MF at 35: Barbara Luderowski

We're celebrating a big milestone in 2013: the Mattress Factory's 35th anniversary! Our office has been abuzz with all of the wonderful things to come: our 35th Anniversary Bash next week, our Urban Garden Party: Soul Factory and Community Garden Party in June, the summer opening of our new building at 516 Sampsonia Way with an installation by Chiharu Shiota, our fall exhibitions Detroit Artists in Residence and Janine Antoni, as well as our 35th Anniversary Art Auction in October. So much is in front of us, we sometimes forget to look back at how we got here. If you know about the Mattress Factory, then you know about our founder, president and co-director Barbara Luderowski. Barbara, an artist herself, has a story for every year this museum has been alive. And then some. We caught her this week and asked her to talk about how the MF came to be, and this is what she had to say:

When I bought the Mattress Factory building 35 years ago, I had no idea that this is what it would end up being. 

I was looking for a new space, because I had just had a show at the Carnegie Museum and I was seeking a bigger studio. As a sculptor, I envisioned a place where I could work with other artists, because at the time, Pittsburgh didn’t have a strong identity as a city with a community of artists. I came across this huge empty building, which had formerly been a Sterns & Foster mattress factory. 

In the very early days, artists rented studios throughout the building, and we started a vegetarian co-operative restaurant to bring many different people together. We had a little bit of everything, good food, performance art, visual art, experimental theater, even a children’s theater group. There was a lot going on all over the place. It was a true collaboration.

I had absolutely no recognition, at all, that I was biting off more than I could chew. I just did it anyway. I didn’t have some grand vision all those years ago—I was just trying to create a place where I wanted to be, with other creative people. That place didn’t exist, so together we made it happen.

Even as we began to focus on installation art, we didn’t set out to become a museum. It happened organically. It came out of the energy of the art—the intersection of art and sculpture and architecture and sound and space and light. There wasn’t an end destination in mind. It has always been about the journey.

I got sucked in because it was a challenge, and it was a way to combine my interests in contemporary art, architecture, design, community development, and collaborating with other artists. When people said it couldn’t be done, we did it anyway. If we stumbled upon a problem, we went about solving it our own way.

Now, 35 years later, all I can say is, “to be continued…”

     

     Barbara Luderowski

     President and Co-Director

 

    

2013 URBAN GARDEN PARTY: SOUL FACTORY

2013 URBAN GARDEN PARTY
SOUL FACTORY: MOTOWN AT THE MUSEUM
Friday, June 21, 2013
VIP 6PM | $250 ($200 for MF Members; email us for code)
GENERAL ADMISSION 7-11PM | $100 ($75 for MF Members; email us for code)

Join us Friday, June 21 for the Mattress Factory's signature fundraiser, the Urban Garden Party, chaired by Anne and Anuj Dhanda. The Urban Garden Party is the premier social event of the year, drawing more than 1,300 attendees to help support the museum's mission in a festive atmosphere. Marking the museum's 35th year in Pittsburgh's North Side in 2013 and looking ahead to our fall exhibition, Detroit: Artists in Residence, we look back to the innovative drive and unrelenting spirit surrounding our founding decades ago and recognize a kindred spirit in Motown--a place, a people and a sound that move us to celebrate ingenuity. Come groove the night away with us and toast to the creative minds that have become the heart & soul of the city! 

General admission tickets get you into the hottest party of the year in the Mattress Factory's unique garden, with live entertainment, open bar, fare from over 40 food vendors and hobnobbing with Pittsburgh's art elite! VIP tickets open the doors to the exclusive VIP pre-party from 6 - 7:30pm, and then offer you access to the VIP Lounge--including a private bar, restroom and courtyard for VIPs only--throughout the night. Tickets sell out each year so don't wait!

All proceeds benefit the Mattress Factory’s artistic programs, exhibitions & education outreach.

Developing You Are The Artist!, an iPad app for 3 - 6 year olds

The Mattress Factory is always interested in engaging new audiences and thinking about creative ways for our visitors to engage deeply with our collection and the idea of space. We are also interested in thinking about technology and using it as a tool to challenge visitors to think and experience our space in new ways. This has led to a new project that is made possible by an IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) Sparks! Ignition grant. The first phase of the project is research and content development for an iPad application called You Are The Artist! for children ages three to six years old.

The app will encourage young people to “think like an artist.” The app we will build is not going to be a tool to quiet and entertain students. Instead it will require engagement between the child and parents, grandparents or siblings. The app will also ask the child to look more closely at the world around them and begin to understand how different spaces make them feel and how they can impact the space around them in the world.

We have just begun our research and are very excited about the enthusiasm and response we have received from our community. Many families have graciously donated their time to come and visit the museum and speak with our Museum Educators about that experience. We also hosted an Educator Evening where we invited Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers to tour the galleries and give us feedback about how they think their students would respond to our permanent installations.

We hope to learn more about the questions that parents, students and teachers have for each other while experiencing the Mattress Factory installations. We are gaining a fuller understanding of the learning that takes place in the galleries and how we can deepen that conversation through an iPad app.

The Education Team also hopes to use this valuable research and create other programs and materials for this age group. Experiencing the Mattress Factory at such a young age is an incredible experience and we hope to have more programming focused for 3-6 year olds soon.

In the meantime, if you are interested in helping us with our study, have been to the Mattress Factory and have young children, please take a moment to fill out a brief questionnaire.

--Felice Q. Cleveland, Director of Education

MF CraftFactory: December 15th, 2012

Join us in the MF Lobby on Saturday, December 15th for a special holiday shopping event: the MF CraftFactory! Come explore hand-made arts created by MF Staff members, Educators, and Volunteers. Only $5 admission to the museum!

KitschDitch by Sam Ditch
MF Shop Assistant
A field of flowers, a figure, some glitter and thread. People found in forgotten Kodachrome slides and yellowing photographs. The work of Sam Ditch deals with memory and the forgotten - both in subject matter and material. Second hand fabrics, threads, and embroidery hoops are central to this series, which began in the Fall of 2009. Other wares include colorful modern earrings and vintage-inspired greeting cards.

Sam Ditch is a Bellevue resident, and a 2009 graduate of Slippery Rock University. Sam has exhibited work in the Pittsburgh area and currently has work for sale at Wildcard. She’s a collector of all things kitsch and an avid folk music consumer. When Sam is not making art or searching the thrift stores for materials, she enjoys reading sci-fi paperbacks and spending time with her pet fish, houseplants and her bearded counterpart.

Rose Duggan
MF Volunteer
Rose Duggan is a painter living and working in Pittsburgh who wants to help people find beautiful artwork for their home or business. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allegheny College and now shows her work throughout the area, most recently in the Sweetwater Center for the Arts “Belly of the Beast” exhibition.

Her non-objective works play with two-dimensional space while addressing formal concepts in painting. The result is an exploration of the material distilled to line, color and perspective. In addition to original paintings she sells prints and greeting cards made from photos of her work. Paintings on commission are available. Rose is looking to work with interior designers, business owners and individuals to find artwork that adds joy to lives.

 
Claudia Giannini
MF Grant Writer
Claudia Giannini received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from West Virginia University and studied art history and museum education at Penn State, graduating with a Masters in Education in 1981. She has worked in several museums, including the Smithsonian, the Birmingham Museum of Art and The Carnegie Museum of Art.

Claudia received her Master of Fine Arts degree from West Virginia University in 1999, with specialization in printmaking and photography. She has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for Creative Arts and participated in a residency at Artists Image Resource in Pittsburgh sponsored by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Claudia exhibits widely and recently contributed 13 images to a book, Field Notes from Grief, with text by Judith Stitzel, published in 2012. Her work combines photographic and printmaking techniques, along with other media such as wax, collage, and handmade paper, to create images that explore our connection to the natural world. 

 
Vanessa Kettering
MF Volunteer 
As one of the oldest art forms, ceramics has a versatility shared with few other mediums. Vanessa's work is a conversation in form vs. function. Form, shape and surface decoration are combined to create objects that walk the line between usable and sculpture. Themes include the abstracted vase, drawings etched in clay (a technique she developed herself) and the never ceasing desire to push high-fired stoneware to its physical limits. 

Vanessa Kettering creates her ceramic work at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and is a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. A trained art educator, she works at an after school program in Regent Square and leads art classes for a variety of ages. She speaks some Italian and is studying Japanese language and culture.

War Admiral Press by Shannon Knepper
MF Graphic Designer War Admiral Press specializes in small runs of hand-cranked paper goods, with a touch of olde Pittsburgh. Her Pittsburgh Misses You coasters can be seen about town and her new line of silkscreened holiday cards will be unveiled at the MF CraftFactory. Get yours for the holiday season! 

Nathan Lorenzo
MF Gallery Attendant, Visitor Services
Hi! My name is Nathan Lorenzo and with my art I strive to translate sounds into visuals. Although I typically work in digital mediums I will be offering several original drawings in ink, colored pencil, and graphite, for sale at the CraftFactory.

Please check out more of my work on my tumblr or feel free to contact me anytime for more information.   
cakeosaurus@gmail.com  
facebook.com/cakeosaurus

 
Maria Mangano
MF Visitor Services & Volunteer Coordinator
Maria Mangano makes art about nature, animals, arcana, and the dusty boxes of forgotten information found in the dark corners of libraries and museums. A native of Syracuse, New York, she moved to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2006.
 
Mangano's media range from intaglio to relief printing, works on paper, and site-specific installations, each work addressing the cultural systems that affect our understanding of the natural world. She has exhibited regionally at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York, and locally at the Brew House Space 101, 709 Penn Gallery, Fe Gallery, and Future Tenant Gallery.

Lindsay O’Leary
Former MF Communications & Digital Media Manager
Lindsay O’Leary is an artist and technologist living in Pittsburgh. She learned to blow glass at the Cleveland Institute of Art and moved to Pittsburgh in 2002 to create glass art at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. O'Leary is also the Web Content Editor at Carlow University and spends her weekends working on home remodeling projects. She is fascinated with art, tech, and architecture -- particularly the intersection of the three.
 
O'Leary's works have been exhibited at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Brew House, PPG Wintergarden, and other galleries throughout Pittsburgh. She has also exhibited at UnSmoke Systems in nearby Braddock, Pennsylvania, and the Rochester Contemporary Art Center in Rochester, New York.

AC/VC by Derek Reese
MF Educator
Appalachians in Charge of Visual Culture is an artist group that focuses on crafts, wares, art objects, and small artwork on paper inspired by various aspects of Appalachian culture. AC/VC is a platform created for artists in the region who typically create artwork intended for the fine art market but who also have discovered an interest in creating less expensive, handmade merchandise that may bolster the artist's revenue and public awareness of their work.

AC/VC was created by artist Derek Reese as a way to showcase pieces of art from his body of work that are better suited for a vendor’s booth rather than a fine art gallery. He describes his merchandise as artifacts collected from, created for, or inspired by his large paintings, drawings, sculpture, installations, video, and performances. Derek’s studio is located at 131 7th Street in downtown Pittsburgh where he can be found creating artwork for his upcoming solo exhibition, titled WonderBred, which focuses on topics such as ecology, economy, and masculinity in Appalachia. To view Derek’s past artwork, biography, and endeavors past and present please visit his website.

Rosalind Santavicca
MF Educator
Rosalind’s watercolors find inspiration in many parts of the natural world from watching birds and gardening to walking on the beach.  Birds, animals, herbs in the garden, and walking on the beach feed her imagination.  Herbs to Watercolor, the current card creations, are made by applying paint to the herb plant and transferring the image to the cards.  The larger matted and framed works are created using various watercolor techniques. 

Rosalind works in her home-studio and has been painting for twenty years with a focus on watercolor.  She studied at the University of Pittsburgh, Phipps Conservatory, and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, as well as with the watercolor artists Marion Martino, Ann Payne, Frank Webb, Robert Bowden, and Don Andrews.  She has exhibited in various venues in the Pittsburgh area, most recently at Boulevard Gallery in Verona, Pennsylvania. 

Gina Tomsky
MF Shop Assistant
The work of Gina Tomsky deals mainly with encaustic. The ancient wax-based medium of encaustic paint is a molten bees wax mixed with resin and pigments.  She incorporates found objects, handmade paper, mixed media, printmaking, and oils to create each unique piece. When combining encaustic with other materials, and techniques, her artwork takes on a sophisticated presence which allows the artist’s own life and art experience to shine through.

Gina graduated from Carlow University in 2010 with a degree in Art Education and is certified in Art Therapy.  She currently resides in Lawrenceville with her partner and their pomeranian, Giuseppe. She enjoys drinking coffee, while shuffling her Pandora playlist, traveling, biking, and collecting salvaged objects to incorporate into new paintings. You can contact her via email: gtomsky@gmail.com

Emily Walley
MF Educator, Occasional Installer
Emily Walley is originally from Wisconsin, where she attended the University of Wisconsin Stout, graduating with a degree in Studio Arts. Emily relocated to Pittsburgh after completing graduate studies at West Virginia University with her degree in Fine Art, Intermedia. She has exhibited installation, video, and sculpture work at Union Art Gallery (Milwaukee, WI), Salisbury Electronic Gallery (Salisbury, MD), and Assemble Gallery (Pittsburgh).

Currently, Emily is collaborating with Pittsburgh artist and musician David Bernabo on a series of video works. David and Emily are participating in upcoming group exhibitions at ModernFormations Gallery and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. You can also view her work on Etsy.  

 
Ties That Bind by Ray Zarzeczny
MF Building Manager
“A little creative, a little weird, mildly outrageous and majorly scandalous.” With a creative mind and a desire to try and use materials from previous MF installations, Ray tries to create unique items.  Many of the MF installations end up in his "Art Yard".  Using these left-over installations, he creates new functional uses for them.  A telephone pole has become a unusual sculpture, and a bench.  Huge candle molds have become raised lettuce beds.  Wood from the Kennywood Racer has become a makeshift bridge through his fruit trees.  Port Authority bus seats have become patio seating and a bus grab rail has become a stair handrail.

Using rubber pond liner from a previous installation, Ray has created his rubber ties. These ties are all unique in their patterns and color. Other items include handcuff earrings and subversive cross stitch.

♥ We Love Our Neighbors ♥

Did you know that the Mattress Factory offers half-off admission for our neighbors year-round? It’s true – all you need to do is show us a valid ID displaying a 15212 or 15233 zip code, and we’ll take 50% off your general admission price.

Wish exchange dandelion by Ling He, on view through January 6th, 2013

You know what else? Now any guest who presents their Access / EBT card can receive admission for up to four people at only $1 each. Just present your card and a photo ID at the front desk to receive the discount. For only $1, you can see all of the museum's installations, including those in our upcoming exhibition Feminist and...

Just one week away!

We know cash is tight for almost everybody these days, so we’d like to make the museum as accessible as possible in any little way we can. We offer discounts for students and seniors, and of course, kids under 6 are always free!

Fourteen musicians, sixteen days, one beautiful album

Back in the summer of 2010, our then Curator-in-Residence Mark Garry invited musicians from Berlin, Dublin, London, and Brussels to collaborate with some of Pittsburgh’s own virtuosos here at the Mattress Factory. The result was a two-week long residency during which time our fourth floor was transformed into a fully functioning recording studio, and music could often be heard traveling through the halls of our galleries. The residency culminated in a live performance of the music they had created together. And now, two years later, the full-length album of this collaboration is finally completed and available for download.

Sample a track from A Generous Act

A Generous Act contains 14 tracks that call to mind bands like Air, The Books, and Kid A-era Radiohead, while somehow retaining a sense of the unique circumstances under which the album was created (one track is named “We Like Being In Kusama"). It really is something special. And the best part is, proceeds from the album go right back into MF’s exhibitions and programming so we can keep doing what we do.



"This is the first time that a museum of contemporary art has supported a project like this, and I am so pleased that the recordings of 'A Generous Act' have managed to contain the amazing energy we all experienced during those two special weeks in Pittsburgh," shares Mark Garry, Curator-in-Residence for the project. "I really want to thank the directors, staff, and board of the Mattress Factory for supporting this project, and I especially want to thank all of the musicians – and Fabien Leseure, the sound engineer – for making the most of this unique and remarkable situation."

Click here to download!

Download 'A Generous Act'

Young artists showcase their art on August 9th!

Fueled by chocolate cupcakes and the superb guidance of artist and teacher Jeremy Boyle, the students of this summer’s Factory 14s teen art intensive have been hard at work finishing up their installation in MF’s 3rd floor galleries. The as-of-yet untitled piece is an amalgam of futuristic landscapes, mylar-inspired optical illusions, eerie homemade audio recordings and maybe, just maybe, a robot made from circuit boards, recycled bicycle parts, and duct tape.

The fruits of their labor will be on display at the Community ArtLab Celebration and Factory 14s Showcase this Thursday, August 9 from 6 – 8 p.m. All are welcome and admission is FREE!

The celebration marks the conclusion of another successful season of Community ArtLab, and will showcase the work of students from all four workshops. Check out some of the summer's highlights below!

Instructor Heather White explains how to be a Super Hero

A meditation circle at Community ArtLab "Utopia"

Students learn The Power of Play by designing and creating their own games

Thanks to all of our students, teachers, staff, and parents for an amazing summer of community and creativity. See you at the celebration!

What: Community ArtLab and Factory 14s Celebration
Where: Mattress Factory lobby
When: Thursday, August 9, 2012 from 6-8pm
Cost: FREE
Who: All ages are welcome!