Wood St Murals by multiple artists

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This mural is part of an intersection full of wonderful murals - spread over three buildings and more. We initially starting calling these all The Amazing Plaza because there is a small park/plaza surrounded by these murals. There is so much to see here it's a bit overwhelming. Because of the shear volume of artwork, we decided to break this grouping into three entries. On this page we look at the art on the building to the left of the plaza facing Wood St. For the artwork on the side of this building that makes up the left wall of the plaza and the other walls surrounding the plaza see this page. For the building across the street from the plaza facing Franklin Ave, see this .

On each building there are numerous images. For the most part we were not able to identify which artist did which images. There were a few exceptions though.

Uriel is the name of an archangel that just so happens to be known as a patron of the arts. It’s also the name that came to Colleen Black when she was first painting this angel on a canvas. The painting was done while she was going through a bit of a rough patch and she came to think of it as a Blessing Angel – an empathic being, lifting the burdens from others and taking them on herself. It brought this artist a sense of peace and when the name came to her she didn’t question the fact that it was also the name of an archangel. It felt right for this angel.

The image is striking. In a collection of many great images on this block, this was one that drew our attention immediately. We were enchanted and intrigued by her and the story of her helping to channel peace and calm to people as she lifts their burdens. It made her that much more intriguing.

We don't have background stories on any of the other images on this building unfortunately. We do have pictures for you though:

Franklin Ave Murals by multiple artists

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This mural is part of an intersection full of wonderful murals. It’s across the street from a plaza with murals that surround a central gazebo. It’s also across from another wall of murals on Wood St.

Update August 2014
We’ve been riding back to all the artwork we discovered last year to check on them. Some of the murals have been removed since we were last there. A few of the buildings that had murals on them were demolished, taking the artwork with them, so we were very pleased to find this huge display was still intact and still in good condition.

When we first found this intersection full of art we were overwhelmed. I don’t know how long we spent staring and photographing it, but it wasn't long enough! This time we approached the area from a different direction and discovered that we had completely missed the art on the far side of one of the buildings! It never occurred to us to search for more art than what we were seeing at the time. Lesson learned.

The side of the building that we completely missed last year.

We decided to add some more photos of the details. There’s just so much on each of these murals, that you have to stop and look at each image to really appreciate it all.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Mural by George Gist, multiple artists

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Feb 17, 2009 was George Gist Day in Pittsburgh, by proclamation of City Council for his inspiration to the community through his art and activism. George Gist is an artist in many mediums. A muralist since 1971, he’s also a Jazz musician. Mr Gist is known for using history and culture in his art. He did a series of charcoal sketches based on photographs taken by Charles Teenie Harris, which we all know are some of the best glimpses into Pittsburgh’s African American history.

This mural is one of the series of murals installed along the east busway – named after Dr Martin Luther King Jr.   It’s appropriate that there would be a mural in that series to honor Dr King. In this design the central image of The Reverend King is literally made up of many other individuals. As if Dr King existed to speak and represent the many. There is actually fire in his eyes here. Surrounding his image we see visions of what we interpret as Dr King’s dreams for this community: empty jails, laughter, family, friends, music, dance, and an end to the violence and drugs.

The images on the support pillars for the bus shelter are not as easily interpreted. We hope the artists will enlighten us on these designs.

An Amazing Mural Plaza by multiple artists

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Wow! I think that’s what we both said as we rode up to the intersection of Franklin Ave and Wood St in Wilkinsburg. There are five large walls and a gazebo covered in artwork. The buildings are a part of Strength Inc.. They’ve created an outdoor art gallery with some incredible images here. Three of those walls plus the gazebo form a plaza. We feature that group of murals here. We separated the other two walls to their own pages and you can find them here and here.

The artists, Kyle Holbrook, Chris Savido, and George Gist have created a mural that literally surrounds you. The gazebo ceiling is also painted and it’s floor is a tile mosaic.

Starting at the left side and working clockwise around the plaza:

The gazebo ceiling:

The gazebo floor:

UPDATE August 2014
The first two times we visited this grouping of murals there were some other people around in the plaza and the sun was bright. Really bright. So bright that we were unable to get good photos of much of the one wall. We returned recently and this time it was overcast just enough to allow us to get some better pictures, so we’ve replaced several and added a few new ones.