RECAP // Coffee Date with Stephen Bram

Last Saturday, we settled into the Mattress Factory Café to start off a new season of Coffee Dates and chat with Australian artist Stephen Bram, one of the exhibiting artists in the recently opened Factory Installed show. Stephen’s piece, "Third floor West gallery 500 Sampsonia Way," is an architectural installation that uses shifted perspective to create a three dimensional space of smooth white walls and exposed timber.

We started the morning with an insightful discussion about the similarities and differences between Pittsburgh and Stephen’s hometown of Melbourne. As usual, conversation was accompanied by piping-hot coffee from Commonplace Coffeehouse, teas from Arnold’s Tea, and fresh donuts from Priory Bakery. After we had our fill, we headed up into the gallery to see Stephen’s piece and to talk about it in the gallery space. Because the piece had just opened the night before, most members were seeing this room-sized structure for the first time.

Stephen answered numerous questions about the construction and design of his piece. One of his favorite aspects of "Third floor West gallery 500 Sampsonia Way" is the way that the structure interacts with each of the permanent installations that surround it. Whether the pieces deal with perspective, like James Turrell and Sarah Oppenheimer's works, or an autobiographical concept, as with Greer Lankton's work, he appreciates that almost everything on the third floor can connect in some way.

Members, be sure to RSVP for the next Coffee Date this Saturday, October 8^th, with Mohammed Musallam. We hope to see you there!

RECAP // Coffee Date with Kevin Clancy

On August 20th, members filled the Mattress Factory Café for coffee and conversation at the last Coffee Date of the series with 2016 Factory Installed artist Kevin Clancy. Kevin’s piece, IRIS_SIRI, is on display in our gallery at 1414 Monterey Street.

We started out the morning with hot coffee from Commonplace Coffee just around the corner, teas from Arnold’s Tea, and delicious specialty breads from Breadworks Bakery. After a quick introduction, the group headed down to 1414 Monterey to view IRIS_SIRI. After gaining some insight into how he pays homage to other MF Artists like James Turrell and Yayoi Kusama, we asked a couple more questions and then made our way back to the café to continue the discussion. 

Conversation changed quickly from chatting about the cat Kevin lives with (his roommate’s grey tabby) and questions about his background, to how technology and social media are changing how we interact with other people and affecting important global events. We were lucky enough to have a broad range of ages participating in this event, so we heard and assortment of stories and experiences about social media, texting, and time.

Members, look out for a postcard in the mail for the next series of Coffee Dates, starting Saturday, September 17th with Mohammed Musallam. We hope to see you there, and make sure to RSVP! 

RECAP // Coffee Date with Lauren Kalman

Last Saturday, Mattress Factory members met in the Mattress Factory Café to chat with exhibiting artist Lauren Kalman over coffee, bread and tea. Lauren’s piece, Strangers to the Garden, is one of four installations in the Factory Installed show currently exhibited in the 1414 Monterey Street satellite gallery.

Once members made their way out of the rain and into the café, everyone had their fill of breads from BreadWorks Bakery and caffeinated with coffee from Commonplace Coffeehouse and tea from Arnold’s Tea. Lauren gave an overview of her piece and the idea behind her current series But if the Crime is Beautiful… which led to a lively discussion about how she sees jewelry and adornment in general, and how that influences her work. After learning about the process behind creating the 30,000+ gold foil kudzu leaves in her work, which utilized 3D printing during its pressing, we talked about technology and its growing role in even traditional forms of art, such as metalwork and jewelry making.

The highlight of the event was our trip over to 1414 Monterey to see Strangers to the Garden with Lauren. For many of the members, it was their first time seeing the piece. Being able to talk with the artist while taking in her piece in was a great experience for everyone and provided perspective for our discussion in the café.

Members, don't forget to RSVP to join us for the next Coffee Date with Kevin Clancy on Saturday, August 20. We hope to see you there! 

MF Member Summer Guide

Members — don't miss out on the special events we're offering this summer! As part of the benefits of MF Membership, we offer special programming designed with our members in mind.

Select Saturday mornings are reserved for Coffee Dates. Start the weekend off with coffee and conversation with Factory Installed artists — FREE for members! Have questions about the pieces that are currently on exhibit? Use this unique opportunity to meet and converse with the artists themselves about it, face-to-face.

Previous Coffee Date with Factory Installed artist Bill Smith

Feel free to bring along non-member guests and/or friends who have paid for the day's admission! (They'll thank you later.)

Upcoming Coffee Dates
July 30: Lauren Kalman
August 20: Kevin Clancy

Not much of a morning person? Check out our all-new series ART AND... taking place on selected Thursdays from 6-8 pm. Raise a glass with us in an intimate evening, featuring an exclusive behind-the-scenes look with exhibiting artists. More than just a lecture, this programming series is designed to get you up close to the works — and to the artists who make them. RSVP to education@mattress.org as space is limited!

Upcoming ART AND...
August 18: Kevin Clancy
September 15: Dennis Maher
October 6: Mohammed Musallam

While you're in the galleries, make sure to stop by the MF Shop and Café to use your membership 10% discount! We have a great curated collection of one-of-a-kind limited edition artists prints and books, museum catalogs, MF logowear and unique housewares for you to choose from. And due to popular demand, we've now expanded our hours to six days a week. So now you can enjoy our delicious summer menu, with soup, salads, sandwiches and entrees from Coca Café, every day the museum is open. Or just drop by when you have the time — museum admission is not required to shop or dine!

These are just some of the experiences and benefits that you, as a Member, can enjoy at the Mattress Factory this summer. We're always looking to expand on the opportunities that we offer you in exchange for your valued support.

If you're not a Member yet and don't want to miss, join today and be a part of the art!

RECAP // Coffee Date with David Bowen

On Saturday, May 21, members joined artist David Bowen for a cozy discussion in the Mattress Factory café. David’s work SPACEJUNK premiered only the day before at the 2016 Factory Installed exhibition, allowing members to be among the very first to learn about the process behind the creation of SPACEJUNK!

David uses robotics, sensors and custom-built software to explore the intersections between natural and mechanical systems. He kicked off the discussion by sharing some of his previous works, including Tele-Present Water, an installation that replicated the movement and intensity of water based on data from a buoy adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

This idea of communicating a remote experience using data is also echoed in David’s work at the Mattress Factory. He explained that there are over 500,000 pieces of human-made space debris circling the earth! These can range from spent rocket bodies, satellites, to tools from previous space missions. David talked about his fascination with the subject, how “so much energy was put into launching these things, and yet now they are in this state of slow decay.”

David designed a program to scrape data from a website that tracks the orbiting human-made debris. Then he built 50 machines to point twigs in unison towards the oldest piece currently above the horizon. What results is a mesmerizing (and sometimes startling!) display that is constantly changing as debris appear and disappear beyond the horizon.

Up close to the works, members got to ask David all sorts of questions about the process of putting together the installation and the different components of the piece. “I love learning about such completely unexpected things like this and seeing the overlap with art and technology," one member shared.

Join us for our next Coffee Date with Lauren Kalman on Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 10:30am.

RECAP // Coffee Date with Wendy Judge

This Saturday, Mattress Factory members kicked of the new season of Coffee Dates with Irish artist Wendy Judge. Wendy is based in Dublin, but has been living in the Mexican War Streets in the Mattress Factory's Artist Residency space around the corner from the museum for the past month and a half. Wendy is one of four artists in the Mattress Factory's upcoming show Factory Installed that opens on Friday, May 20 at the museum's satellite gallery at 1414 Monterey Street.

Members trickled in to the Mattress Factory Café to be greeted by hot coffee and tea, courtesy of Commonplace Coffee located around the corner on Buena Vista, and Arnold's Tea on East Ohio. Breadworks Bakery rounded out breakfast with a selection of their specialty breads.

After everyone made their introductions, Wendy decided to take the members over to her working studio on 1414 Monterey Street. With just under two weeks until her opening, members had the private experience of seeing Wendy's installation in progress. "It's like looking into her mind," one member commented. Wendy described her work using phrases like "armchair travel" and "looking through a pair of backwards binoculars." Her sculpture--a now construction zone filled with plywood, blue foam board and grey paint--will soon morph into a beautiful landscape, a topographical study of land and earth. Wendy focused on strip mining in West Virginia as source material for her installation. Photographs of a recent trip to West Virginia line the walls of her gallery space. "I'm interested in the scarring that occurs on the land after strip mining," Wendy said. "The land reflects so much trauma in these pictures." MF members chimed in with their own stories and relationships to mining in the region. Wendy described her practice as "drawing in space." She uses no technology when rendering her sculptures. "It's actually quite an irrational practice, I guess."

Wendy's installation, yet to be titled, opens Friday, May 20 at the Mattress Factory's 1414 Monterey Street Gallery as part of Factory Installed. The Opening Reception is from 6-8pm. $15 or FREE for MF Members, and students with valid ID from CMU and Point Park.

Join us for our next Coffee Date with David Bohen on Saturday, May 21 at 10:30am.

Not a member? Join today!

RECAP // Coffee Date with Lisa Sigal

"Being commissioned here has been one of the best experiences I've had." - Lisa Sigal

Factory Installed artist Lisa Sigal began her Saturday morning Coffee Date sharing her experience at the Mattress Factory's artist-in-residence program. As an artist who has shown works at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA P.S.1, The International Biennial in New Orleans, and participated in artist residencies across the nation, Lisa was able to reflect on the aspects of the Mattress Factory that set it apart.

"Usually at art institutions, they say 'Here are the parameters, the limitations, the budget," Lisa explained. "But here, when I asked 'What are the limitations?,' the answer was 'we don't usually tell you - we start with the vision and we work from there.'"

With a smile, Lisa continued, "Nothing was out of the question." In such an environment, she felt she could experiment more freely, without having to articulate each step of the process or be too afraid of making mistakes.

The conversation soon shifted towards the inspirations and concepts that Lisa explored in her work "Break it Down." She explained that she wanted to "flip the terms" and make the typically unseen (walls, sheet rock, and other architectural barriers) seen. The artist described her piece as a more "minimal" and "elegant" exploration of formal elements compared to her previous works. However, it still grew out of her interests in the architecture and structures underlying social spaces.

In particular, Lisa highlighted "Burning," a public art installation she created at Propect.3 New Orleans. She was interested in the blighted houses as structures underlying the social inequalities of the New Orleans neighborhood, but also wanted to create a work sensitive to the local community. The final piece involved displaying text fragments from the play "Burning" by Suzan-Lori Parks on the exteriors of vacant homes, allowing passersby to read the unfolding story as they walk by.

This was the last edition of this year's Coffee Date series! Thank you to everyone who attended and made these discussions such warm and friendly meetings. This Member-Exclusive series will continue next year with our next artists-in-residence. We hope to see you all again soon!

For more information or to become a member and attend the Coffee Dates series, please visit www.mattress.org.

RECAP // Member Appreciation Week!

We know that members are a vital and vibrant part of the Mattress Factory, which is why from November 3 - 8, the museum held its first ever Member Appreciation Week! The special week-long celebration of our members featured daily events and special deals.

We kicked off the week with special members-only discounts for membership purchases, in the MF Shop, and the MF Café!

On Tuesday, members of all ages explored their creative side during Household Membership Day. Artistic creations included buttons, magnets, and colorful collages.

Members exploring James Turrell's Danaë

Next up was the Hump Day Members Mixer, where members and friends got to explore the museum after-hours through a Scavenger Hunt and exclusive tour of the latest exhibition Factory Installed, led by museum Co-Director Michael Olijnyk.

Not to mention a smorgasbord of goodies, including pretzels from The Pretzel Shop and beer courtesy of Penn Brewery!

Members enjoying snacks and drinks @ 500 Sampsonia

On Thursday was the next installment of MF's popular Art + Conversation series, with Factory Installed artist Bill Smith. Members, in addition to their usual free admission to the series, enjoyed complimentary drinks while participating in a discussion between Bill Smith and Eddy Man Kim, a professor at the CMU School of Architecture.

Free Friend Friday - need we say more? Members were able to bring guests to the museum for FREE - what a perfect start to the weekend!

Finally, we wrapped up the week with our Saturday Coffee Date with Bill Smith. Bagels, pastries, donuts, croissants, fruit, a full espresso bar, Zeke's Coffee, and Arnold's Tea ... just to name some of the things served at this breakfast bonanza!

The chat with Bill was similarly a diverse cornucopia of topics, including the intuitive construction of his installation, "spherodendron," x-ray crystallography, and the relationship between science, the arts, and the humanities.

Thank you again to everyone that participated in Member Appreciation Week! Stay tuned for our next members' event on November 21 - a Coffee Date with "Factory Installed" artist Lisa Sigal. RSVP by emailing caitlin@mattress.org. For more information or to become a member, please visit www.mattress.org.

RECAP // Coffee Date with John Morris

Saturday, October 24, 2015

MF members joined Pittsburgh-based artist John Morris this past Saturday for another edition of the Mattress Factory’s Coffee Date series, where art talk and breakfast treats go hand-in-hand. John Morris’ work “Life, Afterlife” is currently exhibiting at 1414 Monterey Street as part of 2015's Factory Installed exhibition.

John describes himself as a life-long doodler, and “Life, Afterlife” as an evolution of his doodles and earlier two-dimensional drawings. He studied at the Pratt Institute in New York, where he primarily focused on commercial illustration. As his artistic experimentation progressed, he began to see paper as a barrier. His current creative process is the result of eliminating paper and his unique three-dimensional drawing techniques. 

Members discovered that the installation's translucent menagerie of utensils, drooping bottles, and other objects are not made out of glass, but actually acrylic medium. John draws using clear acrylic medium on glass and then peels it off, creating cast objects evocative of “glass antiquities” as one member put it. These objects also respond to gravity, slowly wilting, transforming and distorting over time.

A talented member shares her sketch from the Coffee Date.

Other fascinating tidbits include:

• It took three weeks for John to install “Life, Afterlife.”
• Most objects were actually found/created beforehand, and then transported to the Mattress Factory in a cabinet that MF staff member Caitlin Harpster described as a “very orderly, surprising source of chaos.”
• John’s sources of inspiration over the course of his artistic career range from Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel to Beatriz Milhazes.

Want to learn the insider’s story behind other Mattress Factory art works? Join us for our next Coffee Date on November 7 with Bill Smith! This is a special edition Coffee Date, where a full breakfast bonanza will be served as part of our Member Appreciation Week, a week-long celebration featuring member-exclusive programming and discount prices on memberships!

RECAP // Coffee Date with Anne Lindberg

On Saturday, October 17, MF members escaped the chilly autumn winds for a cozy breakfast chat with artist Anne Lindberg. Anne, whose work "shift lens" is on view now at1414 Monterey Street as part of the 2015 Factory Installed exhibition, shared delightful anecdotes ranging from her experiences at the Mattress Factory to the genesis of her striking thread-installation works.

Members learned that "shift lens" was the first time Anne worked with daylight as an active component of her artwork. The installation process, which took a team of three people and only five days, involved responding to the ever-changing quality of light in the space, through choice of color and placement of thread. Barbara Luderowski and Michael Olijnyk, co-directors of the Mattress Factory, also shared insights into the building’s domestic history.

In between donut bites and sips of pumpkin-spice flavored tea, members peppered Anne with more questions regarding her previous works. One member asked Anne specifically about her 2005 piece Democracy, which drew from the political climate surrounding the Iraq War. Another person asked about her two-dimensional graphite drawings (which actually involve a custom-built 10-foot drawing board!).

Yet another member brought up the synesthetic qualities of "shift lens," which was well highlighted by the recent Art + Conversation, where Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cellist Mikhail Istomin played a unique accompaniment to Anne's piece.

Interested in asking Mattress Factory artists your own questions? Check out the upcoming Coffee Date with John Morris this coming Saturday, October 24! RSVP by emailing caitlin@mattress.org. For more information or to become a member, please visit www.mattress.org. 

Coffee and tea was provided courtesy of Zeke’s Coffee and Arnold’s Tea.

RECAP // Coffee Date with Rob Voerman

Factory Installed, an exhibition at 500 Sampsonia Way featuring all-new works by artists Lisa Sigal, Bill Smith, Rob Voerman and Marnie Weber, opened on Friday, September 18. On Saturday morning, Dutch artist Rob Voerman met with Mattress Factory members for a hot beverage (courtesy of Zeke's Coffee and Arnold's Tea) and conversation.

Rob Voerman's installation "Faculty" on the fourth floor of the Mattress Factory.

"Faculty," Voerman's installation on the fourth floor of the Mattress Factory, reflects one of Pittsburgh's most famous landmarks, the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning which features unique nationality rooms highlighting different cultures from around the world. Voerman's sculpture resembles what looks to be a fragment of that building with one-way mirrors for windows. One member touched on this aspect, referring to the windows as interrogation glass. She noted how it looks so different from the outside than it does on the inside.

Rob Voerman (right) explaining how he works as an artist.

Constructed out of wood and cardboard, Voerman explained how he's always worked with everyday materials. He went on to explain how he makes a cardboard model first, but always ends up changing things when be begins the building process.

Rob Voerman's installation will be on view through Spring 2016.

Don't miss our next Coffee Date with artist Anne Lindberg on October 17. For more information or to become a member, please visit www.mattress.org.

RECAP // Coffee Date with Marnie Weber

This past Saturday, MF Members joined Factory Installed artist Marnie Weber for a special behind-the-scenes Coffee Date. Marnie is in the process of creating her installation "Night Train" in the Lower Level of the museum's main building at 500 Sampsonia Way. Her installation will be part of the museum's upcoming exhibition, Factory Installed, featuring four artists from around the globe. The Factory Installed Opening Reception will be held Friday, September 18 from 6-8pm.

Marnie gave a brief overview of her practice and her experience working with galleries located in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London and Athens, Greece. Marnie is building a train in the Lower Level and explained her fascination with trains began at a very early age when she lived for a year in Taiwan next to a steam engine. "Night Train" will be accompanied by many effigies or spirit totems, as Marnie likes to call them. These spirit totems are created by manipulating found objects such as masks and wigs, and sculpting them to give a monster-like appearance. "I like to work with monsters because no females tend to work with monsters. It's more of a man's thing," Marnie explained.

 

After the introduction, Marnie toured the group through her partially installed work, explaining that it will look completely different in a few weeks when the exhibition opens. Marnie is also a musician and is composing a soundtrack that will be played on a loop in the installation. "The lighting will also be totally different," Marnie made sure to tell everyone. "It will be more theatrical!"

Marnie Weber's "Night Train" opens as part of Factory Installed on September 18 and will be open through Spring 2016.

For more information about upcoming Coffee Dates or to become a member, visit our website at www.mattress.org.

RECAP // Coffee Date with Jacob Douenias + Ethan Frier

On August 1, Jacob Douenias and Ethan Frier hosted a Coffee Date at the Mattress Factory's satellite gallery at 1414 Monterey Street where their installation "Living Things" occupies the entire first floor. Jacob and Ethan are alumni from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture and School of Design, respectively.

Their installation is set as though you're walking into a home. A seating area equipped with a rug and coffee table greet you as you first enter the room, and a table and black and white tiled floor are positioned at the rear with a desk roped off to the left. Jacob and Ethan choose to host their Coffee Date in their installation, as opposed to the MF Café where previous Coffee Dates are typically held. MF Members were invited to sit down and use the coffee table, as Jacob and Ethan made themselves available to answer questions.

Jacob and Ethan opened up the roped off desk on the left-hand side of the room to demonstrate to MF Members how their installation was operating. It is indeed a "living thing," with the algae growing in the basement of the museum (not on view) and being pumped and siphoned to the glass orbs controlled by a series of white knobs embedded in the wooden desk.

Don't miss our next behind-the-scenes Coffee Date with upcoming artist Marnie Weber on August 15 at 10:30am. Marnie's installation opens as Part II of Factory Installed on September 19.

For more information about Coffee Dates or to become a member, please visit our website at www.mattress.org.

RECAP // Coffee Date with Julie Schenkelberg

This past Saturday, MF Members attended a special behind-the-scenes Coffee Date with upcoming artist in residence, Julie Schenkelberg.

A Brooklyn-based Cleveland native, Julie has been living at the Mattress Factory for the last four weeks in the artist residence around the corner from the museum. During the last month, Julie has been working on her installation on the second floor of the Mattress Factory's 1414 Monterey Street gallery. MF Members had the exclusive opportunity to meet Julie and see her work in progress.

Julie Schenkelberg shows MF Members around her work in progress

Julie's materials: Stacks of china filled the neighboring gallery

Julie was very warm and open as MF Members began to flutter into her partially-completed installation. With a warning to watch where you step, Members immediately began asking questions.

After a walk-through of Julie's installation, she led the group into the next room which she called her "storage space."

MF Members enjoy a cup of coffee

The Coffee Date concluded with coffee, donuts and discussion. We learned that Julie uses domestic objects from the home, evoking "a dignity about the living space," as Julie put it. Laura Zurowski, a MF Member, commented on how her work, however messy, really does feel like a home. It reminded her of abandoned houses and all the things that might be left behind. Julie explained that all her materials were from Pittsburgh. She found them at Construction Junction, thrift stores, and donations from MF staff and others. [If you would like to contribute items from your own home for use in Julie's installation at the Mattress Factory, please see this post!]

Join us Friday, May 15, 2015 6-8PM for the opening of Julie Schenkelberg's installation, as part of our Factory Installed exhibition also featuring Jacob Douenias & Ethan Frier, Anne Lindberg and John Morris. $15 or FREE for MF Members.

RECAP // Coffee Date with John Peña

MF Members gathered around the tables in the MF Café this past Saturday to have a conversation with artist John Peña!

The chat naturally revolved around the making of John's "Word Balloons," on view through May 31 at the museum. Over the duration of a cup or two of coffee, John explained how the word balloons evolved from a project he began over a decade ago called "Letters to the Ocean." Since 2003, John has written over 3,000 letters to the Pacific Ocean about his daily happenings. John sometimes included private drawings to accompany these letters. Hiding these drawings in a letter addressed to the Pacific Ocean, John explained, was a way to express himself without exposing himself. "Eventually I realized I was censoring myself," John explained. So he decided to stop hiding his drawings in letters that would never be opened. "Daily Geology" is a compilation of all his drawings from 2014. The phrase "Sometimes I just don't know how to be in the world," written on one of the two word balloons John created for the Mattress Factory, was taken directly from one of John's daily drawings.

The next Coffee Date will be Saturday, May 2, 2015 with upcoming artist in residence, Julie Schenkelberg. This Coffee Date will take place in our 1414 Monterey Street gallery. Please RSVP to Caitlin Harpster, Development & Membership Coordinator.

Not a member? Join today!

RECAP // Coffee Dates with Kathleen Montgomery

This past Saturday, March 21st, marked the second installment of the Mattress Factory's new member program Coffee Dates with special guest Kathleen Montgomery. MF Members of all ages gathered around the tables in the MF Café to sit and chat with her.

Kathleen Montgomery is one of the artists in the Mattress Factory's current exhibition Artists in Residence. Her exhibition, "Body Memory Architecture" is located at the museum's satellite gallery 1414 Monterey Street. Kathy's exhibition closes March 29th. She is a long-time friend of the Mattress Factory that first exhibited at the MF in 1989 with a solo show "Toward the Dark," and again in a Gestures show in 2003. More information about these exhibitions can be found in the Active Archive on our website.

After everyone got settled with their coffee and tea, the conversation was quick to begin with an opening comment by Kathleen regarding how she begins her artistic process. "It's all made by hand. My hands are where I start," she said. Members were eager to jump in, drawing their own connections to the human form and body. One member made the comment that the exhibition felt "meditative and spiritual." Another referred to it as "beautifully wild." Another member said she was speechless.

The next Coffee Date will be with artist John Peña on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 10:30am in the MF Café. RSVP to caitlin@mattress.org.

RECAP // Coffee Dates with Benjamin Sota

Saturday, February 14th marked the first edition of Coffee Dates, with special guest Benjamin Sota. MF Members made their way through the snow to the museum to enjoy a warm cup of coffee with Ben.

Benjamin Sota is an artist presenting work in the Mattress Factory's current exhibition Artists in Residence, on view through Spring 2015. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Zany Umbrella Circus; an Assistant Professor of physical theater, movement and circus at Coastal Carolina University; and has taught and performed in places such as Jordan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and the White House.

After introductions, Benjamin began the Coffee Date with a story about the history of circus. He talked about his many experiences traveling the globe and the idea of "social circus." Members got to hear his side of his experience working at the Mattress Factory. Explaining that his work on the fourth floor, Damn Everything But the Circus (2014), is his first installation, he says, "I've never felt so uncomfortable as an artist. As a performer all my life, I have always been the artwork. But here, I am not the artwork. My installation is."

Join us for our next Coffee Date with Kathleen Montgomery, Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 10:30am in the MF Café. RSVP to caitlin@mattress.org.

ANNOUNCING // New Event Series for MF Members!

Have you ever wanted to sit down with a Mattress Factory artist and pick their brain? Do you have a bunch of questions you'd like to ask them? How did you make this? How long did it take you? What does it mean? Well, here is your chance!

Introducing Coffee Dates -- a FREE new event series that allows members to have coffee with an exhibiting MF artist. Join us on select Saturday mornings from 10:30-11:30am in the MF Café and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with MF artists.

Mark your calendars for Coffee Dates with Artist in Residence artists:

• February 14:  Coffee with Benjamin Sota
• March 21:  Coffee with Kathleen Montgomery
• April 18:  Coffee with John Peña

We encourage you to arrive to museum at 10am to see the artist's installation on your own (if you haven't already) before your Coffee Date begins. A free drop-in tour will follow Kathleen Montgomery's and John Peña's Coffee Dates.

Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity to get to know your favorite artists!

This series is FREE for MF Members. Members are allowed to bring guests. Guests pay cost of admission.

Please RSVP to Caitlin Harpster, Development & Membership Coordinator, by calling 412.231.3169 or e-mailing caitlin@mattress.org. Space is limited. Coffee and tea are provided.

Not a member? Join today.