Olin Calk’s Las Cruces home in New Mexico is a marvelously designed blueprint of sustainable living. From orchards to chicken coops, drip-irrigated gardens to green house; he lives what he teaches. As an educator who has championed recycling in classrooms for decades, such an accomplishment is a remarkable living example of practicing what one teaches.

We caught up with Dee Briggs at her Wilkinsburg’s studio for a conversation about public art in Pittsburgh. Entering the 100 year old fire station studio is an introduction to the size and scale of Dee’s work that requires open spaces, light and lots and lots of storage for raw materials. She has been renovating the building to accommodate the various activities required to produce her works, teach in the schools of art and architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, serve on the Pittsburgh Art Commission, complete national exhibition and commission works – all while shuttling between New York and Pittsburgh.

What is the connection between a scuba diver on the Monongahela River, a family being abducted by aliens, a man-eating arthropod, and the kidnapping of a giant simian? Joe Small, Owner of Advantar, and a Core Artist of the Carrie Deer, had the answer to that question: the early efforts of the Industrial Arts Co-op (IAC) artists. Joe provided a glimpse into the varied and wonderfully energetic whirlwind that spun out these early guerilla art installations in Pittsburgh.

Core Artist George Davis first encountered the abandoned mill sites of Pittsburgh while studying photography and multimedia at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and film history at the University of Pittsburgh. With an eye for eclectic photographic opportunities, George visited the many sites along Pittsburgh’s rivers and beyond as self-touring photography sessions. Along with a group of like-minded friends that began the Industrial Arts Co-Op, he was mesmerized by these industrial ruins, the stark beauty of their decaying structures and the tenacity of nature in reclaiming the sites.

At the age of 19, Liz Hammond moved from her Michigan home to adventurous urban art landscape of Pittsburgh. Settling into the vibrant 1990s South Side art community, she found a welcoming environment in which to broaden her installations of guerilla sculptures on fences and slices of abandoned lots.

Mac Howison, Program Officer for Catalytic Funding and Project Assistance at The Sprout Fund, has unique insight into the value of public art in our communities and city as well as a profound understanding of the power of such works in transforming languishing urban areas through individual participation in the public art process. He shared some of his views of such urban frontiers for artist and resident involvement during our interviews.

Bob Ziller hosted our crew at Awesome Books on Liberty Avenue for a cozy chat about the early days of the Carrie Deer. He and co-owner Laura Jean McLaughlin, manage both the downtown store and the feline-friendly Garfield location which might make you wonder how he can find the time for his many other artistic projects.  An artist, poet, singer, translator, filmmaker and publisher  – Bob has participated in over 80 exhibitions from the Andy Warhol Museum to the Chicago Cultural Center to the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Tim Yohman continues to create eclectic art his studio in Portland, Oregon. As a Core Artist of the Carrie Deer, the initial enthusiasm and creativity inspired by the abandoned sites and life’s material remnants are repurposed as engaging, and often functional, works of art. Seriously committed to lowering landfill levels through reinvention, Tim’s Clunk Master creations of sculpture, photography, functional art and furniture made from recycled elements are enhanced with his particular sense of aesthetic beauty and quirky point of view.

You may have encountered Ron Baraff leading a bike tour through the historic areas of the South Side, watched him guide the Travel Channel’s Don Wildman through the labyrinth of Carrie Furnaces’ structures, or met him as your guide on a Carrie Furnaces tour. As Director of Museum Collections and Archives for the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, Ron is well versed in the region’s industrial and cultural heritage. 

John Latell, a Core Artist of the Carrie Deer, recently hosted our production crew for a follow up interview at his Virginia studio. A modern metal artist, John continues to be inspired by the potential of sculptural work.