Above: Those attending the Northside walking tour will find out a bit more about Keny Marshall’s reCarstruction, seen above, outside the Children’s Museum.
by Megan Trimble
Northside arts will be on display this weekend as community members tour local neighborhoods.
The Office of Public Art is hosting a walking tour of selected works of art in the Northside as a part of its city-wide walking tours program Friday, March 22 from 6 to 7:15 p.m.
Participants will meet at Buhl Community Park —near the entrance of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh— before embarking on the trip that will visit Keny Marshall’s reCarstruction and the colorful residences of City of Asylum writers.
The 75-minute tour—which includes lectures by guest speakers Marshall and Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh— is part of a monthly series of walking tours. Interested participants can register online in advance until midnight for $7 or purchase a ticket on-site Friday for $10.
Tour participants will explore how Keny Marshall deconstructed his 1983 Jeep Wagoneer and reformed it to create a spherical piece of art titled reCARstruction. They will view the piece of art near the Children’s Museum parking lot.
The tour will then move towards Sampsonia Way to learn about City of Asylum— an urban residency program that provides temporary sanctuary for writers and artist under threat in their home countries. This portion will explore how the houses of the program incorporate the works of writers and visual artists.
Renee Piechocki, Office of Public Art Director, said the tour is a part of the “ongoing programming to help provide people in the community an opportunity to gain a greater knowledge and appreciation of the works of arts in our communities.”
Piechocki said the monthly walking tours form a “diverse gathering” of about 20 participants who range in age — often from teenagers to people in their 80s— and knowledge.
“Some are people from the neighborhoods of the tours who have seen the art but want to know a bit more,” She said. “Others are not from the area, but say something like, ‘Oh, I never go to East Liberty, I really want to hear about the artwork there.’”
Although the citywide walking tours last around an hour, participants spend much of their time listening to lectures on the works of art. Friday’s tour is near a mile in length.
Piechocki said gaining a “behind the scenes look or insider’s perspective” on the art will be her favorite part of the tour.
“It is always a treasure to hear an artist talk about their work,” she said.
The monthly walking tours are supported in part by the Fine Foundation and Friday’s tour is the first walking tour in the Northside in this series that ends in April.
Interested participants can register online at http://www.pittsburghartscouncil.org/public-art by midnight tonight, or call 412.391.2060 ext. 237 for more information.
