Troy Loves Hill by Carolyn Kelly

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

The Sprout Fund provided the information for Troy Loves Hill:

Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill is a traditionally German neighborhood with colorful history. Artist Carolyn Kelly captured these historic elements in her 2009 Sprout Public Art mural, unifying them with a tree. Each painted leaf represents a different aspect of the area’s past, ranging from the Heinz Corporation, by which Troy Hill residents have often been employed, to St. Anthony’s Church, which contains the second largest collection of relics in the world–topped only by the Vatican. An incline that no longer stands in Troy Hill is commemorated, as is Pittsburgh’s famous Penn Brewery, known for its annual German Oktoberfest celebration. Kelly also depicted “Pig Hill”, or Troy Hill’s Rialto St., which was known for pigs being led to slaughter on Washington’s Landing. Kelly’s mural puts a more positive twist on this piece of Troy Hill’s past, showing the pigs instead escaping from the hill.
In her painting process, Kelly allowed some of the signage that had existed on the wall prior the mural’s installation to remain as a design element that can be seen through the new composition. In this way, history wasn’t taken away but rather became a part of the mural: an idea wholly in tune with its greater theme.