CDCP x WCDC 2023-2024 Season Open Call

CDCP x WCDC 2023-2024 Season Open Call

APPLICATIONS DUE JUNE 23rd, 2023

CDCP is pleased to host a call for works in collaboration with the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation (WCDC) and Naomi Chambers of FlowerHouse.

We’re seeking Wilkinsburg artists to submit work for consideration. We will be curating four solo exhibitions at the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation’s (WCDC) Lohr Gallery and flex space (725 Wood St., Wilkinsburg, PA 15221) that highlight the arts within the community.

Applicants must either be residents of Wilkinsburg, have a studio in Wilkinsburg, or have a strong relationship to the community.  

• Only 2D work will be accepted. Work must be ready to attach via a hook with wire or similar and cannot exceed roughly five pounds in weight per piece.

• Each artist will receive a $1,000 stipend in recognition of their work. This is in collaboration with the Visual Arts Coalition for Equity’s (VACE) standard wage for a solo exhibition. 

• Each exhibition will run for approximately 8 weeks open on Saturdays from 12–5pm. Exhibition slots will be scheduled between August 2023 and June 2024.

• Artists will be asked to do a video interview and participate in a Saturday public program/opening co-organized by Naomi Chambers of FlowerHouse.

• Artists will receive professional documentation of the show organized by CDCP.

• CDCP will work with artists to sell available works and artists will receive 80% of all sales in one payment at the end of the exhibition.

• One of these exhibitions will align with Little Amal, a global art event coming to Pittsburgh. For this exhibition, we are especially interested in work that connects with the refugee experience, a newfound sense of home, or constellations.

Please click the button below to learn more and apply.

Interview with a Pedantic Guide: Meet Edith Abeyta

As the summer 2023 term of Pedantic draws closer, we’re thinking back to our first cohort and the guides that helped make Pedantic a special experience for our inaugural residents.

Our Operations Assistant Lindsay Herring recently reached out to one of the guides from that term, Edith Abeyta, and asked a few questions about their time as a guide and how it influenced their practice.

What is it about Pittsburgh that makes it a remarkable space for an explorative residency such as Pedantic?

The scale of Pittsburgh makes it possible to connect with many different neighborhoods, locations, artists, and people each of which is unique. With over 130 municipalities in the county and over 90 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh visitors/guests from other places can be at the river, in the hills, and walking in a forest in a matter of minutes. Traveling across the city one can go from the 21st century to the 19th century in a short car trip. How many cities can boast of time travel?

What stood out to you during your time as a guide?

Getting together in person with Pedantic residents and introducing them to artists and places during a pandemic in a safe manner was exceptional. Can art, thinking about art, and talking about still happen in a pandemic - yes it can !

Did the residency spark anything for your own practice?

The opportunities to connect and converse with other people who are thinking about and doing art is a plus. It opens up ways of thinking, looking, seeing, and making that are different, maybe new, and are sparks for ways to approach my own practice. Expansion is the word I would use to describe my experience.

CDCP x WCDC Present: Megan Adgate opens this Saturday

CDCP x WCDC Present: Megan Adgate

Artist Reception: Saturday, May 20th, 12:00PM

On view: May 6th - June 24th, 2023
Gallery hours: Saturdays 12-5pm

WCDC's Lohr Gallery
725 Wood St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15221

Our final show of the season with the WCDC opens to the public this Saturday, May 6th, and 12:00pm. Join us and see this collection of work that showcases Megan’s relationship to Wilkinsburg.

Megan Adgate is a textile artist who works with natural fibers, such as wool, cotton, and banana fiber, to create dimensional tapestries. Her process sets out to challenge the very foundation of weaving itself — the grid. Contrary to the traditional up-and-down approach, her frame looms are warped in an unsystematized, scrambled way, creating a canvas that allows for overlapping layers, curvature, and negative space. 

After being a hobby weaver for several years, the craft took on a new role for her while transitioning out of an emotionally abusive relationship in 2019. While the basis for her work is control and manipulation, she is also interested in the adaptability of nature and the formation of symbiotic relationships among plant species, such as the coexistence of algae and fungi to form lichen or vines climbing the trunk of a tree.

CDCP Staff in the Arts: Interview w/ Eriko Hattori

Our staff is made up of seasoned professionals in the arts who do so much more than their work at CDCP.

We understand the difficulties that come with balancing a work life in the arts with a personal practice, so we took a second to talk to our staff about how they keep their lives running as arts workers and artists, curators, and creatives. Our first interview is with our Connections Coordinator Eriko Hattori. Take a look and see how they balance everything.

1) What’s your relationship with art?

I’m an artist who works in painting and printmaking. I exhibit my art in shows and contribute to publications. I also sell prints of my work and screenprints online through my Big Cartel and at some shops via consignment.

2) Does your arts practice overlap with the work you do with TASC/CDCP?

My breadmaking comes from doing marketing work for TASC/CDCP as well as Protohaven. A lot of my visibility in the arts has come from marketing myself on Instagram and the internet, so there’s a lot of overlap that happens between the two. Social media has become an integral part of marketing, which I have a lot of conflicting opinions and feelings about, but overall I do feel grateful to have this skillset and have it work between my work life and studio life.

3) How do you manage your arts practice with work life?

Honestly it’s not easy! I juggle three part-time gigs in addition to my studio practice, and it’s really easy to lose track of what I’m doing. I feel very fortunate to have flexibility in my schedule, but it’s very easy to get lost in that and have things fall through the cracks. I also don’t make a ton of money sadly haha, but honestly, despite that I feel really grateful for this chaotic structure and would take it over the monotony of a 9-5 any day.

Check out The Journal by The Art Supply Co.

Have you gotten a chance to check out The Journal yet? The Journal is TASC’s tri-annual online publication that covers all things Good Art from the minds of experts on our staff. With each issue, TASC interviews a local artist we’ve worked with, reflects on projects we’ve completed, and provides a little game to tease your brain. Check out the most recent issue by clicking the button below, and make sure to catch up on previous issues if you haven’t gotten around to them yet.

CDCP x WCDC Present: BAHIRAH opens this Saturday, Feb. 4th

Join CDCP and the WCDC for BAHIRAH, opening to the public this Saturday, Feb. 4th at the Lohr Gallery.

CDCP x WCDC Present: BAHIRAH

Opening Reception: Saturday, Feb 25th, 12:00PM

On view: Feb. 4th - April 1st, 2023
Gallery hours: Saturdays 12-5pm

WCDC's Lohr Gallery

725 Wood St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15221