For those who appreciate, collect or create art, 2019 was a year that upped the ante on what defines a great exhibition, a book about an artist, or a memorable work of architecture.
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg plunged deeply into indigenous American culture. The Pittsburgh Glass Center received a major gift that endows the job of executive director. Heather McElwee is the first person to hold the Randi & L. Van V. Dauler, Jr. Executive Director chair.
In July, members of UNESCO voted to place Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed modern house balanced over a waterfall, on the list of World Heritage sites. Located in Mill Run, Fayette County, the house draws more than 160,000 visitors a year. Lynda Waggoner, director emerita of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, orchestrated the successful nomination.
1) “Mingled Visions: The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis and Will Wilson”: The year’s best exhibition featured contemporary images made by Wilson, a Navajo nation member, juxtaposed with the early 20th century photographs that made Curtis famous. The show also examined the history and current status of indigenous peoples in our region, most of whom were gone by the turn of the 19th century. The Westmoreland Museum of American Art created a land statement — an action more common in Canada and the Pacific Northwest — to acknowledge the indigenous communities that were displaced. The museum’s statement read, in part, “We currently gather on the traditional lands of the Adena, Hopewell, Monongahela, Delaware, Shawnee and Seneca-Cayuga peoples." Programs included a community day that celebrated Native American culture, a night of sketch comedy and a dinner orchestrated by Sean Sherman. A chef and founder of The Sioux Chef, he foraged local food for the meal and introduced each course.
2) “Andy Warhol: Revelation”: Curated by Jose Carlos Diaz, the exhibition explores Warhol’s complex relationship with the Catholic Church and the influence of Byzantine icons on his art and spiritual practices. Besides drawings, paintings and archival materials, there is a rarely seen, incomplete film of a summer sunset on California’s coast. Warhol made the film for the 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio. It runs through Feb. 16 at The Andy Warhol Museum.
3) Fiberart International 2019: The triennial show featured work by 53 artists from the U.S., Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Norway and Serbia. Fiberart was shown at the Brew House Association on the South Side and Contemporary Craft in the Strip District. A chilling hand-hooked work by Linda Rae Coughlin, titled “Our Little Secret,” referenced the #MeToo movement.
4) Associated Artists of Pittsburgh’s 107th annual exhibition: Under the leadership of Madeline Gent, the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh is back on the upswing with a fine show at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The exhibition of work by 53 Western Pennsylvania artists runs through Jan. 26.
5) Robert Qualters, “New”: Qualters, an engaging dynamo at age 85, exhibited new work at Borelli-Edwards Galleries in Lawrenceville. New paintings included “Spring Rain” and “Under the Hill.” The artist also revisited his large 1991 painting “Homestead Bus.” Now he’s the young male passenger wearing sunglasses.
6) Jaime Guerrero, "Cuando el Río Suena" (When the River Sounds): A Los Angeles native now living in Pittsburgh, Guerrero wanted to call attention to the personal side of the refugee crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. One of few glass artists working in large scale, he created life-sized figures of children caught in the crisis for his exhibition at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, Garfield.
7) “An Art of Changes: Jasper John Prints, 1960-2018”: Johns is best known for his pop art paintings of the American flag and shooting targets. “An Art of Changes,” on view through Jan. 20 at Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland, showcases 90 artworks by Johns, whose work is seen as a key link between pop art and abstract expressionism.
8) “A is for Archive: Warhol’s World from A to Z” by Matt Wrbican: This excellent new book, published by Yale University Press, was completed just before Wrbican’s untimely death at age 60. He was a beloved, longtime archivist at The Andy Warhol Museum.
9) Sharif Bey, “Intuitions, Fault Lines and Musings”: Pittsburgh native Bey is a ceramist, sculptor, educator and scholar. Since the age of 14, he has worked with clay. His summer exhibition at Concept Art Gallery featured sculptures that explored contemporary notions of power, ornamentation and traditional African jewelry. Bey’s work will be exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art in October 2020.
10) "Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour": The Andy Warhol Museum exhibition not only brought in painting, sculpture and recent figure drawings by the Sonic Youth idol but Gordon herself for a concert given to an overflow audience. In addition, the museum commissioned a score for Andy Warhol's 1963-64 silent film "Kiss," a collaboration among Gordon, Bill Nace (her partner in the experimental electric guitar duo Body/Head), Steve Gunn and John Truscinski. The show’s catalog also broke ground. A first for The Warhol, it's a limited edition of 500 and available at The Warhol Store ($65).
M. Thomas: mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925. Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1648.
First Published: December 19, 2019, 1:00 p.m.
