You Are Here gallery in Jeannette hosts 3rd anniversary show
You Are Here gallery is celebrating its third anniversary with an exhibition opening Saturday.
A public reception is scheduled for noon-6 p.m. in the art space at 406 Clay Ave., Jeannette. At 3 p.m., there will be a toast to the featured artists, along with a reading of original haiku by poets Scott Silsbe, Don Wentworth and Bart Solarczyk.
Refreshments will be served.
Artists who were invited to participate in the anniversary show have been involved in shows and events during the gallery’s first three years. They include Candace Kubinec, Kim Rentler, Nora Thompson, Steve Parsons, Melissa Reed, Michael McDevitt, Courtney Robson, Mike Kelly, Marion Morton, Larry Brandstetter, Dan Sennaway, Dawn Wallhausen, Stacey Pydynkowski and others.
The exhibition will run through Sept. 11.
“We made it an invitational to showcase artists we met and grew to like so much over the years,” said Mary Briggs of North Huntingdon, who co-founded the gallery with Jen Costello. “We have some really nice work.
“We also saved one wall for photos of other things we’ve done through the years,” she said.
Some of the other projects include hosting the Oh, Scrap! art materials thrift store, live music, a yarn circle, a woman artist discussion group and the ongoing MAD*LAB, through which community members help to make benches and mosaic planters to be placed around Jeannette.
Marking three years is a success story for an art-making space that started almost on a whim, Briggs said.
“It started as a gallery of convenience,” Briggs said. “My son bought the building, and I had been an arts administrator for 30 years, and he said, ‘Here, mom, this would be great for Jeannette.’”
The gallery’s original mission was to be involved in and collaborating with the community through art exhibitions and community art-making projects, along with providing space for music and other arts-related programming.
“In the first year, we had to concentrate on Oh, Scrap! and the gallery, so that part wasn’t emphasized as much,” Briggs said. “We really want to get back to that, covid allowing.
“We always knew that’s where our hearts would be,” she said. “You can’t just invade the community — you have to know the people and what’s going on, the fabric of the community.
“We’re taking it step by step, because we still have people coming in from Jeannette saying, ‘We didn’t know you were here,’” she said. “We want to get stabilized and solidify our team, and we feel now that we’re really getting to know the community.”
Details: 724-578-3332 or yah406clay.org
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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