Diversity project billboards shine along Westmoreland County roads

Drivers on Westmoreland County highways are encouraged to take their eyes off the road — carefully — to look for new billboards offering messages of hope and healing.

Ten artists created works that reflect the theme “Make Our Differences Our Strengths,” as part of the Diversity Billboard Art Project created by the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition in partnership with The Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

The first wave of 14 billboards launched on Friday, with 20 scheduled to be completed by the end of December, according to lead artist Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer. Each artist’s message will be displayed at two locations for four-to-six week periods, the first continuing until Feb. 21 and the second running Dec. 28-March 21.

Billboards are placed along Routes 22, 30 and 119 and in Derry. One artwork exists not only on a billboard, but also as mural on the wall of an empty building in New Kensington.

Courtesy of Adam Shaffer

Westmoreland Diversity Coalition Billboard Project art by Shane Pilster.

While some artists focused their work on more widely discussed issues of diversity, such as race, ethnicity and sexual identity, others addressed issues not always brought into the discussion, Cuellar-Shaffer said. Those include the disenfranchisement often felt by older people and those with hearing and visual impairments.

“When you talk about diversity, you don’t always think about how those people are discounted in society,” Cuellar-Shaffer said.

Wider conversation

Featured artists are Ray Amun, Dorion Barill, Edith Abeyta, Tina Williams Brewer, Alejandro Fiez, Fran Flaherty, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Shane Pilster, Susanne Slavick and Alisha Wormsley.

They were chosen from a field of about 50 artists who submitted proposals, said Barbara Jones, a member of the artist selection committee and chief curator at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.

“(The project) brings out the fact that there are so many ways your differences can be discriminated against,” Jones said. “We often think about diversity as black and white. … We don’t always think about the disabled or economically disadvantaged or anyone outside that conversation.”

Each artist also created a related work of art for an exhibition to accompany the billboard project.

Courtesy of Adam Shaffer

Westmoreland Diversity Coalition Billboard Project art by Alisha Wormsley.

Wormsley’s work might particularly resonate with local residents, Jones said. Titled “There Are Black People in the Future,” it contains historical images of Black residents of the county framed in old television sets. Many of the photos were sourced from Westmoreland Historical Society archives.

Jones said that, upon first viewing, Diversity Coalition co-founder Carlotta Paige pointed out several people she knew.

The exhibition is showing in The Westmoreland through Nov. 15. The exhibition then will travel to You Are Here in Jeannette, Jan. 3-25; the Seton Hill University Harlan Gallery, Feb. 1-28; and the Saint Vincent College Gallery, March 18-May 7.

The images also will appear on digital sign boards in Westmoreland Mall beginning Nov. 1.

The artists will participate in a monthly series of conversations that will stream online through February, with information and registration available at makeourdifferencesourstrengths.com.

Jones said that representatives of Lamar Advertising Co., which created the billboards, estimated that more than 1 million people will drive past them over the length of the project.

“People were really enthusiastic about this project and did whatever they could to implement it,” Paige said. “The artists were wonderful and Sheila did a great job coordinating and collaborating with them, and they did a great job collaborating with each other.

“I’ve already received phone calls and messages from people in the community saying how much they appreciate it.”