RECAP // After School @ The Factory: Fall 2014!

The After School program at the Mattress Factory has been awesome this season!

Pittsburgh-based artist Celeste Neuhaus designs projects and activities for the stellar kids enrolled in the fall session, entitled SPACE EXPLORATION. All of the activities center around the museum’s current exhibitions and permanent installations. Each week there is a new exhibit and idea to explore, always focusing on mind how we experience the space around us.

Each week when the After School students visit the museum they are considering what installation art is and how different artists use space.

Each day in After School follows a pattern. The students arrive and sit down for snacks and homework time together before visiting a new exhibit, discussing the work, and then making works of our own inspired by the installation. The students have been exploring the museum, thinking critically about the work, and translating ideas into their own installation-inspired art each week--it has been a blast!

Students have had a great time visiting a different exhibit each week. So far they have made up stories about who might live in RyderHenry’s fantastical city, created their own Yayoi Kusama inspired polka dot installations, and even had a sit-down discussion with the artist Danny Bracken after experiencing the double rainbow in his installation What Does It Mean?

As this session is drawing to an end, the kids are getting more and more excited about the Celebration held the last day of the fall session, the students invite their friends and family into the museum to see all the amazing art they have been working on and the installations they have been seeing and interacting with each week.

It is sad to see the term ending but we know we will have an amazing adventure with After School in the Winter and Spring of next year! 

2014 Annual Giving

We love saying yes to artists.

The Mattress Factory is a place like no other--our mission is to support living artists from all around the world as they create room-sized installation art in our three gallery buildings on the North Side of Pittsburgh. Artists come here to experiment, take risks and create art that is only possible at the Mattress Factory.

In 2013 the museum supported new work by 19 regional, national and international artists. Your support makes all the difference!

• Artist Chiharu Shiota used 500,000 feet of yarn to create Trace of Memory. That's nearly 95 miles of yarn.
• Pickles and pretzels for snack for our after school program Afternoons @ the Factory cost $50 per week.
• Over $13,000 worth of concrete was used to complete the renovation of our newest gallery on 516 Sampsonia Way.
• Our hot chocolate bar on Family Day runs up a tab of $75.

Every donation, big or small, helps us say yes to artists. With your support the Mattress Factory will continue to give artists the space, resources, freedom and permission to create.

So donate today, because even a little helps us say yes to a lot.

After-School Program Launches at the Mattress Factory

For 12 weeks, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders from Pittsburgh Allegheny Traditional K-5 are spending their Wednesday afternoons at the Mattress Factory with artist Ben Sota of the Zany Umbrella Circus!

Install: Afternoons at the Factory, funded by the Keith Haring Foundation, is a continuation of the Mattress Factory’s Summer Community Art Labs. The students participating in this free after-school program will experience an intensive exploration of the galleries that goes beyond the scope of a regular afternoon field trip. Led by Ben and Mattress Factory museum educators, students will engage in thoughtful discussion in the galleries that will inform collaborative art projects. Students will also spend some time completing their homework and enjoying some healthy snacks! Current special snack requests: pickles, pretzels, and pineapple. If you think their food tastes are pretty creative, then you should look forward to the art projects they create in the next few months!

The education model at the Mattress Factory seeks to mirror the exhibition model of its resident artists: providing a lab for artists to experiment, take risks, and explore their own artistic practice. The result is site-specific work that connects the artists and their work to the neighborhood. The after-school students, as residents of the neighborhood, get the chance to explore and engage directly with the museum, taking ownership of the institution as a community resource. The Mattress Factory Education Department hopes this program will help promote community engagement and showcase the unique education opportunities available to it’s North Side neighbors.

We’re looking forward to what Ben and the Allegheny Traditional students create!

Stay posted to find out about other Educational Opportunities. Feel free to be in touch with our Director of Education at Felice@mattress.org for more information about our winter and spring after school programs or other educational opportunities.