The Artsmiths of Pittsburgh Art and Cultural Center!

I’m a month late in sharing this news about the Artsmiths of Pittsburgh Art and Cultural Center, but I’m still delighted to re-post their announcement.

As one of their first instructors (having started teaching way back in their previous incarnation as Koolkat!) I knew this was coming, but at the time of the official announcement I was up at Chautauqua on vacation and just missed it.

Why is this great news? While nothing has changed regarding location (they’re still in the big, now-green, barn-shaped building at the end of Banksville Road in Mt. Lebanon, PA), the non-profit status with APACC now provides a wider range of options both for what can be offered and how that can be promoted, especially regarding classes.

To keep these opportunities coming, of course, we’ll still need folks to:

• visit Artsmiths and explore the shop offerings from hundreds of local artists;
• browse their class and workshops offerings, then sign up for some;
• encourage friends and family, when possible, to both shop and learn too; and
• just generally share Artsmiths’ information from their website or social media sites including Facebook and Instagram.

I’m affiliated with several arts organizations in my local area, and I enjoy them all in their own way, but I am particularly impressed with the combination of both breadth and depth of support that Artsmiths offers to the local community. I hope they will continue strong, with more new opportunities, far into the future, and I’ll hope you’ll help in that effort too! 

Many other arts organizations are really struggling these days. Regardless of where you may be reading this, if there are any near you that you like, whether they are going great or struggling to survive, please remember to support them in whatever ways you can so they remain available to you and others!

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I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention that I have a workshop scheduled for Artsmiths, on making silver “Shadow Box” pendants, this coming Saturday afternoon, and as I write this several seats are still available!  This is an amazing and versatile project: you can complete a gorgeous, reversible piece in one afternoon (I’ll see if I can add a photo in the comments), but we’ll also consider ways you could, if you want, continue to develop it after class, such as stringing your creation with interesting beads, adding sculptural wire elements, and/or even filling it with something interesting and colorful (e.g., resin, enamel, concrete, polymer clay, etc.).