Photo courtesy of the Mattress Factory
“A Second Home” by Dennis Maher on display in the museum.

By Ed Skirtich

An evolutionary, futuristic world of art in Dennis Maher’s “A Second Home” amazed over 300 visitors who attended his opening installation at the Mattress Factory on August 12th. During the exhibit, Maher found a way to artistically revolutionize a movie screen, record player, and dollhouses.
The large crowd at Mattress Factory stayed enthralled throughout this exhibit of “A Second Home” with Maher’s collaboration with other Pittsburgh artists who included Miriam Devlin, Kate Joyce, Michael Koliner, and Racheljoy Rodas.
Patrons stayed attentive at Maher’s remarkable use of recycled wood, windows, dollhouses, architect desks, and dark and shiny windows on the three floors of this exhibit at Mattress Factory. Also, Maher’s constructive environments of large, white Greek columns, book shelves, chairs, and ladder enhanced the art display.
Maher’s three floors of “A Second Home” continuously stayed innovative and energized the large crowd at the event.  For instance, beams of sunlight came through the Mattress Factory windows onto dollhouses.
Each dollhouse had a different design and paint color on each floor. This art exhibit by Maher came from various places.
“He found objects in state stores, vintage stores, and flea markets,” said  Samantha Pador, director of communications and marketing at the Mattress Factory.
Color varieties of white, yellow, black, brown, and red were found on different objects of art during the exhibit.
Possibilities of using second hand material was Maher’s purpose for this activity. Wood that had houses and other works of art, a small movie projecting an image of a moving train kept the curiosity of the patrons for this exhibit.  The crowd spoke with enthusiasm and enjoyed greeting each other after seeing the exhibit at the reception.
Paolo mentioned that Maher created this exhibit with his vision plus the interests of his students.  She added that Maher worked from May through mid- August on the piece.