Gallery unveils best of local art tomorrow

Unveiling Moxie DaDA Featuring Regional Artists Opening Reception: Tomorrow, 2-9 p.m. Runs through Feb. 23 1416 Arch St., North Side 412-682-0348

With its latest exhibit, Moxie DaDA tries to gets its artwork off the walls of the gallery and into everyday homes and businesses.

Opening tomorrow at Moxie’s gallery in the North Side, “Unveiling” is a fine arts exhibition running the gamut of expression and media. While the show seems as promising as Moxie’s others, for Christine Whispell, the gallery’s director, it’s more about ensuring that each work of art finds a home than ever before.

Though it may seem apparent that any gallery’s goal is to sell the work it hangs, Whispell and those at Moxie are exploring new outlets to ensure the art in “Unveiling” remains displayed after the show is over.

By working with interior designers and design firms, Moxie DaDA is hoping to find a more direct route to find each artist’s work a home. The gallery has already made appointments with more than 20 interior design establishments to view the exhibit.

“The artists [in “Unveiling”] are all people we have worked with heavily in the past,” Whispell said. “[This is] another way to offer them more opportunity, visibility and exposure.”

Whispell also sees Moxie’s direct communication with interior designers as something unique to the area.

“This sort of thing doesn’t happen a lot in Pittsburgh,” she added. “This is really a way to open the dialogue [with designers] that will hopefully use our artists.”

Whispell also stressed that the exhibit itself is not only something for designers, but rather that “Unveiling” is a nonpareil collection of the region’s top artists for all members of the community to see.

With artists from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland and one from England, she explained that every type of fine art will be in “Unveiling.” Everything from works in the realm of realism, abstract and figurative to the media of photography, painting, sculpture, mixed media and ceramics will be on display.

“Unveiling” is part of a larger collection that Moxie DaDA, in collaboration with Boxheart Expressions in Bloomfield, has created in a catalogue for interior designers to use.

Under the moniker MoxBox, the two galleries have pulled together artists with whom they have relationships to try to ultimately reach a larger audience.

Whether the art ends up in someone’s home or on display in an office, for Whispell the important part is to get more art to the public.

“[At Moxie DaDA,] we are always looking to find ways to connect the community with art.”