Frick and Pittsburgh artist Vanessa German collaborate in exhibition
The doors were open and music was playing as Vanessa German installed her latest works of art.
“I could hear people asking about what was going on in the museum,” said German, of Homewood, who has been invited to collaborate with the Frick Pittsburgh museum. “Being around for the beauty of the installation and listening to people’s reactions was really a personal moment for me. Rarely do people get to see the process of an installation at a museum.”
German will be part of a multi-year visiting artist partnership with the museum. It includes a large-scale exhibition in 2023, a retrospective of German’s 25 years as an artist in Pittsburgh.
Those who know German wouldn’t be surprised she invited people to see what she was doing. She continually welcomes others to learn about art. She founded the ArtHouse in Homewood, a place for kids to come and create without stress and tension.
The house suffered a fire last month. German is dedicated to rebuilding it with the financial help from supporters.
German said she always dreamed of living near a museum.
The Frick Pittsburgh, on Reynolds Street near Penn Avenue, is a little over a mile from her home.
Over the next three years, German will create a community-centered work of art exploring the power of love. The first phase, which opened Wednesday, is titled “Nothing can separate you from the language you cry: Reckoning: Grief and Light.”
It will be followed by “Reckoning: Place and Imagination,” and “Reckoning: Creativity and Love.”
“This is a dream come true,” German said. “It’s important to me to be able to walk to a museum. It is also important to me that I am welcome here. How often does anyone ask Black women what they dream?”
The first part is a trio of sculptures — mixed-media figures and altars. Each is embellished with handcrafted glass in a cobalt hue, custom-made by artisans at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. A cascade of glass evokes a wailing wall, a place for visitors to reflect and mourn.
The pieces were created as a reckoning with the deaths of Black citizens at the hands of police — Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Elijah McClain. The art is installed among Italian Renaissance devotional paintings at the Frick.
A memorial evokes a sense of how people accumulate candles and flowers and mementos as they gather in their grief, German said. The installation is the opposite of lynching, she said.
“There is something wrong about people having a picnic while a dead body lies nearby,” she said.
Kaitlyn Clem, a Frick spokeswoman, said the museum is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The multi-sensory experience includes musical selections from “Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice,” a contemporary classical symphonic work about the history of Africans enslaved on South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations,” according the museum’s website. German’s voice will be heard counting for the more than eight minutes that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck.
“This is a watershed partnership for the Frick,” the museum’s executive director Elizabeth Barker said in a statement. “Vanessa German is a singular and inspiring artist, whose project couldn’t feel more urgent.”
German hopes the installation can have the museum function as an agent for change.
The Frick is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Beginning April 6, hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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