Heinz History Center Kicks off America's 250th with 'My America' exhibit

In preparation for the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, the Heinz History Center in the Strip District is presenting a new exhibition in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, showcasing a range of beautiful perspectives through which Americans view America.

“My America: An Illustrated Experience” will open on Saturday in the History Center’s fifth-floor Barensfeld Gallery. It will be on display through Sept. 7, 2026.

“This exhibit is really focused on what it means to be an American,” said Andrew Masich, president and CEO of the Heinz History Center, at a media preview on Thursday.

In the process of taking submissions for work to be included in “My America,” the History Center’s staff was curious about the different points of view that they would see. Would they be positive? Negative? Hopeful? Local? National?

“I think we see all of these in this exhibit. It’s exactly what we were hoping,” Masich said.

Included in the exhibit are 63 works of art by 35 different illustrators in a number of different media. A five-person jury was appointed to choose the works that would be included and to award honors.

“For me, it was the personal experience of connecting to the art that was my favorite part, and how it expresses and relates to history,” said Anne Madarasz, chief historian at the Heinz History Center and director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.

There are several different sections to “My America,” intentionally laid out with a theme in mind. These include a section about founding ideals, which includes pieces that explore the values contained in our country’s founding documents.

There is also a section on founding mothers, fathers and families, which includes both allegorical pieces about the Founding Fathers and personal pieces.

“We all have those founding fathers in our own families who share their values and their belief systems with us just as the Founding Fathers did for the nation,” Madarasz said.

There’s a “We the People” section, exploring the central shaping focus of self-determination in U.S. governance.

There are also hands-on opportunities within the exhibit, including a place set up for visitors to design their own flags.

“Flags are ways of communicating, about nations and about people, used at sea to talk to each other. … It’s a way to get them thinking about, if I wanted to create a flag that says something about me, my community, my America, what would it look like?” Madarasz said.

There is also a section on place, where included artists examined the physical place of community, home and America. The segment contains the painting “South 18th Street, Pittsburgh, PA” by Ray Sokolowski. It portrays the artist’s upbringing in the South Side Slopes and his childhood home.

“I loved growing up there on the South Side; my parents were a wonderful, wonderful couple. My father even dug an in-ground pool,” Sokolowski said.

The last section reflects on anniversaries and the concept of past, present and future. It contains a work from artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease that contains 32 sketches of photographs from the History Center’s archives and 32 live sketches that were created with recent visitors to the History Center.

“It was a really meaningful experience. I kept thinking about unity and looking at what makes us as Americans,” Zalewsky-Nease said.

Amongst the many works are portraits of Pittsburgh heroes, including Fred Rogers, an interactive puzzle that visitors can work on together and a large-scale sculpture that contains glimpses of 50 historical figures.

This exhibit also celebrates 30 years of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, which is one of the largest groups of its kind in the country.

“For me, it is a thoughtful but hopeful experience,” Madarasz said. “We all, I think, believe in the ideals this nation was founded under, liberty and justice for all, freedom and equality. I think those still resonate; they’re still important. For me, it’s a chance to say, let’s all talk to each other and let’s hope for a better future.”

”My America: An Illustrated Experience” will open at the Heinz History Center in the Strip District on Saturday and will be on view until Sept. 7, 2026. To learn more, visit heinzhistorycenter.org.