Two events will be held next week to inaugurate the new location of the Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation at the Ice House Studios, 100 43rd St., Unit 114, Lawrenceville (15201). Both are free and public.
Mrs. Gruber, who was born in 1918 and died in 2011, was a prominent Pittsburgh artist who was named one of a select group of Pittsburgh Master Visual Artists in 1993. A 1940 graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), her expression evolved from abstract painting to kinetic sculpture and later photography.
The first event will begin with a wine reception and exhibition viewing in the foundation gallery at 5 p.m. Jan. 24. At 6 p.m. there will be remarks by members of the foundation and family including photographer and foundation trustee Terry Gruber, theater producer Jamie deRoy Gruber and Jon Gruber. The gallery and archives will remain open until 8:30 p.m. Attendees are asked to RSVP to studio@aaronel.com by Jan. 20.
An open house will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 25. Reservations are not required.
Mrs. Gruber exhibited internationally and was given a solo retrospective exhibition by the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, in 2013. Her work is included in collections of, among others, The Westmoreland, Carnegie Museum of Art, the Frick Art Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.
Her husband, “Irv,” supported her career, even helping with stretching canvases and driving artwork to exhibitions.
Mr. Gruber, who died two years after his wife at age 98, met Mrs. Gruber at Carnegie Tech, where he received his degree in industrial management. He worked for the National Tube Works, McKeesport, and United Tube Corp., Ellwood City, before becoming president and co-owner of American Forge Manufacturing Co., McKees Rocks.
The foundation was established in 2000, and this is its first public event.
The inaugural exhibition in the gallery will draw primarily on Mrs. Gruber’s work from the 1960s to the 1980s. Included are acrylic and Plexiglas vacuum-formed sculptures, abstract expressionist and minimalist paintings, serigraphs and prints, and wearable sculptural accessories.
Archival materials will also be exhibited, ranging from maquettes for public art commissions to Mrs. Gruber’s material samples.
Ten large-scale steel and aluminum sculptures, crafted in conjunction with American Forge and other fabricators, are installed outside.
In the future, the foundation will hold periodic open studio dates featuring rotating exhibitions and projects.
M. Thomas: mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925.
First Published: January 16, 2020, 3:00 p.m.
