The Artist Market at the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival gives artists from across the region a chance to show and sell their work in Downtown Pittsburgh.
This year’s festival, which opens Friday and continues through June 12, will spread the Artist Market across the Cultural District, unlike in past years, when it was concentrated in and around Gateway Center and Point State Park. But one aspect remains the same: Emerging artists have been chosen and given booth space to reach thousands of potential buyers.
Let’s meet the seven artists chosen to showcase and sell their work in the Artist Market this year. The dates they will be at the festival are included:
Alisha Camus
After being laid off because of the pandemic, this lifelong vegetarian and animal lover decided to clock into a crafty endeavor, Beastie Boxes, instead of her old 9-5 job.
Drawing inspiration from animals, nature and her father, a woodworker, Alisha Camus uses traditional woodworking tools to create small and functional wooden boxes shaped like animals in a basement woodshop in Cleveland.
She makes pencil holders and wall hangings shaped like wild animals and pets, and especially enjoys seeing reactions to her pet memorial pieces.
“When people are appreciative, it’s easy to keep going,” she said.
Camus considers herself an “animal lover, one-woman show and a maker rather than an artist.” She donates part of her proceeds to animal right advocacy groups. She will be at the festival June 3-7.
“There is a sort of priceless beauty and uniqueness in using the natural grains of wood to create art, especially when that art also benefits a great cause I truly believe in.”
Erin Relac
Pittsburgher and busy mom Erin Relac makes a wide variety of ornate macramé artworks that serve as wall hangings or plant hangers. created by knotting cord in varying patterns,
Her knotted patterns mostly use cotton string and cord, but she will sometimes weave in different fibers like silk and wool.
“It relaxes me, keeps my hands busy and satisfies my need to create something,” she said.
Relac emphasizes the hobby part of her business, Erel Fiber Art, and only makes patterns and pieces that bring her “happiness and entertainment.”
“I can get really creative and make each one different. Each one has its own personality,” she said.
She’s attended the arts festival for years now and is excited to now be a part of it. She will be there June 8-12.
“It was something I wanted to be a part of since I was little, but I never felt like I had the talent. I am so excited and nervous.”
Khaliah Guenther
Visual artist Khaliah Guenther, who is also known as Kay Cee, uses acrylic paint to create enormous portraits that are sealed with epoxy resin to “give them a glass look that prevents any weather damage.”
She was raised in Pittsburgh and credits her great uncle for teaching her how to paint. She incorporates the color purple in all of her pieces in memory of her late brother, who had autism. Her booth is open June 3-7.
The Kay Cee Collection, a hobby turned business, was a means of escape and helped her overcome depression, anxiety and some of the “hardest times” of her life. She dislikes making small paintings, preferring to often spend 12 hours a day and several months working on a single painting.
“Everything has to be big,” she said.
Darin DiNapoli
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Darin DiNapoli, 38, likes to walk and drive around the city, creating photos of landscapes with surreal color combinations and geometrical symmetry. His aim is to discover and spotlight small details that most people never notice.
DiNapoli, who has a bachelor’s degree in business/corporation communication from Robert Morris University, began taking pictures of the city in 2014. He utilizes drones, 360 cameras, cell phone cameras and digital single-lens cameras.
He is also a guitarist and in middle school formed the rock band Identity X. His many talents came together in 2006, when his music video “Archetype” won a local Emmy Award.
After winning awards for editing and filmmaking at the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Horror Film Festival, he left the advertising business in 2018 to start his own company, DNAPPS Productions. Still photography inspires him to look at life differently, said DiNapoli (June 3-7).
“In a sense, you’re capturing a still moment in time, but you can discover areas that people haven't discovered.”
Kelsey James
A Pittsburgh native who now lives an hour away, this 29-year-old professional musician has her own rock band, Shiva Skydriver.
Kelsey James, a singer, guitarist and bassist, has made two albums with her band. But during the pandemic, she took a break from music to explore her interest in visual arts. She saves vinyl records that are no longer in good condition for listening and turns them into abstract paintings.
Using vibrant acrylic paint, James blows through a straw or tilts records or canvases to create a sense of fluidity. She will be in the Artist Market June 8-12.
“I will always try thinking of new color combinations and new techniques to incorporate,” she said.
“It's all just a good positive energy. I’m happy when I’m making it, and I want to create something pleasing to look at. I hope that whoever’s looking at it, it makes them happy.”
Justine Gabreski
What fascinates Justine Gabreski most about nature is not grand landscapes, but rather small details such as a flower, mushroom, rocks, moss and lichen. She brings out the beauty of everyday objects in elegant watercolors and delicate, detailed portraits.
The Buffalo, N.Y., native graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia with a minor in visual arts and new media. She moved to Pittsburgh six years ago to attend nursing school at Duquesne University.
Having been painting since she was a kid, Gabreski further explored her interest when pandemic gave her more space and time. She primarily paints in watercolor on acid-free, pH neutral 100% cotton paper. Her booth will be open June 8-12.
“It's really important to me that people connect with my art.” she said. “I think art is something that can be very highbrow, which is fine, but I like creating artwork for everybody.
“I do a lot of floral work because I think people connect a lot with flowers. Flowers are part of our life, especially like big moments.”
John Davis
John Davis has been afraid of eternity since he was 6 years old. As a kid, he thought about death a lot and would ask his mother to pull over at cemeteries so he could read the tombstones.
Now 38, Davis is still fascinated by the space between death and memory. He moved to Pittsburgh after college and has worked at a church, a funeral home and a cemetery. A few years ago, he began taking long walks and pictures in the city.
The artist paints images on both sides of pieces of paper, holding them over a light box to achieve a new blended image which he then attaches to drywall. He makes his work three-dimensional by cutting out poems and attaching them to the pictures. He will be at the festival June 3-7.
“I like the texture of it. It's meant to degrade over time.” Davis said. “It’s supposed to wither. It should last for about a year, but it’s slowly unbecoming.
“I'm not trying to say anything, but I’m trying to observe, observe those two modes — how we're obviously all being and unbecoming at the same time.”
Hannah Qu: hqu@post-gazette.com. Nick El Hajj: neljajj@post-gazette.com.
First Published: June 2, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: June 2, 2022, 3:00 p.m.