The Tom Museum Mural by Tom Sarver

About Pgh Murals
Spreadsheet of Pittsburgh Public Art and blog archives
Map of Pittsburgh Public Art

This house is now a part of City of Asylum, but it started out as a project by the Mattress Factory known as The Tom Museum. A behind the scenes view (like a live reality show) of an artist in his studio.  During it's two year run, it was open to the public on weekends and sometimes included audience participation in an exhibit - like puppet making.  It was an inside look at the creative process. Admission was included with tickets to The Mattress Factory and you could see where Mr Sarver lived and worked on his art. The Tom Museum is now gone, but the mural remains.

In a Post Gazette article in 2006, Kathleen Ganster describes this mural as artist Tom Sarver’s vision of Pittsburgh. Farther into the article Mr Sarver says that he spent three weeks painting the two–sided mural of the city of Pittsburgh. Perhaps the other side is inside? We don't know. We’ve only seen this view from the front.