Jeannette art gallery to host exhibit honoring retired Seton Hill professor

Jeannette art gallery You Are Here’s next exhibit holds professional and personal meaning for co-owner Jen Costello.

The exhibit features work created by former students and friends of Maureen Kochanek, who retired from Seton Hill University this year after 42 years teaching art history.

“I had Maureen as a professor for Western cultures, and she insisted I take a Women in Arts class,” said Costello, who graduated from Seton Hill in 2008.

“I said ‘I’m a psych major, I won’t need it.’ She saidm ‘Trust me, you will.’”

Kochanek’s wisdom proved to be true in 2018, when Costello and friend Mary Briggs opened their art gallery on Jeannette’s Clay Avenue.

“She said, ‘I told you you were going to need those art classes,’” Costello recalled with a laugh. “Maureen has been such a big supporter of You Are Here.”

When Kochanek announced her retirement, Costello knew she had to do something to honor her former professor.

Carson Heil — a Seton Hill art history student and You Are Here intern — took the reins, curating an exhibit of 3-D art, paintings, photography and jewelry by 30 artists who wanted to share stories of Kochanek’s impact on their lives. It will open Dec. 7 and remain on display until Dec. 21.

Kochanek worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Saint Vincent College and Community College of Allegheny County, but the bulk of her career was spent teaching and advising students at Seton Hill.

She launched Seton Hill’s study abroad program, taking students on two-week trips throughout Europe once a year for nearly three decades. She started an annual Women in Art exhibit with You Are Here to highlight the work of female artists and has given numerous presentations at local and international conferences on art and social justice.

But Kochanek was not ready to give up teaching entirely. She started teaching art and history courses this fall at Duquesne University, minutes away from her downtown Pittsburgh home.

“I’m still using present tense, not past,” Kochanek said of her work as an educator.

Costello does not know where she would be without Kochanek’s guidance.

“I struggled throughout my high school years. I didn’t have a good basis of education,” Costello said. “(Maureen) knew I had more to give and she pushed me to give everything I had to learn.

“She would give me tips, she would give me pointers, she would teach me things to better public speak, do presentations. And personal things within my life — she was just there.”

Costello isn’t the only one.

“She’s been that way with all her students,” Costello said. “She really is invested with all her students.”

Kochanek said she is thrilled, humbled and grateful to be honored by the exhibit.

“I’m smiling until my face hurts before I even get there,” she said.