Compass Roses at the Three Rivers Arts Festival

The Compass Roses project, a part of the (virtual) Three Rivers Arts Festival, is a compilation of artist submitted maps of Pittsburgh, curated by Nadine Wasserman and Renee Piechocki.

The maps were created by a diverse group of artists, and cover topics such as places to cry by yourself downtown, to a bike tour of places in and around Downtown that highlighted notable places of resistance movements, strikes, and uprisings, to documenting Native Americans in the Strip District.

From the Compass Roses curator: Maps by Artists offers a selection of maps created by visual, literary, and performing artists. For each map, the artists were asked to consider and interpret Pittsburgh in any way they wished. The content of each map is therefore unique and might contain readily recognizable places or imaginary ones or those that have been forgotten or are unfamiliar. In this city of neighborhoods held together by roads, bridges, tunnels, stairways and walkways, this project invites a journey of discovery in which people can traverse, wander, wonder, reflect and share, using an artist’s map as a guide.

While currently part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, the project will be archived here: https://compassroses.art/

I’ll probably end up posting about individual pieces in the future.

Mario Zucca’s Pittsburgh Map Illustration

Wow! So great. Go and Pre-order a print now!

While you’re over there, go and check out a bunch of his other illustrations. Lots of Pittsburgh content.

Laser Cut Inlay map of Pittsburgh

Beautiful

Detail

This is a laser-cut map of Pittsburgh. Awesome.

Click the images to enlarge.

Materials: 1/4″ Birch (roads and framing), 1/4″ Walnut (rivers), 1/4″ Padauk (parks), 1/8″ Cast Acrylic (faceplate), Linen (map background)

By Nico Paris

Painting 90 Pittsburgh Neighborhoods: Ron Donoughe

Central Northside, by Ron Donoughe

Lawrenceville based artist, Ron Donoughe, intends to visit 90 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh over the next year. During those visits he “will be creating a visual time capsule of paintings and experiences that will be shared” on his blog. He often meets people while out painting, and will write little bits about his experience as well.

This is a really cool project.  I love Ron’s paintings, where he’s able to take something mundane like a highway overpass, and turn it into something beautiful. Of course, his paintings of neighborhood streets are incredible in the way it makes you feel like you are in the landscape.

Really excited to see what this project brings about.  Check it out!

Pittsburgh’s Outdoor Murals and Art

This labor of love was painstakingly put together while, according to the creators, “biking in the ‘Burgh.” It truly is an incredible resource cataloging all of the murals and public art in and around the city. You can spend hours clicking on images, learning who the artist is, but you’re better off using this as a basis for your own tour to see these works in person.

Incredibly, the creators began this project only a year ago, in January of 2012, and still managed to see each and every one of these murals in person, by bike. I’d really be interested to know if they tracked their miles as well.

I have to admit, I was really impressed that they found one of my favorite murals, the rogue Garfield Gator, and were able to tell the sweet story behind it.

They are also soliciting commentary to help fill in the gaps for unknown artists, as well as stories behind the work. Likewise, if you know of any murals that didn’t make this list, please let them know.

Please visit www.pghmurals.com and explore away!

Bravo!

Locally Toned – Ringtones from the sounds of Pittsburgh, PA

Map of the recordings

Locally Toned is a really cool project that takes the sounds of Pittsburgh, and turns them into ringtones available for a free download.

Check it aht!

Diptych drawing

Click to make BIG

A diptych ( /ˈdɪptɪk/; from the Greek δίπτυχον,^[1] di “two” + ptychē “fold”) is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge.

This awesome drawing/print is a limited edition available on etsy

Some modern artists have used the term in the title of works consisting of two paintings never actually connected, but intended to be hung close together as a pair, such as Pittsburgher Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych (1962)- a modern pop culture icon.

Neighborhood Map Print

Click to make BIG

A rad neighborhood print from Peaceful Traveler.  You can purchase a copy on their site HERE.