Field of Warhol Flowers by Bob Ziller

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photo by Roy Engelbrecht

The Pittsburgh Beautification Project was the idea of artist Bob Ziller. For several years he’s been the driving force behind those flower covered boards on abandoned buildings around town.

While there are many, many buildings now sporting the bright flowers inspired by Andy Warhol, we haven’t tried to map them all on this site. Instead we’re including this one project to represent them, and to acknowledge Mr. Ziller’s contribution to so many neighborhoods.

Field of Warhol Flowers was done along a parking lot fence with the help of hundreds of kids. One of many examples where Bob Ziller has used his talent as an artist to spruce up a neglected site.

Mr Imagination's Gone to Heaven by Bob Ziller

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Photo by Bob Ziller

Mr. Imagination, AKA Gregory Warmack, was an American Folk Artist and Bob Ziller’s friend. Possibly best known for using bottle caps in his sculptures, Mr. Imagination was a self taught artist that ended up with artwork in museums around the world. He may have been one of the most influential early adopters of re–purposing things, as he could create art from just about any discarded object he found.

Mr. Imagination’s Gone to Heaven is artist Bob Ziller’s tribute to his friend and fellow artist. It reminded us of Grandmere, the mural he created for his grandmother. Both are amazingly sweet, simple, touching images of someone whom Mr. Ziller obviously holds dear. He depicted his grandmother flying because he thought of her as a super hero. He portraits the late Mr.Imagination flying as an angel. Based on the on–line articles we found about him, that description seems to be a good one. One person described him as ...always full of joy, love, and endless creativity. Sounds like angel material to us.

A Blues for the Block by Bob Ziller

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Kicking off New Years Day 2015 in a positive way, artist Bob Ziller headed out for a stretch of abandoned properties in Wilkinsburg and left his mark. He started with two murals, but eventually he plans to extend the project to cover the entire block along Penn Ave. The boarded up, empty storefronts have left this area forlorn. Fresh, colorful artwork will now be replacing the blank eyes of those old businesses.

Mr Ziller was inspired by the Romare Bearden mural titled The Block. (There’s actually a copy of that mural in Larimer.) He adopted the idea of a collage and used different sizes, shapes and colors of boards to create his composition. With no finished design in mind before he begins, he selects the pieces on the spot and screws them onto the drab plywood boards that currently cover the building’s windows. Little by little he uses the vibrant colors and interesting shapes to create a new urban landscape.

One look at the transformed storefronts and you get a sense of hope that’s been missing here. Art really does make a difference, and in some cases it marks the start of a transformation. We hope this new artwork is the spark that ignites that process.

AKA Doris by Laura Jean McLaughlin, Bob Ziller

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We had heard there was something new happening in this small, neighborhood garden in Bloomfield, so we rode over to see what we might find. To our great pleasure we discovered that Laura Jean McLaughlin and Bob Ziller were in the process of creating another mosaic piece for this beautiful spot.

We noticed how the creature’s back looked like it might be perfect for kids to sit on.

Curious about the small prisms we saw scattered around the tall tail, we looked closer we found kaleidoscopes! How cool is that? The best part is that they’re positioned for both the young and the young at heart – so we didn’t have to kneel down to try them out.

We plan to return once the sculpture is completed to get updated photos and information. It’s a wonderful addition to the garden and the neighborhood.

UPDATE:
We contacted the artists for more information and Mr Ziller told us

"There will eventually be a bird house and a weathervane on top of the tail, and the top of her head contains a basin which funnels rainwater out of her mouth, which will go into a mosaic birdbath in the shape of a big teacup (which has yet to be made/funded)."

He also directed us to the Facebook page for The Octopus Garden where there’re photos of the construction from the beginning. They also show you how to make your own kaleidoscopes like the ones embedded in Doris’ tail.

In an interview with this Sea Dragon on that FB page, we learn that Fabulousa Lochnessa Kaleidoscopa Mosaica comes from Loch Ness in Scottland. Her famous sister (Nessie) calls her Bessie, but her friends call her Doris.

Doris is being worked on every afternoon except Sundays and the public can participate with placing the tiles. This is a very cool project and we recommend you stop by if you can. Even if you can’t stay to help, it’s worth it to see the process.

UPDATE:
We rode by in late December to check on Doris. It appears that Doris herself is complete. The birdhouse has been started, but no sign of the weathervane or birdbath yet. We noted some other additions to the garden and are looking forward to seeing it in the spring again.

UPDATE 5 May 2014
The birdhouse is finished. No sign of the birdbath or weathervane yet, but Doris and the surrounding garden appear ready for spring.

House Permutation by Wole Soyinka and multiple artists

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The second of the City of Asylum's "House Publishings".  House Permutaion is also known as Winged House, and includes three separate pieces of art by four different artists that are all interconnected.

Wole Soyinka was the artist in residence here and it is an excerpt from his book The Man Died that's etched into the glass door in his own handwriting.  He is a Nigerian poet and playwright who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1986.   The Man Died are notes from the 22 months he spent in prison due to his political activism.  The following is the inscription from the door:

I had newly discovered the world of numbers. Once the first breakthrough was over I began with increasing rapidity to rediscover one mathematical formula after another. Part investigation, part titanic excavation from the murky burial-ground of the labours of long-suffering teachers I tackled one idea after another, testing and re-testing the achieved formula by the most simplistic count-by-count systems. I had TIME! Often I woke up in the morning to a problem and one minute later literally one minute later the guard was tapping on the door to signal lock-up hour. I DESTROYED time. Once I wrote out all the possible combinations of six digits. In the process I uncovered the only way that this could be done to ensure, at a glance, that there was neither duplication nor omission. The result was so obviously a plan for computed aesthetics that I ruled out squares on toilet paper and proceeded to repeat those combinations with colored squares.(Green from leaf juice, black from my ink — christened Soy-ink — and toilet paper white.) The cyclic continuum of the result next made an impression. I joined one end of the toilet paper to the other and asked, Now what have I got? It had a strong resemblance to symbols made by computers. Now how on earth do computers function anyway?

Behind the glass on the door you can just make out a mosaic.

Artists Laura Jean McLaughlin and Bob Ziller (with some help from the Mattress Factory's art lab) created this mosaic to represent the 720 combinations of 6 colors from the passage on the door.

Sculptor Thadius Mosely was commissioned to create the beautiful carved wings on the front of the building.  Spiritual Wings were inspired from Mr Soyinka's passage. Sampsonia Way magazine quoted the artist as saying: I wanted to do something to give the house wings, something with an air of spirituality. When you read the work of these writers, you can see the joy, spirit and idea of personal freedom. I wanted to reflect that.

Animal Adventure Mural by Laura Jean McLaughlin and Bob Ziller

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This mural is done on a jersey barrier along One Wild Place – the roadway that enters Highland Park from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. Designed by Laura Jean McLaughlin and Bob Ziller, the various animals travel past local landmarks on the concrete wall. Their original design had to be modified when zoo officials requested that none of the endangered or extinct animals be anthropomorphized. They were OK with the attributes on non–threatened species though, so you'll still see some whimsical touches.

Another of Citipark’s programs, the Roving Art Cart, brought kids together with the artists to glue the tiles in place on pre–cut shapes. Artist Bob Ziller told us that they worked with over 1,000 kids on this mosaic! He said it truly is a public art project!

Some close ups working from left to right along the wall:

Summary:

Artist(s): Laura Jean McLaughlin, Bob Ziller
Address: One Wild Place
City: Pittsburgh (Highland Park)
Zip Code: 15206
Organization:

PghMurals@gmail.com
Twitter: @PghMurals

Grand Mère by Bob Ziller

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Grand Mère (Grandmother) is a tribute to the artist's own grandmother. She arrived in the United States as a 20 year old bride, travelling alone and knowing no english. She followed her husband a year after he emigrated from France, where they both had grown up on farms.

Bob Ziller recognized the amount of courage it took for her to make that journey at such a young age. He portrays her flying as a super hero because that's what she is to him. The strength and courage she displayed when she took that leap of faith were superhuman.

Summary:

Artist(s): Bob Ziller
Address:4610 Liberty Ave
City:Pittsburgh (Bloomfield)
Zip Code:15224

PghMurals@gmail.com
Twitter: @PghMurals