The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh enters its second century with an Annual Exhibition that fits the organization's strategy to explore new directions for survival, relevance and growth. The show is being held for the first time at the Society for Contemporary Craft, which prompted some members to try new media or to apply a familiar one in a new way.
Ceramist Ceil Sturdevant, for example, frequently submits large sculptural works to the annual. She responded to the opportunity offered by this site with two handsome petit "Water Dragon Tea Sets," each comprising a cup and pot with dragon handle, inspired in size and design by the famed Yi Xing clay pots and by the 2012 Year of the Dragon.
Other artists whose pieces have at times been minimized by high-ceilinged galleries or a predominance of larger works are at home here, including Joan Iversen Goswell's always elegant artist books like "Stick Book," a blend of sculpture, print and commentary. The most fastidiously crafted work is Robert Bishop's "Keepsake Box No. 96" of spalted oak, box elder and macassar ebony.
But the venue was not limiting and juror Fo Wilson accommodated work that would be comfortable anywhere, such as Karen Kaighin's beautifully composed photographs "Radie's Dresser" and "Dawn," a mix of the banal and the personal, taken in her daughter's apartment, or David Montano's "Monument 1 and 2," which is made of found objects and questions how we privilege, or critique, ubiquitous, media-constructed pundits and celebrities.
Two artists, Tina Williams Brewer and Charlotte Ka, are very contemporary voices that explore racism from different viewpoints and aesthetics. Ms. Brewer's "Out of the Drawer, 'Lest We Forget,'" places historic examples of racial stereotyping within her great-great-aunt's charming wooden side table, setting up a contrast between reality and socially-driven fiction. Ms. Ka combines galvanized wash tubs, wash boards, black-eyed peas, doilies and burlap to convey the strides of black women from slavery to professional.
Other highlights include Benjy Blanco's "Lachesis Muta," a 35-foot-long articulated cherry wood snake modeled on a female bushmaster skeleton; Ron Bayuzick's eclectic welded steel "Art Rover"; and Gayle Marie Weitz's human-height, carved-basswood "Humanimal #8: Sheepish." Ms. Weitz calls attention to inhumane treatment of the animals that provide mutton and wool via photos and text attached to the interiors of cabinets in the figure's stomach, chest and head. While educative and worthy, those may be better suited to a different form of expression as the humanimal stands well on its own.
Don't miss the effervescent installation "Don't be Alarmed by the Smoke in the Kitchen" by Patty Gallagher, who also has a piece in the main gallery; the components of Patricia A. Sheahan's mysterious "Je ne pas oublier the Essence of Ethel Mae;" the text for Gerry Florida's sparkly necklace with unexpected undertones, "Trespassing Heaven 5 of 5;" and Mary Kay Neff's distinctive composition of digital prints, "Obsessive Thought 2: Tea & Coffee Cups."
Ms. Wilson selected 45 works from more than 300 submissions. She wrote in her juror's statement that work chosen lies at "the intersection of art, craft media and design" and that the entries showed "a stunning array of talent and originality." Having received a master's degree in fine art from the Rhode Island School of Design's furniture design program with a concentration in art history, theory and criticism, she "uses the language of furniture and domestic objects to investigate ideas around identity and culture." A writer, lecturer and independent curator, she teaches at Columbia College in Chicago.
While all of the works are not up to the standard of SCC exhibitions, even the experimental works add to the show's vitality. Most are for sale with prices ranging from $250 to $12,000.
This is not the first Annual presented outside of Carnegie Museum of Art, which has hosted most including last year's centennial exhibition. In recent years the popular event, which draws record opening-night crowds, has been hosted by The Andy Warhol Museum, the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, and the University Art Gallery of the University of Pittsburgh.
Each location has resulted in a different exhibition look, mainly due to varying gallery size. The arrangement with the SCC goes a step further, more fully integrating with the kind of programming staff-generated exhibitions receive. That has included an artist forum, classes and workshops led by exhibiting artists, and source cabinets that show some of the things that have inspired various exhibitors. As is done with juried SCC exhibitions, the jurors designed a hands-on activity available free to visitors of all ages in the Drop-In Studio.
To the AAP's credit, this volunteer organization continues to publish an exhibition catalog, including color illustrations of the artworks and a membership list, that is useful to visitors and participants, and as an archive (suggested donation $5). It also serves the important function of memorializing members who died within the year, the only such acknowledgment since the group stopped including a work by each in a usually separate area of the exhibition.
Members who died in 2010, after the last Annual was held, are J. Robert Bruya, Paul J. Dadowski Sr., Phyllis P. Kindler, Ruth E. Levine and Mark Parrish, and in 2011, Carolyn L. Coyle, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Rita Martin Green, David A. Ludwig and Ralph C. Welsh, III. Also remembered is Paul Kolesar, whose 1983 death in Virginia the Associated just learned of.
President Wesley Smith writes in the catalog that the AAP has begun fund raising to "lease and adapt a large and very exciting exhibition space" and will be offering more workshops and member social events. The group is also interviewing for a full-time executive director, developing earned income strategies, updating its website and beginning a re-branding and marketing campaign. Developing partnerships, and collaboration such as the one with SCC, is another of their goals.
Maintaining the viability of an arts organization over decades requires constant tending and the ability to reexamine itself while staying ahead of changing tastes and needs. An exhibition/catalog that members may want to look at, "The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America's Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011)," at Westmoreland Museum of American Art, speaks about the challenges the colony has faced as culture and place have changed. It, too, holds an annual exhibition, begun in 1914, three years after the AAP which claims to be the oldest continually exhibiting arts organization in the country.
Judging from the goals outlined by Mr. Smith, it looks like the AAP is up to the task.
The Annual has been extended to Jan. 19 at 2100 Smallman St., Strip District. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They will be open Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5. Information: 412-261-7003 or www.contemporarycraft.org.
First Published: January 11, 2012, 10:00 a.m.
