Museum Studies Intern at the Office of Public Art - Fall 2018
One of the best and most valuable opportunities I had during my internship was the chance to interview Carol R. Brown, the former President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Carol R. Brown was a member of the committee that commissioned a piece by Sol LeWitt in the Wood Street T Station titled Thirteen Geometric Figures. Brown and I discussed the selection process of artists for public art commissions and spoke about several of the other pieces of artwork around Pittsburgh. I was particularly excited for this interview because of Brown’s former position in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and her accomplishments for the arts in the city.
Brown was responsible for raising fund for the project in the private sector. The Port Authority was responsible for the construction costs and the committee would secure the private funds necessary to match the Port Authority funds. Brown met with Jack Heinz, the head of the Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Corporation at the time. Heinz loved the arts and ended up talking to Brown for two hours and ultimately gave the committee the quarter of a million they needed. During the installation process, LeWitt worked with the architects to ensure that the connection between his artwork and the light rail station was seamless.
Interning for the Greater Pittsburgh Art Council has opened my eyes to the vast amount of artwork around downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland. My main responsibility this semester was visiting ten different public art sites in these specific areas and writing about them for the Art Places section of the Greater Pittsburgh Art Council website. Rachel Klipa, Program Manager for the Office of Public Art, was my mentor and the person to whom I reported. Once my submissions were submitted to her, Rachel would edit and then approve my writings once they were revised. Some of the Art Places Profiles I produced include the Westinghouse Memorial in Schenley Park, To Pittsburgh by Jenny Holzer in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and the Edward Manning Bigelow statue in front of Phipps Conservatory.