2017 in Review

2017 was an eventful year for Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Thank you to all of our members for your support and participation to make it such a success!

January 2017 began with hiring consultant Mary Navarro part-time to assist during the transition between executive directors.

AAP kicked off spring exhibitions with the first opening in April at FrameHouse & Jask Gallery. Contemplating Others, curated by Sean Beauford, featured AAP member artists Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer, Sarika Goulatia, Crystal Latimer, Penny Mateer, and Samira Shaheen.

The beginning of a new series of AAP exhibitions at Point Park University opened in the spring of 2017 at Tomayko Gallery in Lawrence Hall displaying the work of long time AAP member Gary Jurysta April 14- May 6, 2017, with a closing reception on May 4th. A second solo show featuring Lisa Bergant Koi followed May 11– June 5, 2017, with an opening reception on May 11th.

Christine Smith of Treading Art curated Control is an Illusion at The Mine Factory. Featuring work by Carol Amidi, Kyle Anger, Theresa Antonellis, Patricia Barefoot, Seth Clark, Christopher Duncan, Cystal Latimer, Patti Menick, Kara Snyder, and Carolyn Wenning, the exhibition began with an opening reception on May 3, 2017. There were also open gallery hours on May 20th & 27th, and a closing reception held on May 24th.

The 2017 spring AAP Member Meeting was held at Senator John Heinz History Center in the Strip District. The well-attended meeting took place at the time of the Friends of Art exhibition, The Gift of Art. AAP members in attendance we invited to view the exhibit at the close of the meeting. More information on that exhibition can be found here: http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/exhibits/the-gift-of-art

The 2017 Spring Screening welcomed new AAP Members: Hannah Altman, Angela Biederman, Christopher Boring, Nick Childers, Oreen Cohen, Brendan Donovan, Jamie Earnest, John Eastman, Christina Fisher, Ashley Garner, Tyler Gaston, Doreen Grasso, Annie Heisley, Heather Heitzenrater, Robert Howsare, Nathan Hufford, Allison Jones, Timothy Kelley, Joshua Kosker, Laura Krasnow, Tony Landolina, Lesla, Kenneth Nicholson, Joseph Noderer, Katie Ott, Kathleen Rearick, Patrick Schmidt, Ben Schonberger, Jonathan Schwarz, Sheila Swartz, Zachariah Szabo, Paige Tibbe, Rodney Allen Trice, and Barbara Westman. The New Members show was curated by Sean Beauford. The opening reception for Speak for Yourself was held September 7th at FrameHouse & Jask Gallery, and ran through October 10, 2017.

Entity, curated by Jill Larson opened at Artsmiths of Pittsburgh on September 14, 2017 and ran through October 28th. The exhibition featured Hyla Urbany, Carol Amidi, John Eastman, Glen. Gardner, Dee Briggs, Robert Howsare, John Fox, Pati Beachley, Carolyn Frischling, Lori Hepner, Timothy Kelley, Josh Mitchel, Marina Mozhayeva, Dafna Rehavia, Sheila Swartz, Paula Weiner, and Kathleen Zimbicki. An article was published in The Almanac about the exhibition at Artsmiths of Pittsburgh: http://www.thealmanac.net/20170917/new_art_exhibition_opens_in_mt_lebanon

Another series of exhibitions at Tomayko Gallery, Point Park University began in the fall starting with In Conversation curated by Njaimeh Njie. In this series, the curators chose two artists to display their work and centered around artist talks, rather than opening receptions. This allowed students of Point Park, alongside public attendants to learn more about the curators and artists and their works. Ms. Njie selected artists Nicole Renee Ryan and Theresa Antonellis. The work was displayed from September 15- October 15, 2017 with the artist talk taking place on October 11th.

Contemporaneous opened on September 27, 2017 at an alternative gallery space in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood owned by Alphabet City Development. Curated by Tara Fay, the theme was sculptural work. Ms. Fay selected work by Pati Beachley, Dee Briggs, Zhiwan Cheung, Oreen Cohen, Ron Copeland, Sarika Goulatia, John A. Mayer, Gary Pyles, Dafna Rehavia, Patrick Schmidt, and Gray Swartzel. Following the opening reception on September 27th, there were three open gallery hours on October 7th, 14th and 21st. An artist talk was hosted by the curator on November 11th and featured 6 of the included artists.

Corey Carrington made his curatorial debut with Electric Kool-Aid at the Brew House Association in Pittsburgh's South Side. Artists chosen included Priya Ahlawat, Patricia Barefoot, Pati Beachley, Christie Biber, Kathy Boykowycz, Lauren Braun, Yang Cai, Ron Copeland, Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer, Brendan Donovan, Christopher Duncan, Ashley Garner, Annie Heisey, Ryder Henry, Lori Hepner, Robert Howsare, Seth LeDonne, Lesla, Ken Merget, Clayton Merrell, Marina Mozhayeva, Desiree Palermo, Mark Panza, Linda Price-Sneddon, Jack Puglisi, Janice Schuler, Phiris Kathryn Sickels, Louise Silk, Joyce Werwie Perry, and Kathleen Zimbicki. The opening reception was held on September 14, 2017. Before the closing on November 26th, AAP held its Fall Annual Member Meeting at the Brew House Association on November 19th.

Continuing the two-artist shows at Point Park, Hannah Altman was selected to curate. If a Tree Falls featured work by Katie Ott and Mary Weidner and opened on October 17, 2017. Artist talks led by Ms. Altman took place on October 30th before the close of the show on November 14, 2017.

The final Point Park University exhibition in 2017 was curated by Jen Melvin. The Color of Being presented paintings by Annie Heisey and Ashley Garner. The exhibition ran from November 16-December 14, 2017, with a curator led artist talk on November 30th.

At the Fall Annual Member Meeting, AAP members were invited to join the AAP Board of Directors for an overview of the year and a question and answer session. The big news of the afternoon was the introduction of AAP's new Executive Director, Madeline Gent. Following the meeting, attendees were invited on a guided tour of Brew House and the artist studios.

Just Say’n, curated by Jill Larson displayed at Bottle Works in Johnstown, PA . The exhibition dates were November 24, 2017– January 27, 2018, with the opening reception on December 8th. Artist members that exhibited work included Priya Ahlawat, Stefani Allegretti, Carol Amidi, Kyle Anger, Pati Beachley, Christie Biber, Christopher Boring, Kathy Boykowycz, Kathleen Kase Burk, Alan Byrne, Yang Cai, Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer, Christopher Duncan, Glen Gardner, Tyler Gaston, Judith Gentile, Amanda Gross, Claire Hardy, Annie Heisey, Robert Howsare, Lisa Bergant Koi, Joel Kranich, Seth LeDonne, Christine Lorenz, Mary B. Mason, Richard McWherter, Joseph Noderer, Desiree Palermo, Mark Panza, William D. Pfahl, Linda Price-Sneddon, Kathleen Rearick, George Roland, Elizabeth Rose, Nicole Renee Ryan, Janice Schuler, Brain Sesack, Phiris Kathryn Sickels, Martha Hopkins Skarlinski, Kathryn Scimone Stanko, Sheila Swartz, Gary Swartzel, Paige Tibbe, Kristin Turcsanyi, Paula Weiner, Charlotte Zalewsky and Kathleen Zimbicki. The local Johnstown newspaper, The Tribune Democrat ran this article about the show: http://www.tribdem.com/features/just-say-n/article_c0aad47a-d69e-11e7-8989-9b680938e28f.html

Throughout the year AAP also displayed selected artist members' artwork at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Continuing to exhibit from 2016 into the first few months of 2017, Crystal Latimer and Jane Lucchino each presented small collections of their paintings. In the spring of 2017, for the first time, AAP was granted use of the entire 47 foot long case to display solo artists working in three-dimensional or installation art. The first solo exhibit was granted to artist Michael Walsh. Following Mr. Walsh's sculptural work, the Pittsburgh International Airport requested to further the concept of installing work for the space. Laurie Barnes created an installation tailored to the site. She installed pieces that she built, and arranged and hung with string throughout the case. Next to install was Sarika Goulatia. The entire case was filled with pieces from her A Million Marks of Home collection.

Madeline Gent officially began her journey as Executive Director of AAP on December 4, 2017. Madeline plans to grow AAP with furthering exhibitions, enhancing cultural diversity, offering artist and curator workshops and providing additional new opportunities for artist members.