the Charity Randall Gallery.
“ ’Locally Sourced’ is a celebration of Pittsburgh as an artistic hub and Carnegie Museum of Art’s commitment to playing an active role in the region’s maker ecosystem,” said Alyssa Velazquez, curatorial assistant of decorative arts and design and exhibition organizer. “ ‘Locally Sourced’ demonstrates how a museum can be a model for civic engagement — a creative center attuned to contemporary craft and an advocate for local talent.”
Exhibitors illustrate how Pittsburgh is “home to a growing cohort of independent designers and makers working in traditional media such as clay, glass, metal, fiber, wood and paper, and with emergent materials and technologies,” according to the museum. “These are the innovators who are reinventing traditional handwork processes and manufacturing technologies to transform raw and reclaimed materials into products that have utility, durability and good design.”
“The maker movement in Pittsburgh is in the making, and ‘Locally Sourced’ is meant to connect audiences to producers in and around our three rivers, while supporting and showcasing creative models that are defining craft manufacturing in Pittsburgh,” Velazquez said.
Featured makers include Bones and All, Building Bytes, Ashley Cecil, Coded Clay, Hanna Dausch, Brian Ferrell, Savannah Hayes, Idia’Dega, KerfCase, Knotzland, Oatmeal, SPACAPAN, TAKTTIME, Temper and Grit, T.O.M.T., Transit Forge, TWELVE\TWENTY, Jenna Vanden Brink and Reiko Yamamoto.
“It’s an honor to be included in ‘Locally Sourced’ alongside other community designers and makers and have the support of the Carnegie Museum of Art during this difficult time,” said Brian Peters, founder of Coded Clay and Building Bytes. “I’m particularly excited to unveil a large 3D printed ceramic screen that was commissioned by the museum and is part of a new series of my work.”
A series of online programs are planned in conjunction with the exhibition, beginning with “Design in Conversation: Listening In,” at 6 p.m. Nov. 19. Several of the featured makers will discuss the pros and cons of listening to others in their creative processes, in collaboration with artist Justin Rothshank’s Intention Project, a practice of focusing on relationships and setting a weekly intention while identifying the challenges associated with roles within those relationships.
Registration is required to receive the Zoom link to these “pay what you wish” programs.
Details: cmoa.org
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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