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Resident artists give mixed reviews to Spinning Plate's 'social experiment'
Tuesday, February 13, 2001 By Caroline Abels, Post-Gazette Cultural Arts Writer
It's been two years since the Spinning Plate Artists Lofts opened in Friendship, offering three dozen low-rent apartments to artists seeking inexpensive housing and work space.
The hope at the time was that residents' careers would benefit from the spacious clean apartments and from the financial freedom afforded by the low rent. It also was hoped residents would regularly interact to share knowledge and experiences, and that hallways would hum with artistic activity.
Two years later, reviews from residents are mixed, with some praising the building for advancing their careers and others criticizing it for a lack of community feel.
But in this, the Spinning Plate is like any other apartment building in which residents form varying opinions of the place based on their own needs, perceptions and preconceived notions. If any conclusion can be made from residents' experiences, it's that artists do not all think and act alike just because they are artists.
"You throw a group of people together like this, and it becomes a social experiment," says Darcy Trunzo, a Plate resident.
Artists and Cities, the not-for-profit real estate development group that launched the project in 1998, has been relying on a committee to select residents for the building. It turns out that, over the months, the committee has chosen some people who like a lot of social interaction and some who do not.
Claire Padgett is one resident who believes the building lacks spontaneous interaction and a feeling of community. She'd like to see more activities that grow "organically," without committees.
"The organic-ness isn't happening fast enough," Padgett says. "It should happen every day."
Padgett's early efforts to spark activity in the building were not met with enthusiasm, she says. Others say a number of residents keep to themselves while in the building's public spaces.
"I don't expect people to always come over and knock on my door, but I've seen people who don't even say hello in the halls," says resident Brye Holliday. "There were high hopes that we'd all come together and have some sort of commune, but there are all these different and conflicting personalities here."
The "commune" feel would have been difficult to create, residents say, given that the original occupants only met each other for the first time on the day the building opened.
"When you choose this person and this person and this person to live here, and they have nothing in common, it takes a long time for organic growth to occur," Trunzo says.
Becky Burdick and Linda Metropulos, co-directors of Artists and Cities, say they never considered the Plate to be, in Burdick's words, "a utopian space where everyone would think the same." Even though the community aspect of the building is stressed in applicant interviews, Burdick and Metropulos say some residents may have misunderstood the true nature of the place.
There have also been tensions between residents and management. Some apartments are vastly overheated, a problem that is being worked on. There also have been leaky roofs, and two break-ins have occurred.
Still, residents are deeply grateful for the building. Priscilla Pfanstiel says she would have had a difficult time organizing a show of her paintings in an outside gallery but could do so in the Plate's first-floor gallery.
Residents also report more collaboration in recent months. For example, the gallery committee that schedules shows by resident and nonresident artists has been strengthened to the point where the gallery has been booked through the end of the year.
Residents also say there was a good vibe in the building when it was open to the public during December's "Penn Avenue Unblurred," an event introducing people to area galleries. Liaisons with local community groups also have been established.
Even residents who crave more community acknowledge they are sometimes too busy to interact with neighbors to the extent that they would like to. Dean Novotny says his career has demanded more of his time recently.
"If I'm not opening my door all the time, maybe I shouldn't be here anymore," he says. "Maybe I've overstayed my welcome."
Some original residents are planning to move into their own houses. This pleases Burdick and Metropulos, who said two years ago that they hoped the Plate would help artists save money and commit to Pittsburgh through the purchase of a home.
Residents acknowledge it might take more time for the building to find its footing.
"People always say they're glad the building is here," says resident Christina Ferguson. "They always end their criticisms with that."
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