Art exhibit chronicles history of steel industry

Students enrolled in Pitt’s Museum Studies class received a promotion of sorts when they acted… Students enrolled in Pitt’s Museum Studies class received a promotion of sorts when they acted as curators for an art exhibit of local Pittsburgh artists.

The 20 students designed an entire exhibit based on a University-owned collection, which opened last night in the Frick Fine Arts building. This hands-on project was designed to give students real-world experience in the process of putting together an art exhibit. More than 200 people attended the opening show.

Janet McCall, executive director for the Society of Contemporary Craft, led the class and chose to use the University’s Gimbel Collection as the centerpiece for the exhibit. The series of 20 paintings created by various artists, including Fletcher Martin and Edward Millman, was the starting point of the project.

The class then expanded on the collection to create an exhibit called “SLAG: What’s Left After Industry?”

McCall chose the Gimbel Collection because it focused on the strong and prominent Pittsburgh industry, giving the students a clear theme to work on over the course of their short timetable.

Senior Trudy Jackson, a member of the class, said that depending on the size of the show, accessibility of artwork and planning, shows can be planned within a few months to a few years, but the size of “SLAG: What’s Left After Industry?” was appropriate for two months of work.

The students chose to focus the exhibit on the historical perspective of the steel industry through art.

They constructed the exhibit around three components: construction, deconstruction and renewal.

“The exhibit documents Pittsburgh through its industrial boom,” said senior Matthew Showman, a student who participated in the project.

The Gimbel Collection represented the “construction” phase of the exhibit.

Photographer Mark Perrott was invited to speak to the class to give them a background about the industrial history of Pittsburgh. His work was featured in the second part of gallery, the deconstruction part.

The renewal phase featured contemporary artists, including a few Pitt students. This section of the gallery illustrated how the modern community is related to its historical roots of the steel industry.

Junior Katie Watson, a film studies major who had her artwork displayed, said the renewal segment doesn’t detract from the old view of Pittsburgh. Instead it provides a sense of optimism.