Three artists who have exhibited at the Mattress Factory have expressed their displeasure with how its leaders have treated Michael Olijnyk, the museum’s executive director who was placed on paid, temporary leave a year ago.
Two of the artists — Ann Hamilton and Kathleen Montgomery — have withdrawn works they had donated for a benefit auction at the North Side museum known for contemporary installation art.
About 75 artists donated work for the Anniversary Art Auction, which will be held from 6 to 10 p.m., Oct. 17 at the Mattress Factory.
Last year’s auction was postponed after four women filed a complaint against the museum with the National Labor Relations Board. The women claimed Mr. Olijnyk and three other managers berated them and changed their work assignments after they alleged sexual harassment by a male co-worker, who left the museum last year.
Ms. Hamilton is a distinguished professor of art at Ohio State University who has received MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships. She has withdrawn an artwork featuring the late Barbara Luderowski, who founded the Mattress Factory in 1977.
“My support and loyalty is for the program as founded and stewarded by Barbara and Michael together,” Ms. Hamilton said in a telephone interview.
Since last fall, Ms. Hamilton has twice visited Mr. Olijnyk’s apartment above the museum to document Ms. Luderowski’s large collection of art, sculpture and toys, with an eye toward exhibiting those images at the Mattress Factory. Ms. Hamilton, who uses a particular type of scanner to create ghostly portraits, spent part of her career documenting archives and collections.
Ms. Montgomery, a Pittsburgh artist with a national reputation, wrote to the museum in July and requested the return of an untitled watercolor she donated for last year’s auction. She has donated artwork for every Mattress Factory benefit auctions.
“The failure of the Board of Directors to support and defend its co-founder, Michael Olijnyk, is the reason for the withdrawal of my support. The Mattress Factory to which I donated my work and supported for 40 years no longer exists,” Ms. Montgomery wrote in an email that she shared with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Hans Peter Kuhn is a German artist whose light installation “Acupuncture” sits atop the museum roof. He emailed the museum last year, detailing his dissatisfaction with the treatment of Mr. Olijnyk.
“I am totally upset and angry. This is not the way a cultivated people deal with problems,” Mr. Kuhn wrote in the email, which he shared with the Post-Gazette.
In response to a query by the Post-Gazette, the artist wrote in another e-mail:
“It is ridiculous to destroy a life’s work of a person that only did good to the Pittsburgh community because of a questionable decision as an employer. … Things have to be balanced.”
Mr. Kuhn added: “Michael should be placed back in his position immediately. … What happens now is a disaster, it is undemocratic and destructive.”
Last year, after the auction was postponed, the Mattress Factory’s archivist notified Mr. Kuhn that the museum would hold on to the artwork he donated for this year’s auction. Mr. Kuhn shared the email he sent back to Sarah Hallet:
“I read about the problem you have right now and I have to say that I am upset. Sorry, I know you — as a woman — may have a different opinion, but I think the American public is hysterical,” Mr. Kuhn wrote.
Sometimes, he added, people “make not so good decisions, but that is human. To halt an organization because of that is simply crazy. Sorry! Your people have to calm down. Too much satisfaction from excitement, this is not TV. Reality must allow mistakes. That is natural.”
Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1648 or on Twitter:@mpitzpg. Mary Thomas: mthomas@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1925.
First Published: September 30, 2019, 11:00 a.m.
