Mon Valley artist, 95, gets career retrospective at Rivers of Steel in Homestead

Kathleen Ferri has seen a lot of history.

Now 95, she first picked up a paintbrush at age 58 and began painting “memory scenes” from her life in the Mon Valley.

Rivers of Steel in Homestead has gathered those vignettes into a career retrospective that includes a number of Ferri’s paintings showing in public for the first time.

“Memory Scenes: A Kathleen Ferri Retrospective” is augmented with archival artifacts from the Rivers of Steel collections. The exhibition, curated by Baraff and Barbara L. Jones, chief curator at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, opens with a reception from 5-9 p.m. Friday at Rivers of Steel in the Bost Building, 623 E. Eighth Ave., Homestead. It will run through Feb. 27.

The reception starts with free, drop-in hours from 5-7 p.m. Timed tickets are needed from 7-9 p.m., with preregistration available on the Rivers of Steel website.

“Kathleen’s work preserves the small-town streets of her childhood with an intuitive sense of history and the warmth of sentiment,” according to the Rivers of Steel website. “They radiate with color and burst with joy as expressive figures make their way through downtown Turtle Creek, riverside mills, Kennywood heritage days and more.”

Courtesy of Richard Kelly Photography/Rivers of Steel

Kathleen Ferri’s depiction of the Homestead Steel Works, circa 1970, is among paintings in her solo exhibition at Rivers of Steel in Homestead, Oct. 8-Feb. 27, 2022.

Now living in North Versailles, Ferri grew up in Wilmerding and moved to Turtle Creek after her marriage, said Ron Baraff, Rivers of Steel director of historic resources and facilities. She was a homemaker, while her husband worked in a family-run grocery store.

“Painting was not even in her lexicon but, after her husband passed away, she didn’t know what to do with herself,” Baraff said. “She ended up taking art classes, which turned out to be cathartic and therapeutic.

“That opened a door she didn’t even know existed,” he said. “Her paintings are very personal; each and every one is a piece of herself.”

“I love Kathleen’s sense of color and the complexity of her compositions. There is so much going on in her paintings that you have to spend time with them; time well spent to learn more about the history of this region,” Jones said.

“The Westmoreland held a solo exhibition of her paintings in 1997, not long after I arrived at the museum,” she added. “Her work still holds the same vitality and power that it did then, but even more so now with the events of this past year. Her memories of Turtle Creek and the surrounding region recall a more innocent time when towns were vibrant, happening places and people happily went about their day-to-day business.”

360 view

The seeds for the exhibition were planted when Ferri saw an article about Amy Baldonieri being hired as Rivers of Steel vice president and chief operating officer.

“Kathleen wrote her a letter and they became pen pals, and then Amy had a chance to see the work,” Baraff said.

Baraff said he first saw Ferri’s work on a visit to her one-bedroom apartment, where the walls were almost completely covered with paintings.

“It was almost a 360 view,” he said.

The very detailed paintings are “fun and expressive,” Baraff said. “I’m still finding all the nuances in them, the fun little things she tucks in everywhere. You can just feel her joy.”

“Memory Scenes” can be viewed from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 6-8 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Suggested donation is $5.

Programs associated with the exhibition include:

• Memory Sketches: A Drawing Workshop, 6-8 p.m. Oct. 26 and Nov. 16. Chris McGinnis, director of Rivers of Steel Arts, will lead participants in using collection objects as the basis for a still life composition. Fee is $25 per session.

• Curator-led gallery talks, noon Nov. 6 and 20. The Nov. 6 session will feature Jones’s curatorial perspective. On Nov. 20, Baraff will discuss geographical and industrial aspects of Ferri’s work, along with collections objects that offer context for her paintings. A $10 donation is suggested per session.

Registration is required for all programs at riversofsteel.com.