Blogs

Though people walk by public works of art every day, information about them is often not easily accessible to the average passerby. Many people come to recognize works of public art based only on their appearance, but have no means to easily understand their history, origin, and significance of its particular location. I wanted to learn more about how the general public experiences art, while working on a project that will make information more accessible.

Picture the ground floor of Posvar Hall. Continuous renovations have turned old and dusty sitting areas into contemporary study spots and cultural education areas. A long, open area leads to multiple doorways and elevators upstairs. Now picture all six artworks that decorate that space. Can you think of all of them? And if you can, how many of them can you name?

When exploring the hallowed halls of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, guests might expect to find themselves enraptured by dinosaur skeletons, mesmerized by walls of butterfly and beetle displays, or have their breath taken away by award-winning nature photography. But, as a conservation intern, I focused my personal queries on the “yucky” stuff – unwelcome creepy crawlies, dust bunnies, and the powdery remains of historical vomit!

You might expect a Holocaust center to be a solemn, distressing space. However, while the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh takes its subject matter very seriously, it is quite the opposite.