I am excited to say that as a tiny part of the ongoing circus at the Warhol Museum which had a BIG BASH May 17, 2014 my images of Warhol’s childhood home in Pittsburgh, his high school (Schenley), as well as an image of his family church (did you know he was devout all his life?) are available for purchase as greeting cards in the new enlarged shop at the museum. I am really appreciative that the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh has been a long time supporter by making my images available in the Warhol gift shop. The Warhol Museum is one of the Carnegie Museums.
These are two of my altered images of the house on Dawson Street in Pittsburgh where Andy Warhol grew up in with his parents and his brothers Paul and John. He lived there for 15 years, from 1934, when he was 6 until he left for New York City in 1949 after graduation from Carnegie Tech, now CMU. Before buying this house the family lived in a series of rented homes. He could walk to the secondary schools he went attended and to college from their home in Oakland, the University area in Pittsburgh. Saturday art classes at Carnegie Museum were an easy walk as well as the family church (read more).He was identified as artistically talented in public school and attended the museum art classes at no charge, which was the norm then. The museum still offers art education to students in grades 5-9. It has recently stopped offering adult art classes, though will continue with adult workshops where it is related to a specific exhibit.
Read here and here and here about the celebration and what the museum has done to re-invent itself. Oh, and here is another from NY Times. On Saturday May 17, 2014 the Pittsburgh museum that interprets the life and work of Andy Warhol celebrated its 20th anniversary with a sold-out black-tie gala for 650 people. Admission @ $500 is sold out. Collectors, donors and people who worked with the shy superstar dined and danced, then viewed the recently rehung collection starting on the 7th floor and previewing the new show on the 2nd floor Halston and Warhol: Silver and Suede. Read more and see some pics for who came into town to attend.
The free part of the weekend is Community Day and it started when the Gala ended at midnight. To celebrate of the kickoff of the Warhol’s 20th anniversary and American Art Museum Day, the museum will be open continuously from midnight to 5 p.m. May 18. Special activities include DJ duo AndrewAndrew from New York, midnight-2 a.m.; hands-on art-making and studio programs exploring Warhol’s artistic practices, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; author talk and book signing for “Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up” by Bob Colacello, the editor of Warhol’s Interview magazine, 3 p.m. All events are at the Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side.
One thing the Warhol Museum wanted to address in the redesign was the fact that visitors have been coming to the museum for 20 years from all over the world, but often leaving without understanding that Andy Warhol was from Pittsburgh and that is why it is located here. Just a few blocks from the museum is the house Gertrude Stein was born in but the Steins moved to Oakland, CA was she was a baby so you cannot say she was from Pittsburgh in the same way.
Here are a few more of my images of Warhol’s high school and church the St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church:
