Galleries big and small pack in the art

If you’re searching for a logical beginning to Pittsburgh’s expansive art scene, the North… If you’re searching for a logical beginning to Pittsburgh’s expansive art scene, the North Side’s?The?Andy Warhol Museum is a good place to start.

A fearless innovator, Warhol is widely considered to be the man who made the city a hub of artistic culture.

The Andy Warhol Museum is the most comprehensive single-artist? museum in the world. A Pittsburgh native, Warhol reshaped the face of the modern art scene by mass-producing silkscreen canvasses, discarding notions about the mutual exclusivity of fine art and popular culture. Boasting a collection of more than 12,000 works, the galleries are lined with the eye-popping silk screens and black and white photographs that comprise the core of Warhol’s creative genius.

The museum also includes a kind of time capsule, packed with Warhol’s inspirational materials and preliminary sketches, allowing visitors an opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of Warhol’s vast imagination.

The Warhol Museum also regularly hosts temporary exhibits, displaying the work of revolutionary artists from around the world. Currently on display is the work of Dutch abstract painter, Piet Mondrian. Mondrian is best known for his Neo-Plasticism movement, which gave birth to the famous “Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue and Grey.” Twenty-eight of Mondrian’s geometrically oriented paintings will be showcased at the museum through August 31.

The museum’s vegetarian-friendly basement cafe is the perfect dining experience to kick off or wrap up your Andy Warhol experience.

If the contemporary is what you seek, look no further than Downtown Pittsburgh’s Wood Street Galleries, which will keep you on the artistic community’s cutting edge. Recently, “Urban Living” came to Wood Street, offering up ultra-modern environmental and domestic concepts to viewers. Fraught with wires, neon lights and robotic dogs, the installations sought to suggest solutions to urban consumers and homeowners of the future.

Wood Street’s sister gallery, Space, is also focused in the contemporary. Just a block away from the Wood Street Galleries, Space is one of the city’s newer artistic forums?and is currently showcasing art from seven Pittsburgh locals. Photography by Deborah Hosking and sculptures by Lowry Burgess and George Lipchak are among the works that will be on display at “Pittsburgh Now,” which runs through June 13.

Located on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the? Mattress Factory Art Museum?creates a space for installation art, which is created on site by artists from across the nation. Room-sized spaces allow artists to envelop viewers entirely within their visions, creating a unique sensory experience.

Diverse works from 18 different contemporary artists are currently on display at the Mattress Factory through June 15.?Among the exhibitors is doll maker?Jennifer Howison, ?who has created a childlike dream world by imagining bowling pins into a forested landscape of white, green and gold.

The Mattress Factory’s 16 permanent collections include work by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who works with polka dots and mirrors to explore the obliteration of the self.

Once you’ve hit up the city’s better-known galleries, making a trip to the smaller hives of Pittsburgh’s art scene can be an invigorating cultural adventure.

A quick ride on the 71C will take you to Shadyside, home of both Gallerie Chiz and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Equal parts gallery and boutique, Gallerie Chiz boasts an eclectic assortment of fine art and jewelry. From kitschy to funky to avant-garde, it embraces virtually all visual aesthetics. In the store, you’ll find everything from funky ceramic pieces to abstract paintings to intricate handmade books. But merchandise is on the pricey side, with less expensive pieces falling somewhere between $100 and $200. This is definitely not the place to come looking for disposable dorm room artwork.

Gallerie Chiz has monthly exhibits, showcasing work from both local and nationally renowned artists. Painter Daniel Belardinelli and sculptor Vanessa German are May’s featured artists.

Located on Fifth Avenue, the?Pittsburgh Center for the Arts hosts the city’s annual artist of the year exhibit. University of Pittsburgh professor Delanie Jenkins was chosen in 2007. She created delicate installation and sculpture art rooted in her obsessive collections of radish roots, clementine peels and human hair.

In association with the Mattress Factory, the little-known Tom Museum inverts the typical gallery experience by allowing visitors a peak inside one artist’s creative process. The museum is integrated into Pittsburgh artist Tom Sarver’s own home. Sarver blends pastimes such as fishing and gardening with painting, sculpture and puppetry. You might?have the opportunity to participate in a puppet show or enjoy breakfast with Tom while passing through.

Cross the 10th Street Bridge to the South Side, and you’ll find the Brew House Space 101 Gallery. Members of the Brew House’s artistic collective live, work and display their art within the building.

If college is about expanding your mind, then interaction with the artistic community should be a priority. With a constant infusion of groundbreaking?contemporary art, Pittsburgh’s art scene promises to open up all manner of nooks and crannies in any Pitt student’s brain.