This article is the fourth in a series brought to us by Edith Abeyta, who is currently participating in a yearlong artist residency at the Hazelwood Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
by Edith Abeyta
It’s not unusual for artists to work in the public sphere but it is not so common for artists to connect with residents in a neighborhood for them to determine the public art. The artist in residency program at CLP-Hazelwood has this as its focus. Initiated by the Office of Public Art their Artist in the Public Sphere program places artists in neighborhoods to engage with residents to formulate and define art they want to experience. It is a process that involves connecting with people in a meaningful way. The end result is unknown for everyone who participates.
For six months, I spent time in the library and other locations throughout Hazelwood building relationships with youth, adults, elders, community leaders, activists, advocates, and organizations. At times this manifested as art activities with youth and adults in the library and most recently it took the form of meetings to present, discuss, and rank public art projects proposed by residents.
There’s nothing mysterious about this process but it is significant. Hazelwood residents who are engaged and connected to their neighborhood spend a great deal of time at meetings to make sure their voices are heard and their visions are implemented. Many of the people who participated in the public art meetings have been going to countless meetings for years. The subjects of which range from the resisting of rebuilding the LTV Steel’s Coke Works in the late 90s, the proposed closure of the library in the 2000s, and three years of meetings regarding the ALMONO development, in addition, to the ones they attend for neighborhood organizations, so to ask folks to participate in more meetings is a big deal.
We hosted three meetings at the library, the first at the end of January to present the 17 proposed projects we received. Various community members shared their art ideas in the days and months leading up to this meeting. Most were attainable so we spent time discussing each idea and viewing images of similar art projects in and outside of Pittsburgh. At the end of the meeting participants placed dots on the proposals they most wanted to see manifest. From this we narrowed down the proposals to six.
Meeting No. 2 was at the end of February. The focus was a more in-depth examination and brain storming session on how, why, and where the proposed projects would play out. Locations, longevity, and materials were discussed as well as expanded explanations of the projects by the residents who proposed them. There was general agreement by participants that they wanted to have on-going projects/programs with variety throughout the neighborhood and to connect with as many residents as possible.
The third meeting on March 28 was a brief overview and review of the six projects: Second Avenue Portraits, Arts & Culture Excursions, Garden Signs, Gateway Signs, Non-violent Conflict Resolution Art program, and a fence project. We viewed maps, talked about neighborhood borders, and ranked the projects from 0 to 5. The Arts & Culture Excursion program ranked highest receiving 93 points. The resident who proposed it envisioned it as a program similar to the Art Research Days we hosted in November 2014. Future meetings will be scheduled to develop and implement the program but for now, everyone has one less meeting to attend.
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