Deavron Dailey can’t decide what he loves more — his hometown of Detroit, or his home for the past 13 years, Pittsburgh.

The similarities and contrasts between the two industrial cities have informed much of Dailey’s recent artwork, and a $20,000 grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Exposure Artist Program will help that work continue.

“I often make two-dimensional artwork based on the people, places and notable moments of each city through painting, ceramics or printmaking, mostly,” said Dailey, 43, of Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood. “But my goal is to create collaborative situations between creatives, art spaces and community development organizations in these two cities that I love equally.”

The foundation awarded a dozen grants totaling $215,000 to support individual artists and art collectives, with a focus on Black, Indigenous and people of color artists working at the intersection of art and activism, as well as artists who have not received funding previously. For details on the grants and artists, see ThePittsburghFoundation.org/exposureawardees.

Dailey, a self-taught artist, recently finished work on a public mural for Action Housing at William Penn Place, as well as his largest public piece to date, “The Arms of East Liberty,” created using 128 large square tiles and installed at 5906 Penn Ave. He is currently accepting commission work, and is a member of both Bloomfield printmaking collective Pullproof Studio and the collaborative studio at Union Project in Highland Park.

He spoke with the Trib about the grant and his forthcoming projects. The interview has been edited for length.

Q: What do you see as the primary similarities and differences between the two cities, and how do you want to represent it artistically?

A: The similarities I see in both Detroit and Pittsburgh are that they are both industrial cities, historically and presently. Both cities have always had an energetic arts and activism community. Also, both cities rely on nearby bodies of water as another source of economic viability. In contrast, Pittsburgh is full of hills and Detroit is completely flat. The dramatic hills of Pittsburgh create hundreds of vantage points to view the entire city from, but this makes the layout of the city streets feel illogical and a challenge to navigate. Detroit is completely flat. So there are very few breathtaking views within the residential areas of the city. But the streets are based on grid design, or more like “a wheel with spokes,” as I have heard it described before. This makes navigating the city fairly easy.

Q: What first got you interested in art, and how did that lead to it becoming a career?

A: I have been interested in art my whole life. From as far back as I can remember. It has always been clear to me that being an artist was/is my destiny. Everything outside of that has just been all for experiences and content to be used later in the production of my art in some form.

Q: Is mixed-media your primary medium?

A: I use a wide range of media to create my work. For me it is not about confining myself to one form of media in order to build up a large body of similar work. Instead I let whatever feeling of mood, interest, or inspiration that was evoked within me determine how and what to use to express what I am visualizing.

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