"Analog Scroll" Honored Today at Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in Denver
Greensburg public artwork by artist Janet Zweig was commissioned
by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
GREENSBURG, Pennsylvania (June 15, 2018) – Analog Scroll, a public artwork in Greensburg commissioned by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and the City of Greensburg, was among 49 outstanding public arts projects from 2017 honored today by the Americans for the Arts through the Public Art Network Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art. Chosen by public art experts, the roster of selected projects was unveiled this morning at Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention in Denver. This is the 17th year that Americans for the Arts has recognized public art works.
The Westmoreland and the City of Greensburg partnered on Bridging the Gap, a public art project designed to revitalize the North Main Street bridge, which connects The Westmoreland to downtown Greensburg. Analog Scroll, the resultant work by Janet Zweig, reimagines the possibilities for how Greensburg residents view the bridge and collaborate with the museum.
“The Westmoreland was thrilled to work with Janet Zweig on this, our first public art project,” said the Museum’s Chief Curator Barbara Jones. “It has indeed achieved what we hoped it would, that is to ‘bridge the gap’ between downtown Greensburg and The Westmoreland. Formerly a bland and non-descript structure, the bridge has now been beautifully activated and repurposed as a support for artistic expression.”
Three-dimensional powder-coated aluminum letters are placed on aluminum track along the two sides of the bridge. Every few weeks they are pushed manually along tracks on the bridge, removing one section from the front and adding one new section at the end, until an entire text is displayed gradually over a year.
Every year for ten years, one writer from Western Pennsylvania will be commissioned to write a site-specific text for the bridge, with the text advancing over the course of the year. “Main Street Bridge, Greensburg,” by Pittsburgh poet Jan Beatty, the first writer selected for the Bridging the Gap project, began appearing on Analog Scroll in March 2017 and will be completed in July 2018.
Funding for the artwork was provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant, The Heinz Endowments, Westmoreland County Tourism Grant Program, Community Foundation of Westmoreland County/Revitalizing Westmoreland, Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, Carol R. Brown, The Tomahawk Hill Foundation and an Indiegogo campaign. Technical assistance and project management was provided by the Office of Public Art located in Pittsburgh.
“The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns and communities we inhabit and visit,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “As these Public Art Network Year in Review selections illustrate, public art has the power to enhance our lives on a scale that little else can. I congratulate the artists and commissioning groups for these community treasures, and I look forward to honoring more great works in the years to come.”
The projects selected for Year in Review can be viewed on this page and are on display throughout the Annual Convention. Three independent public art experts—Bryan Lee, Jr., director of design at Colloquate Design in New Orleans; Karen Mack, executive director of LA Commons in Los Angeles; and Denver artist Patrick Marold—discussed the trends they uncovered while examining hundreds of submissions in selecting this year’s choices for the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2017.
The complete presentation, which includes photos and descriptions of all 49 projects, will be available for purchase through Americans for the Arts’ store.
About Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, it has a record of more than 55 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.
About Janet Zweig
Artist Janet Zweig lives in Brooklyn, NY and is renowned for her work in the public realm. Recently installed public works include a performance space in a prairie on a Kansas City downtown green roof; a series of kinetic works in Milwaukee; a generative sentence on a wall in downtown Columbus; a sentence-generating sculpture for an engineering school in Orlando; and an artwork integrated into the Ann Katharine Seamans Garden in Pittsburgh’s Mellon Park. Other public works include a 1200′ tile frieze at the Prince Street subway station in New York, and a system-wide interactive project for eleven Light Rail train stations in Minneapolis, incorporating the work of over a hundred Minnesotans. Her sculpture and books have been exhibited widely in such places as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Exit Art, PS1 Museum, the Walker Art Center, and Cooper Union. Awards include the Rome Prize Fellowship, NEA fellowships, and residencies at PS1 Museum and the MacDowell Colony. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design and at Brown University. To see examples of Janet Zweig’s work, visit her website at www.janetzweig.com.
About The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Committed to stimulating imagination and innovation through great experiences with art, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, is the only museum dedicated to American art in western Pennsylvania. The Westmoreland’s extraordinary permanent collection, with its strong focus on the art and artists of Southwestern Pennsylvania, is complemented by an impressive schedule of temporary exhibitions— both nationally traveling and those organized in house—as well as community-oriented programming and special events. More information is available at thewestmoreland.org and on the Museum’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles.
The Westmoreland receives funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the Marketing to Attract Tourism Grant through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
About the Office of Public Art
The Office of Public Art expands the range of possibilities for artists to engage communities through technical assistance, educational programs, commissions, and residencies in the public realm. Founded in 2005, we work with organizations and individuals in the public and private sector to facilitate the development of and information about public art.
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Photos by Dan Speicher
