PAST EXHIBITS

We have one word to describe the Pittsburgh Society of Artists juried show. FUN!

With over 17 artists showcasing work under 14” square, the gallery will be full of great work to explore.

Abby Franzen-Sheehan

At Home with War

October 12 - November 12, 2024

Abby Franzen-Sheehan (AFS) is an artist and designer with decades of experience in studio practice, graphic design, museums, and art publications. As a professional artist exploring the nexus of feminism, politics, and history, she has created paintings, prints, collages, and sculptures that examine the complexities of faith and reality as constructed by human experience. She is greatly influenced by poetry, philosophy, religious thought, and intuitive insights.

At Home with War features Franzen-Sheehan’s silkscreen prints and mixed-media collages. The works explore human proximity to difficult things—a near and far relationship to violence in America and the world. Franzen-Sheehan references domestic spaces erected to nurture life while simultaneously distancing those within from the barbarity of ever-present warfare. The work examines the perpetual desire to be better than we find ourselves and the search for divine intervention into the human condition of perpetual strife.

Franzen-Sheehan’s collages are made from layers of silkscreen prints on paper, fabric, and other materials. The prints are made from computer-manipulated images appropriated from old engravings, maps, illustrations, and games. The source materials reference a wide range of subjects, including the medieval crusades, wars in Europe, the American Civil War, biblical stories, creatures from folklore and myths, and children’s songs and stories.

April 27 - May 25, 2024

James P. Nelson

Works on Paper & Canvas

Artist Reception, Saturday, April 27, 6 - 8 pm

James P. Nelson is an American painter living in Pittsburgh who has created a body of work over the last 50 years that has been exhibited and collected widely.

A Carnegie Mellon University BFA graduate, Nelson's work retells personal experiences through symbolic landscapes. 

Nelson splits his time between Pittsburgh, PA, and Southern New England.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE The Multiple Identities of Philip Rostek.

October 7 - October 28, 2023 • GALLERY TALK October 26, 6:00 doors, 7:00 talk

Philip Rostek received the Zoller Award at the Pennsylvania State University and represented that school in the National Collegiate Drawing Competition. After his MFA at Carnegie Mellon University he returned as an invitee to write theory for the Digital Art Exchange Group (DAX) - most notably La Plissure du Texte, Electra ’83, organized by Roy Ascott, La Musee´ d’Art de la Ville de Paris - and - Network Planetario / Laboratorio Ubique, La Biennale de Venezia, Italy. 

Philip was honored as a founding member of the Seton Hill University Art Department in 2018. St. Bonaventure University holds major pieces about the life and legends of St. Francis of Assisi in their collection. Philip has exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally and has a long standing relationship with the concept of Fusionism. He has composed music for both theater and ballet, and has published over 1K music posts on his YouTube channel. Philip’s book A Foreigner in Hades describes his involvement in the 80’s New York underground - published by Autonomedia, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Phriar Phil and ‘philip the transplant’ are two of many alter ego names that Philip has assumed over the years. He comfortably identifies with concepts of distributed authorship and Fluxus expression. His focus has never, however, departed from painting. Philip makes no distinction between individual and collaborative expression and has a special interest in issues of health and wellness. Philip received a heart transplant in 2008 and is very grateful to have an extended life. 

We are STOP #1 ON THE CARNEGIE ARTS WALK

Marina Mozhayeva

May 6 - May 28, 2023

Artist Reception, Saturday, May 6 • 5 - 8 pm Artist talk, 6:00 pm

Book signing, Saturday, May 20 •  2 - 4 pm, with cake & champagne

Marina Mozhayeva's An Artist’s Path has taken her from Russia to Pittsburgh, interpreting everyday life with various mediums and techniques modeled after the Russian school of the Avant-Garde. Over 70 paintings depicting her journey will be shown at Double Dog Studios Gallery.

“I was born in a family of scientists in St-Petersburg, Russia. In my childhood, I was fortunate to have a great art teacher, who was very well-known in the city, Solomon Levin. I chose biological science as a profession, but I stayed in close contact with him (until his death) because I continued to make art. I visited him every week for ten years at his home (he was retired) and showed him my work. I understand now that he formed my taste in art, taught me to see the significance, and listened to my voice.  

I left Russia in 1998 to continue my work as a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Dallas. Seven years later, my personal life has changed. I met my future husband, and I’ve got an opportunity to resign from the University and focus entirely on my art career. I attended various art classes to connect with the contemporary American art scene.

My husband and I chose to move to Pittsburgh in 2006. Next year I was accepted to the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP). For years I have exhibited in local art galleries. I have also participated in exhibitions with AAP group; was accepted to exhibition of Russian artists in Spain; had two exhibitions in San-Francisco area; was twice accepted to exhibition in New York; showed my work in my home town St-Petersburg and I had solo exhibition in Pittsburgh. Current exhibition is the largest I ever had and it presents selected works from period of 2007 till now.”     

January through March, 2023. Work by artist Dave Klug.

john eastman
The Afterlife of Trees

November 5 - November 26, 2022, Double Dog Studios presents artist john eastman's The Afterlife of Trees, an exhibit coming November 5th, 2022. The exhibit will feature three reiterations of trees, each representing new observations and utilities after they have passed on from life, perhaps inadvertently adding to the progression of humanity. Featured works, all in series, include sculptural wall sconces made from treated bark, hanging branch apparatuses and mobiles, and sculptural wood + rebar forms.

Methods of work include the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban (method of wood charring), Rebar form design, and Fiber wrapping. Learn more about john here.

Woman lead group showcasing ten artists. The exhibit runs through October 22. Artist bios here

Twenty artists representing over nine countries

September 17 - October 1, 2022

Helen Bryant**, England • Sandra Bacchi, Brazil • Ben Edge**, England • Louis Eilshemius, USA* • Luke Hannam, England • John Kane, USA* • Mark Krzepis, • Benjamin Kopman, Russia* • Maria Laurencin, France* • Casey McGlynn • John McKie**, England • Marina Mozhayeva, Russia • Merel Noorlander, Netherlands • Louise Pershing, USA* • Ana Solovic, Serbia  • Lionel Sumi, South Africa • Parvaneh Torkamini, Iran  • Wendy Vuman, Australia • Abraham Walkowitz, Russia* • Willian Zimpel, Australia 

Learn more about the Artists here

 ** USA Debut - * Exhibited in the past Carnegie Internationals

Ryder Henry
Futuristic Landscapes

August 13, 2022 - September 3, 2022

Sculptor and painter Ryder Henry’s vision is wide, influenced by growing up around the world and absorbing cultures, languages, architecture, and art. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and, more recently, calls Pittsburgh home.

His popular work ‘4 Lydia’ is a futuristic model city constructed of found cardboard and paper products. He has often used it as a reference for many of his intensely detailed paintings. Built with a specific scale of 1:213.333, which translates from an 80” doorway to 3/8”. This scale continues on his ‘island’ sculptures, buildings isolated on rock foundations suspended in their own universe.

Ryder was named artist-in-residence at Contemporary Craft in 2017 and the Mattress Factory in 2014.

exhibit catalog here

CARNEGIE ARTS WALK SPECIAL EXHIBIT

Saturday, July 9, 2022, 12-6 pm
PUP-UP! An outside art exhibit just for the dogs, painted in the color palette dogs see best, by Dave Klug

PLUS, INSIDE THE GALLERY
Mr. Dog Gets The Mail Book illustrations by Dave

VINT BLACKBURN

April 22 through May 28, 2022

Vint Blackburn is a whirlwind of creative energy. He is an accomplished artist who lived and painted in Santa Fe for over fifty years. He owned and operated the legendary bar and restaurant El Farol, a hangout for famous artists and movie celebrities in the 1960s and 1970s.

Vint’s colorful painting style is uniquely his, which makes him happy and brings a smile and a touch of joy to others.

See interviews with Vint on our Youtube channel, link at the bottom of the page.

Modern Landscapes

Painting and Prints by Dave Klug

On View in the Double Dog Studio Gallery through December 28, 2021

They Taught Themselves

Thirteen regional self-taught artists from the past 50 years come together for a one-of-a-kind celebration of Outsider Art.

July 24th thru September 4, 2021

Most artists receive formal training or a fine arts degree. The ones that don’t, the renegades who forge a different path, are known as Outsider Artists. July 24th thru September 4, 2021, Double Dog Studios will unite the eclectic works of 13 self-taught artists in one dynamic, inspiring, and unique exhibition, “They Taught Themselves.”

With over 75 pieces, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, and three-dimensional objects, the exhibit digs deep into defining Outsider Art and the passion that drives its expression.

“They Taught Themselves” is drawn from the P.J. McArdle collection.

“Outsider Art addresses formal elements, rejects them, or has one foot in each zone at the same time. It is highly individualistic, driven by autobiographical urgency, and mostly self-absorbed. So, Outsider Art is really mostly inside first, and outside second.” - Phil Rostek

The exhibit will include works, stories, and insights by: R.G. Maxwell, Inez Hess, Norman Scott “Butch” Quinn, Peter R. Russo, Zinguili Weaver, J.J. Burns, Rudy “The Blade” Bellissario, John Graves, Robert Wright, Andy Flannagan, Kathleen Ferri, William Truschel, and Paul Warhola