The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination (IFCI) presents the exhibition Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde featuring over 60 artists, in tandem with the upcoming release of the book Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde: 60 Years Inside the Underground Art Scene, compiled and edited by Sheila Ali. The exhibition opens December 6th, 2024 and runs through March 7th, 2025. The work featured includes both well-known and lesser known artists as well as legendary musicians and musical acts such as Erin Synder, ATS, and Standing Wave. Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde, the book, and the exhibition feature works in all media that explore a variety of subjects, themes, and processes. A selection of the artists in the book are in the exhibition, which is perhaps the most exciting show of Pittsburgh artists ever! These are heavy hitters! So invite your friends and colleagues! Bring your buyers! Alert the press! Hold the phone! This is Big! 

This historic exhibition brings together a community of notable and celebrated artists, collectives, and collectors. We have here: Doug Cooper, Robert Qualters, Thad Mosley, Samir Elsabee, vanessa german, Mr. Imagination, Rick Bach, Ellen Chides Neuberg, Irma Freeman, Tim Kaulen, Tom Sarver, James Shipman, Richard Schnap, James Simon, Larry Rippel, Ron Donoughe, Spaz, Sue Abramson, Emory Biko, Karen Antonelli, Chrisitne Bethea, Mike Bonello, Rob Long, Chuck Barr, Abira Ali, Kenneth Batista, etta cetera, Dennis Childers, Katy DeMent, Ruth Klawansky, Ryder Henry, Laura Jean McLaughlin, Ed Parrish Jr., Jim Brindle, Joan Brindle, Cheryl Capezzuti, Scott Turri, Jim Dugas, Sarah Zeffiro, Ruth Bedeian, subRosa, Bob Ziller, Bekezela Mguni, David Bernabo, Cara Gaetano, Brady Lewis, Pat McArdle, Steve Mendleson, Elizabeth Murray Finkelstein, Laverne Kemp, Evan Knauer, Michael FiG Mangiafico, Jana Conn, Bill Karaffa, Joelle Levitt Killebrew, Hong Zhao, Edgar Um Bucholtz, Teresa Martuccio, and Eric Calfo.

This exhibition was made possible with the enormous support of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Allegheny Arts Revival Grant, Emily Fenton, Brett Boye, Jack Ball, Tom Sarver, Ed Parrish Jr., Elizabeth Murray Finkelstein, Katy DeMent, Angela Jane Fountas, and ConceptArt Gallery—and of course, the participating artists, almost all of whom have exhibited at the IFCI previously, and many who have had their own exhibitions or curated exhibitions here. Thank you! Stay tuned for the release of the book in February and a list of events. A portion of sales from the exhibition will go to the Avant-Garde book fund, a grassroots project. Please explore and enjoy this special, once in a lifetime exhibition!

* Exhibition Opening Reception December 6th 6 - 9 pm. Featuring classical Music by Erin Snyder & Doug Lischner 7:30 p.m.

* Gallery Hours: Tuesdays 3-5 pm, Saturdays 2-5 pm & Sundays 4-6 pm

* Artist Talk & Tour December 7th 3-5 pm

* Holiday Collage Workshop & Irma’s Birthday Party! December 14th 3-5 pm with Paper Lady Katy DeMent

* Artist Reception February 7th 6-9 pm. Music by Mike Bonello & Sam Pace + Band 8:30 pm

* Art Panel Discussion February 8th 3 pm. Vicky Clark, Sheila Ali, Christina Springer, Edgar Um Bucholtz, Scott Turri& Tim Kaulen

* Card Making February 9th 3 pm. Print your own Valentine with Sheila Ali

* Miniatures Workshop February 15th 3 pm with artist Ryder Henry

* Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde Book Release Dance Party  TBA. Featuring The ATS/Knauer Bros Dance Band with Isaac Winograd on drums, Mike Marcinko on bass, Steve Seel + Evan Knauer on guitar, Melissa Knauer vocals and Steve Browne on trumpet.  

* Exhibition Closing Reception March 7th 6-9 pm. Featuring music by Standing Wave 8:30 pm

Opening reception July 5th, 7 - 10 pm. Gallery hours Saturdays 2 -5 pm or by appointment. A series of events will be held in conjunction with this exhibition including: an artist talk on July 10, 7 pm, and an evening of poetry on July 12, 7 pm. Later in the month, an experimental puppet performance (adults only) and musical act will be held on July 22-23, 8:30 pm (doors open 8pm). Lastly will be a burlesque show on July 27, 8 pm. (photo by Jaime Bird)

This Exhibition reflects an opportunity to communicate an objective set of narratives over a variety of motifs, with the challenge of engaging and moving our viewers without the benefit of words.

Each presentation strives to motivate the viewer both emotionally and intellectually. First moving the viewer emotionally by the way each perceives the central character (s) in the composition and then intellectually through a variety of surrounding symbolism and allegory, which are juxtaposed to create an avenue for the viewer to discover a variety of possible contrasting interpretations.

Each narrative is conveyed from the perspective of a neutral observer, free of personal doxa, and independent of social mechanisms that may introduce pressure towards some standard consensus. Compositions avoid notions of how we are to see or think about any particular subject matter, and in fact contrast these positions entirely.

By seeing the possibility of multiple interpretations through varying lenses, the viewer becomes more receptive of other viewer’s perspectives and truths. This is where dialog may begin and ultimately enhance the timelessness of these pieces.

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination and Women of Visions presents Shades of Black.
This exhibition opening is a part of First Friday, Unblurred: Penn Ave's Monthly Gallery Crawl.

“Shades of Black unfolds a narrative that transcends the monochrome stereotypes of yesteryears. It is an ode to the myriad of hues within the spectrum of blackness, where each shade embodies a unique story and a distinctive journey.
“This exhibition is a testament to the vibrancy that arises from the diversity of our people. Just as colors multiply, so does the richness of our experiences and cultures. Each work of art represents a chapter in the epic saga of overcoming adversities and rising above the constraints of societal expectations.” ---Cynthia Kenderson, President Women of Visions

Women of Visions, Inc. is a historic collective of African American women visual artists in Pittsburgh and a contemporary organization of artists supporting the community and each other through exhibitions, education, mentorship, and professional development.

Join us First Friday for The Opening Reception of Amalgamation ll

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination presents Amalgamation ll , a two person exhibition opening Friday, April 7th. This show features the work of Katy Dement and Christine Bethea. These artists have created a reprisal of their original 2022 exhibit, Amalgamation. This show premiered at the Dressler Center in Somerset PA. The artists are happy to reinvigorate their vision once again.

These two artists come together in a true Amalgamation of their individual talents to turn the old into new using salvaged items that appear to have no obvious use; to create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of art each one a visual narrative – a story for you to tell.

Whether it’s a rusty tool, discarded wood, fabric remnants or
vintage ephemera and handmade papers, these two ladies turn ordinary cast off objects into extraordinary beauty!

The closing reception will be held May 5, 2023. Regular Gallery hours are Saturdays from 2-5 pm and by appointment. The Irma Freeman Center welcomes groups to book events and tours to experience this engaging, beautiful exhibit. Share with family, friends, and neighbors!

This event is free and open to the public

The Figure

Artists include: Abiria Ali, Amanda L. Mottorn, Bill Karaffa, C.G. Marchl, Cheryl Coleman, Dai Morgan, Ellen Conrad, Emily Paige Armstrong, Hong Zhao, Jack Puglisi, Jeff Distefano, Jian Wang, Joe Witzel, Kat Spears, Kirsten Ervin, Ly Evangelista, Nancy Howarth, Olivia Biggs, Patrick Smith, Rachel Sample,  Sheila Ali, Thomas Tholen, and Travis Benn.

The Figure in an exhibition of over 20 local artists with their individual interpretations of figurative works. These works vary in mediums of oil, charcoal, pencil, paint and more and are on a variety of surfaces. A figure work can be as “minimal” as a quick, gestural drawing, or it can be an intensively painted portrait. Equally, a figure can be obscured and abstracted. The Figure at The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, seeks to broaden the viewer's perspective on the concept of a figurative work.

The figure is an ancient form of study and some of the most famous works spring from combining chiaroscuro with line, shape and form. Here we have displayed figures in myriad ways, be it a sketch or incomplete study, abstract, or photographic rendering. The color of the paper and the contrast of the figure take on an infinite array of light and shadow. Some are accompanied by fruit feathers, skulls, books, or placed in nature. Others use shape and design as backdrops to the figure. The drawings are made with the point of pencil or the stroke of a brush of ink or paint; or the smudge of chalk, graphite or pastel.

The figure is often more perfect than in the real world. Here the artist contemplates and meditates with silence or song. More often in the figure sessions there is a respectful homage to the human form, for its beauty and natural resonance. We study it, trying to capture God’s creation, or the creation of gods. - s.ali, curator, IFCI   

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Gallery hours 2 - 5 Saturdays on by appointment

PROCESS: Batista, Dugas, Turri is an art exhibition presented at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination from June 30 through September 2, 2022. The paintings of three contemporary artists; Kenneth Batista, James Dugas and Scott Turri are displayed in adjacent interplay in the beautiful gallery rooms of the Freeman Center and share the poetic mystery of their creators' process.

Kenneth Batista’s “paintings live in the world between realism and abstraction. When viewed at a close distance, the work appears to be a random array of abstract squares with color being an additional unifying factor. However, as the viewer steps away from the painting, the squares morph into a recognizable image creating an entirely different relationship with the work. This phenomenon is of particular interest to me as it invites the viewer to be an active participant in the piece completing the viewing cycle. The work also draws from impressionism where I use light to define form and space. However, instead of defining form with individual brush strokes as the Impressionists did in the 19 th century, I employ digital technology to pixilate the original image. From there, the paintings take on a life of their own.”

Jim Dugas’ works were outcomes of his daily art exercise with paint and brush seeking the intrinsic, poetic and spiritual, some with resultant paint surfaces built up over decades like Albert Pinkham Ryder, with whom he identifies. “I have spent my entire career trying to understand and be directed by that which is fleeting and passing and never under control for too very long although I am sure that it sings perpetually within us all and is of profound substance and power when grasped intuitively and for a moment expresses itself in true harmony and beauty in the forms of music, literature and painting.” Three different and never previously exhibited series will be represented. During the time of tis exhibition we lost Jim suddenly, and so we will continue to celebrate his life through his art with the duration of this exhibition.

Jim Dugas passed away on Sunday, July 17. The 9”x9” 2003-2022 Untitled series represents his final finished works.

Over the last 20 years Scott Turri’s process has entailed making digital images that become the model for his handmade paintings. “For Shelter in Place, I set extremely restrictive design parameters, having used the industrial design of a laundry basket as the source. The basket has evenly sized and spaced pill-shaped cutouts. This domestic household container is a metaphor; it constrains movement; therefore, working inside this structure signals a type of confinement. This intentional choice of using an industrial design, typically made and used for its functionality, as opposed to its beauty, behaves like a ready-made for me and indicates a distancing from the self. The repetitive positioning of the pills and circles is the underlying architecture for all the paintings in this series. Endless possibilities exist within this limited framework, implying mental freedom within a physical boundary.”

It is with profound loss and sadness that the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination acknowledges and mourns the loss of artist James Dugas with the Pittsburgh and national arts community. Jim died on Sunday, July 17, at his home studio at the age of 72. One of the most talented, provocative and prolific artists of his generation, Jim was disciplined and passionate about his craft and kind and generous and a consummate gentleman. A skilled printmaker and sculptor, Jim was noted for his "thick acrylic" paintings, foundations and surfaces built up by repetition over days, months and years and then often subsequently manipulated, rearranged and over-painted again creating worlds of visual and physical depth and intrigue. These works were equally interesting from the reverse and Jim would have them professionally photographed before framing to record them. He would often pull molds of works and surfaces he found interesting and made many sculptures that way. Thank you Jim for your friendship and your incredible work. We love you.

PROCESS: Batista, Dugas, Turri opens on First Friday, July 1 and runs through First Friday, September 2. It will also be open First Friday, August 5. First Friday Gallery Hours are 7-9 pm and Saturdays from 2-5 pm and by appointment. The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination welcomes groups to book events and tours to experience this captivating exhibit during its 2 month tenure. For information call: (office) 412-924-0634,

Art by Ken Batista

PROCESS: Batista, Dugas, Turri is an art exhibition presented at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination from June 30 through September 2, 2022. The paintings of three contemporary artists; Kenneth Batista, James Dugas and Scott Turri are displayed in adjacent interplay in the beautiful gallery rooms of the Freeman Center and share the poetic mystery of their creators' process.

Kenneth Batista’s “paintings live in the world between realism and abstraction. When viewed at a close distance, the work appears to be a random array of abstract squares with color being an additional unifying factor. However, as the viewer steps away from the painting, the squares morph into a recognizable image creating an entirely different relationship with the work. This phenomenon is of particular interest to me as it invites the viewer to be an active participant in the piece completing the viewing cycle. The work also draws from impressionism where I use light to define form and space. However, instead of defining form with individual brush strokes as the Impressionists did in the 19 th century, I employ digital technology to pixilate the original image. From there, the paintings take on a life of their own.”

Jim Dugas’ works are outcomes of his daily art exercise with paint and brush seeking the intrinsic, poetic and spiritual, some with resultant paint surfaces built up over decades like Albert Pinkham Ryder, with whom he identifies. “I have spent my entire career trying to understand and be directed by that which is fleeting and passing and never under control for too very long although I am sure that it sings perpetually within us all and is of profound substance and power when grasped intuitively and for a moment expresses itself in true harmony and beauty in the forms of music, literature and painting.” Three different and never previously exhibited series will be represented.

Over the last 20 years Scott Turri’s process has entailed making digital images that become the model for his handmade paintings. “For Shelter in Place, I set extremely restrictive design parameters, having used the industrial design of a laundry basket as the source. The basket has evenly sized and spaced pill-shaped cutouts. This domestic household container is a metaphor; it constrains movement; therefore, working inside this structure signals a type of confinement. This intentional choice of using an industrial design, typically made and used for its functionality, as opposed to its beauty, behaves like a ready-made for me and indicates a distancing from the self. The repetitive positioning of the pills and circles is the underlying architecture for all the paintings in this series. Endless possibilities exist within this limited framework, implying mental freedom within a physical boundary.”

PROCESS: Batista, Dugas, Turri opens on First Friday, July 1 and runs through First Friday, September 2. It will also be open First Friday, August 5. First Friday Gallery Hours are 7-9 pm and Saturdays from 2-5 pm and by appointment. The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination welcomes groups to book events and tours to experience this captivating exhibit during its 2 month tenure. For information call: (office) 412-924-0634,

Art Credit: Jim Dugas

The Magical World of Roman Golla is a visual celebration of the paintings and drawings of one Polish immigrant to America, making present an Outsider artist’s story of innate creativity, visionary passion, loss, and rediscovery.  The exhibition will close on June 3rd.

Roman Golla was born in the mountains of southern Poland in 1917 in an environment defined by horse drawn sleighs, gypsy caravans and deep winter snows. Captured in a Nazi round up during World War II, Roman spent years in a slave labor camp in occupied France.  After liberation in 1945, Roman found Russian occupied Poland stifling. In 1951, he seized the opportunity to immigrate to America, and found passage to Chicago, Illinois, where the Polish-speaking community helped find him employment and a place to live.  An avid chess-player, Roman merited positions in the US Open Chess Tournament in 1953, 1961, 1963 and 1968. Roman never married. He remained employed until retirement, and lived contentedly in an apartment in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. By any measure of human wisdom, considering his past, one might say Roman had a good and satisfying life. Amazingly, though, in 1964, Roman Golla decided he was an artist.

Initially working with wire, wood, and paint, Roman quickly gravitated toward prepared canvas and oil paint. He recalled memories, myths and imaginations, painting  with a folkloric simplicity and sense of wonder. A one-person exhibition at Humanitas Gallery in 1978 earned Roman some renown  when Chicago Sun Times Art Critic Harold Hayden gave his paintings a positive review. Though  paintings were sold,  for some unknown reason, Roman never exhibited again. He died alone, surrounded by over 90 paintings, in December of 2001. Without a direct heir, the City of Chicago saw to his burial and removed the contents of his apartment, eventually giving his personal effects to a distant relative who then sold the paintings to a prospective gallery owner. The buyer placed the paintings in storage, and, over twelve years later, with the gallery still unrealized, Roman’s paintings appeared on Craigslist. This is where the story begins anew. 

Curator Bob Nowalk teaches at Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school in Culver Indiana. Since 2001, has been working with the Academy's Art Collection and Galleries to connect the process of learning with works of art.   Nowalk has tried to raise awareness of the importance of Outsider Artists. His commitment to celebrating the root of creative wonder is realized with the Roman Golla exhibition at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination.

The Magical World of Roman Golla runs April 1 to June 3, 2022. The First Friday opening is 7 - 9 pm. The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located at 5006 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 15224. Gallery hours Saturdays 2 -5 pm & by appointment. For group bookings and gallery tours call 412-924-0634 or write info@irmafreeman.org.

The Magical World of Roman Golla is a visual celebration of the paintings and drawings of one Polish immigrant to America, making present an Outsider artist’s story of innate creativity, visionary passion, loss, and rediscovery. This special event will include a talk about the artist by Robert Nowalk.

Curator Robert Nowalk teaches at Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school in Culver Indiana. Since 2001, has been working with the Academy's Art Collection and Galleries to connect the process of learning with works of art.   Nowalk has tried to raise awareness of the importance of Outsider Artists. His commitment to celebrating the root of creative wonder is realized with the Roman Golla exhibition at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination.

Roman Golla was born in the mountains of southern Poland in 1917 in an environment defined by horse drawn sleighs, gypsy caravans and deep winter snows. Captured in a Nazi round up during World War II, Roman spent years in a slave labor camp in occupied France.  After liberation in 1945, Roman found Russian occupied Poland stifling. In 1951, he seized the opportunity to immigrate to America, and found passage to Chicago, Illinois, where the Polish-speaking community helped find him employment and a place to live.  An avid chess-player, Roman merited positions in the US Open Chess Tournament in 1953, 1961, 1963 and 1968. Roman never married. He remained employed until retirement, and lived contentedly in an apartment in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. By any measure of human wisdom, considering his past, one might say Roman had a good and satisfying life. Amazingly, though, in 1964, Roman Golla decided he was an artist.

Initially working with wire, wood, and paint, Roman quickly gravitated toward prepared canvas and oil paint. He recalled memories, myths and imaginations, painting  with a folkloric simplicity and sense of wonder. A one-person exhibition at Humanitas Gallery in 1978 earned Roman some renown  when Chicago Sun Times Art Critic Harold Hayden gave his paintings a positive review. Though  paintings were sold,  for some unknown reason, Roman never exhibited again. He died alone, surrounded by over 90 paintings, in December of 2001. Without a direct heir, the City of Chicago saw to his burial and removed the contents of his apartment, eventually giving his personal effects to a distant relative who then sold the paintings to a prospective gallery owner. The buyer placed the paintings in storage, and, over twelve years later, with the gallery still unrealized, Roman’s paintings appeared on Craigslist. This is where the story begins anew. 

The Magical World of Roman Golla runs April 1 to May 6, 2022. The FIrst Friday opening is 7 - 10 pm. In addition, there will be an open event from 1-4 pm on Saturday April 2nd with a gallery talk by curator Robert Nowalk. The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located at 5006 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 15224. Gallery hours Saturdays 2 -5 pm (except April 16) & appointment. For group bookings and gallery tours call 412-924-0634 or write info@irmafreeman.org.

The Magical World of Roman Golla is a visual celebration of the paintings and drawings of one Polish immigrant to America, making present an Outsider artist’s story of innate creativity, visionary passion, loss, and rediscovery. 

Roman Golla was born in the mountains of southern Poland in 1917 in an environment defined by horse drawn sleighs, gypsy caravans and deep winter snows. Captured in a Nazi round up during World War II, Roman spent years in a slave labor camp in occupied France.  After liberation in 1945, Roman found Russian occupied Poland stifling. In 1951, he seized the opportunity to immigrate to America, and found passage to Chicago, Illinois, where the Polish-speaking community helped find him employment and a place to live.  An avid chess-player, Roman merited positions in the US Open Chess Tournament in 1953, 1961, 1963 and 1968. Roman never married. He remained employed until retirement, and lived contentedly in an apartment in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. By any measure of human wisdom, considering his past, one might say Roman had a good and satisfying life. Amazingly, though, in 1964, Roman Golla decided he was an artist.

Initially working with wire, wood, and paint, Roman quickly gravitated toward prepared canvas and oil paint. He recalled memories, myths and imaginations, painting  with a folkloric simplicity and sense of wonder. A one-person exhibition at Humanitas Gallery in 1978 earned Roman some renown  when Chicago Sun Times Art Critic Harold Hayden gave his paintings a positive review. Though  paintings were sold,  for some unknown reason, Roman never exhibited again. He died alone, surrounded by over 90 paintings, in December of 2001. Without a direct heir, the City of Chicago saw to his burial and removed the contents of his apartment, eventually giving his personal effects to a distant relative who then sold the paintings to a prospective gallery owner. The buyer placed the paintings in storage, and, over twelve years later, with the gallery still unrealized, Roman’s paintings appeared on Craigslist. This is where the story begins anew. 

Curator Bob Nowalk teaches at Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school in Culver Indiana. Since 2001, has been working with the Academy's Art Collection and Galleries to connect the process of learning with works of art.   Nowalk has tried to raise awareness of the importance of Outsider Artists. His commitment to celebrating the root of creative wonder is realized with the Roman Golla exhibition at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination.

The Magical World of Roman Golla runs April 1 to May 6, 2022. The FIrst Friday opening is 7 - 10 pm. In addition, there will be an open event from 1-4 pm on Saturday April 2nd with a gallery talk by curator Robert Nowalk. The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located at 5006 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 15224. Gallery hours Saturdays 2 -5 pm (except April 16) & appointment. For group bookings and gallery tours call 412-924-0634 or write info@irmafreeman.org.

Artist Vera England lives in Garfield, just 2 blocks from the Irma Freeman Center. Beyond painting, she is mother of four young children, and part-time architectural designer at citySTUDIO. 

Many of Vera’s paintings are scenes from her travels — most recently in San Diego, the Gulf Coast, Italy, and Costa Rica. Lately she has been experimenting with Impressionist and Fauvist style landscapes, inspired by painters such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Matisse. Through her art, Vera hopes to give people moments to catch their breath and find peace in the midst of life’s busyness. Her work expresses her love of nature, and her delight in the beauty of diverse colors and textures. 

Vera grew up on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, the oldest of seven children. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, she moved to Pittsburgh and worked in architecture for several years. In 2012 she and her husband, Ryan England, started citySTUDIO, a design firm specializing in the renovation and repurposing of historic buildings. Over the past 10 years, they have enjoyed working together on numerous Pittsburgh architectural projects, including many here in the Penn Avenue Arts District.

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present Extraordinary Visions: an exhibition of youthful imaginings, curated by Sheila Ali. Twenty young artists come from across the United States to form a group exhibition that reveals a vast diversity of inspiration and experience, ranging from raw and complex form.

Extraordinary Visions closes on Friday, January 7th, 2021 with a reception from 7:00 - 10:00 PM and special musical guests. Gallery Hours will be on Saturdays from 2-5 pm or by appointment.  During the run of the exhibition there will also be an impressive array of art  for sale of both exhibition prints and the IF Boutique art wares, which make perfect holiday gifts.

This exhibition encompasses stunning original works: from the primitive, outsider to the didactic, tactile, iconographic and magnificent. Media include painting, drawing, soft sculpture, kinetic and clay sculpture, linoleum prints, photography, digital encryption, mixed media, silkscreen, interactive art and video. Artists range in age from 17 - 30. Although young, these artists infuse a bold new aesthetic on the scene, beyond the pool of seasoned masters. The IFCI presents artists from New York City, Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; Denver and Loveland, Colorado, and  Pittsburgh, Pa.. The Irma Freeman Center for the first time, reveals a new generation of descendants of Irma Freeman, including those with individual challenges such as naive artist Natalie Ault, who despite having Fragile X, creates fabulous art dolls and fun, colorful anthropomorphic sketches. The Freeman millennial and generation Z work is coupled with the street fresh art students and young local professional artists, such as the whimsical works of Tabitha Burnette, the uncompromising 3-D mixed media paintings of Eva Conrad, the haunting childhood sculptures of Anny Chen and the vivacious women skater gang antics of Fruit Basket. The exhibiting artists together form a spectacular sight:  something sometimes spilling out from the city streets, other times blowing in from the ether. With visionary callings, these artists answer to a new muse, one just peeking on the horizon.

Artists included in Extraordinary Visions are Ava Conrad, Anny Chen, Tabitha Burnette, Magstar, Jay Pitser, Eryn Oberst, Fruit Basket Productions (Alicia Baggieri, Amber Gedman, Hana Goodman, Julz Meelsky, Emmy Albert, and Annie Gormaley), and Irma Freeman’s great grandchildren: Natalie Ault and Mom, Jacob Ault, Sylvia Freeman, Irma Ali, Eliza Henderson, Elias Freeman Myers, Abraham Freeman Harris and Clio Riznyk.

Art credit: Elza Bee Henderson

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present Extraordinary Visions: an exhibition of youthful imaginings, curated by Sheila Ali. Twenty young artists come from across the United States to form a group exhibition that reveals a vast diversity of inspiration and experience, ranging from raw and complex form.

Extraordinary Visions opens on Friday, December 3rd, 2021 with a reception from 6:00 - 9:00 PM and special musical guests Merce Lemmon. The show will be up through January 7th, 2022 with a closing reception. Gallery Hours will be on Saturdays from 2-5 pm or by appointment.  During the run of the exhibition there will also be an impressive array of art  for sale of both exhibition prints and the IF Boutique art wares, which make perfect holiday gifts.

This exhibition encompasses stunning original works: from the primitive, outsider to the didactic, tactile, iconographic and magnificent. Media include painting, drawing, soft sculpture, kinetic and clay sculpture, linoleum prints, photography, digital encryption, mixed media, silkscreen, interactive art and video. Artists range in age from 16 - 30. Although young, these artists infuse a bold new aesthetic on the scene, beyond the pool of seasoned masters. The IFCI presents artists from New York City, Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; Denver and Loveland, Colorado, and  Pittsburgh, Pa.. The Irma Freeman Center for the first time, reveals a new generation of descendants of Irma Freeman, including those with individual challenges such as naive artist Natalie Ault, who despite having Fragile X, creates fabulous art dolls and fun, colorful anthropomorphic sketches. The Freeman millennial and generation Z work is coupled with the street fresh art students and young local professional artists, such as the whimsical works of Tabitha Burnette, the uncompromising 3-D mixed media paintings of Eva Conrad, the haunting childhood sculptures of Anny Chen and the vivacious women skater gang antics of Fruit Basket. The exhibiting artists together form a spectacular sight:  something sometimes spilling out from the city streets, other times blowing in from the ether. With visionary callings, these artists answer to a new muse, one just peeking on the horizon.

Artists included in Extraordinary Visions are Ava Conrad, Anny Chen, Tabitha Burnette, Magstar, Eryn Oberst, Fruit Basket Productions (Alicia Baggieri, Amber Gedman, Hana Goodman, Julz Meelsky, Emmy Albert, and Annie Gormaley), and Irma Freeman’s great grandchildren: Natalie Ault and Mom, Jacob Ault, Sylvia Freeman, Irma Ali, Eliza Henderson, Elias Freeman Myers, Abraham Freeman Harris and Clio Riznyk.

Art credit: Eva Conrad

Ethereal Aperture, What Remains.

Photographic explorations into the remnants of post industrial decay. 

Ethereal Aperture, LLC was formed in mid 2020 by Cara M. Gaetano, former instructor and staff member at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Ethereal Aperture offers on-location photo shoots, workshops in darkroom, experimental, and lo-fi photography, as well as the history of photography. Future classes are planned for Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley, PA, in addition to workshops at the Analog Liberation Darkroom, located in Pittsburgh’s Southside. Cara, along with former Pittsburgh Filmmaker’s staff founded the Liberation in 2018.

All of the participants of What Remains have taken classes with Ethereal Aperture, and the majority of locations are from those class shoots. Each student has their own unique approach  to these spaces and those interpretations are seen in their photos. Peer into the past through their lenses. 

Featuring works by the following photographers: Stacy Butera, Heather Dowley Delano, Jamie Estock, George Francis, Cara Gaetano, Kathleen Kersnick, Christianna Kreiss, Deborah McCormick, Shannon McKenzie,  David Merritt, Morry Moskovitz, Robert Olson, Gina Sapienza, Pete Schlicht, Gene Wilson. 

For more information on Ethereal Aperture: https://www.facebook.com/etherealaperturephoto or

etherealaperturephoto@gmail.com.

Photo credit: Cara Gaetano

Grab a drink from Bantha Tea Bar and come into the gallery next door. We will be sitting in the front gallery ready to take turns as clothed models for the group. You are encouraged to bring clothing that exposes your arms and legs or whatever you are comfortable with. Please bring your own art supplies. Chairs provided. Come work in this spacious art gallery and get to know fellow artists thorough the art of drawing! We ask that you wear a mask if you are not vaccinated. This is a donation only group with suggested donations of 5 - 10 dollars. No age limit and no payments required.

Join us our Group <https://www.meetup.com/pittsburgh-drawing-meetup-group>

Repetition invokes a spectrum of feeling and emotion. From passing waves of monotony, to symmetrical excellence, repetition has a place in everything’s life. The sun rises, the sun sets. Life and death. Repetition has the power to comfort, repetition has the power to disturb. To distract or distance from repetitive thoughts, one must cloak the mind and thoughts in darkness. I close my eyes. Light penetrates...repetition resumes.

Conor Clarke is a self taught artist from Philadelphia, PA. Conor draws heavy influence from ancient civilizations, and human error.

This show celebrates the life and work of Pittsburgh native Kevin Osterhout. In recent years, Kevin had displayed some of his work in several coffee shops in the East End of the city.

Kevin drew in fine black marker. Some pieces he kept as pen drawings, but most of his work is vibrantly colored.  In older pieces he added color with pencils, while more recently he used markers. In a few recent pieces, Kevin set aside his careful, intricate line drawing for spontaneous, explosive pieces of dramatic energy.

Most of Kevin’s art depicts intertwining, curious relationships, with colorful figures flowing into and out of each other, transforming each other in the process. The unexpected interrupts and upends expectations in renderings of difference and, sometimes, of disorder. In Kevin’s drawings, the playful and the disruptive, the odd and the disturbing unite in fluid design without defined starting or ending points.

In describing his passion for drawing, Kevin once wrote, “I want to help. I want to heal. I want to inspire wonder.” Though Kevin titled some drawings, most pieces are untitled. A standard definition says the adjective phantasmagorical “describes something with a dreamlike, fantastical, unreal, deceptive, or shifting appearance, like an optical illusion.” Kevin’s family has selected the exhibit title Phantasmagoricals, turning this unusual adjective into a noun, as a collective name for Kevin’s drawings.   

Curated by Kevin’s family and Pittsburgh photographer Nick Childers, this exhibit is a tribute to Kevin’s beautiful spirit and remarkable achievement in creating more than 150 pieces of intriguing, appealing, colorful art throughout many years of painful struggles with mental health issues and substance use.

After many months of sobriety, Kevin died at age 30 in August 2020 of accidental heroin/fentanyl poisoning.

Kevin had long hoped to sell a variety of products featuring his designs. To fulfill Kevin’s desire, to honor his legacy, to celebrate his achievement and to share his story, Kevin’s family is selling merchandise at the exhibit, including T-shirts Kevin had designed but had not yet been able to have made.

Merchandise sales at this exhibit will launch a non-profit that will continue to sell items featuring Kevin’s many designs through the gracious welcoming of the Irma Freeman Center Gallery Boutique shop as well as through an online presence. All proceeds will be used to support work aligning with Kevin’s desire to inspire wonder through his art, as well as to support groups which affirm, support and celebrate the full humanity and value of all persons living with mental health and substance use challenges.

Phantasmagoricals opens Friday, June 4 and runs through Friday, July 2, 2020. First Friday receptions will be open to the public as well as a special event held on Wednesday, June 9, for Kevin’s birthday, from 6:00-9:00 p.m., featuring music and light refreshments.

In light of everything that has taken place in our country and the world in 2020, this exhibit will explore the roads toward redemption and possibilities. How does one adapt in a world where our old “normal” has changed to a new “normal”? How does one cope and persist, transforming that which is difficult, challenging, and uncertain into something positive and promising?
How do we tap into our creativity when worries and fears block it? What is our personal story, what does it look like, and how does it relate to everything going on around us? Where do we see the story taking us, and where will our journey go?

• Exhibition Dates: May 7 – May 23, 2021

• Gallery hours: Thursdays through Sundays 1 - 5 pm

• Family and Friends Opening: May 6 / 4, 2021 – 7pm

• First Friday opening: May 7, 2021 / 6:30 – 9:30pm

Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present F.A.E. (Friends Are Everywhere), an exhibition by Anthony Queen and Casper Pauclul. F.A.E. opens on Friday, April 2nd, 2021 with a reception from 3 - 7 PM. The show will be up through April, with a soft closing on April 18th - 19th. Gallery Hours will be on Sundays from 2 - 5 pm, or by appointment. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located on 5006 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. There is a type of spirit known for hiding in plain sight, bringing ideas to humans, living harmoniously amongst nature, and even sometimes playing tricks. “The Fae” is one name given to these ancient spirits; However, they have gone by many names, and are present in numerous cultures. F.A.E. exists to create a pocket in the world where we can use art, magic, and wonder to process the trauma and tragedies that we, as both individuals and the collective, experience on a daily basis. Together, we have the ability to reclaim our wonder, magic, and ancient spiritual practice, no matter where we are from. We are not healing alone

Come celebrate at (our masked and socially distant) in person soft closing event April 18th 6 - 9 pm!

Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present F.A.E. (Friends Are Everywhere), an exhibition by Anthony Queen and Casper Pauclul. F.A.E. opens on Friday, April 2nd, 2021 with a reception from 3 - 7 PM. The show will be up through April, with a soft closing on April 18th - 19th. Gallery Hours will be on Sundays from 2 - 5 pm, or by appointment. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located on 5006 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. There is a type of spirit known for hiding in plain sight, bringing ideas to humans, living harmoniously amongst nature, and even sometimes playing tricks. “The Fae” is one name given to these ancient spirits; However, they have gone by many names, and are present in numerous cultures. F.A.E. exists to create a pocket in the world where we can use art, magic, and wonder to process the trauma and tragedies that we, as both individuals and the collective, experience on a daily basis. Together, we have the ability to reclaim our wonder, magic, and ancient spiritual practice, no matter where we are from. We are not healing alone

Opening February 5th, 2021 at 5 PM. Running through mid-March.

Gallery & boutique hours for the month will be Sundays 2 - 5 PM, and we also encourage individual appointments! Call us to arrange an appointment at your convenience. (412) 924-0634 

Artist Statement 

I want to feel so deeply that I can see it; it’s tangible, it’s larger than me. I can touch it. I want to worship it.  A shrine is a place regarded as holy because of its associations with a divinity or a sacred person or relic, marked by a building or other construction. SHRINES is about stopping to enter a moment again; to stay awhile, to pray, to mourn once more while trusting that the Infinity of Life and the Eternal has given me a feeling sacred enough to keep. I want to own the kind of moments that feel to be more than just circumstance. Moments of synchronicity-- internal happenings-- a certain new intensity. Passion and absurdity. We all carry those instances, and life moves so fast that they are easy to let slip from memory. However, the feelings they provoke are infinite and eternal. One can feel something so heavily for only a short instance... What do we do with the remnants of emotions that were once so strong? We have no place for them now in this present/untouched rift So, we create shrines. 

I present SHRINES with a mission to evoke universal feelings that we can’t always pinpoint with words. A shrine to the feeling of crying from happiness; a shrine to a time, celebrated for only one day of a year, a shrine to a blank Polaroid that didnt turn out. A past self, a shrine to many past lives. I want to feel so deeply that I can see it; it’s tangible, it’s larger than me. I can touch it. I can worship it. I deem these feelings holy. I encourage you to do the same.

SHRINES exhibition opening with safe social distancing, limited capacity and masks required.

I want to feel so deeply that I can see it; it’s tangible, it’s larger than me. I can touch it. I want to worship it.  A shrine is a place regarded as holy because of its associations with a divinity or a sacred person or relic, marked by a building or other construction. SHRINES is about stopping to enter a moment again; to stay awhile, to pray, to mourn once more while trusting that the Infinity of Life and the Eternal has given me a feeling sacred enough to keep. I want to own the kind of moments that feel to be more than just circumstance. Moments of synchronicity-- internal happenings-- a certain new intensity. Passion and absurdity. We all carry those instances, and life moves so fast that they are easy to let slip from memory. However, the feelings they provoke are infinite and eternal. One can feel something so heavily for only a short instance... What do we do with the remnants of emotions that were once so strong? We have no place for them now in this present/untouched rift So, we create shrines. 

I present SHRINES with a mission to evoke universal feelings that we can’t always pinpoint with words. A shrine to the feeling of crying from happiness; a shrine to a time, celebrated for only one day of a year, a shrine to a blank Polaroid that didnt turn out. A past self, a shrine to many past lives. I want to feel so deeply that I can see it; it’s tangible, it’s larger than me. I can touch it. I can worship it. I deem these feelings holy. I encourage you to do the same.

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present Queer Ecology Hanky Project, an exhibition of 90 artist bandanas from across North America, from Vancouver to Mexico City, organized by Vanessa Adams and Mary Tremonte. Seventeen of the artists are based in Pittsburgh. 

Queer Ecology Hanky Project opens on Friday, February 7th, 2020 with a reception from 6:00 - 10:00 PM. The show will be up through March 6th, 2020, with a closing reception. Gallery Hours will be on Sundays from 1-5 pm. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located on 5006 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224.

Queer Craft show February 9th &

Sappho Situation HankyCode DANCE PARTY! February 15th!

Relief Printing Workshop Sunday February 16th 2 -5 pm

Gallery Hours Sundays 1 - 5 pm or by appointment

This exhibition will showcase a diverse array of artist responses to Queer Ecology—an area of inquiry which unites the study of biology, environment, and sexuality with a framework of queer theory--and a wide spectrum of print mediums and methods. This is the first complete exhibit of the Queer Ecology Hanky Project, with a soft opening of most of the artists taking place in October 2019, at the White Page Gallery in Minneapolis. 

Queer Ecology Hanky Project has given us windows into divergent possibilities for gender and sexuality, models of resilience and resistance in a world that feels increasingly bleak. In recent years, queers of all genders and proclivities have expanded the definitions of the original gay hanky code—which emerged in the United States in the early 1970s, as a means for gay men to subtly communicate sexual desires—to include different bodies, identities, and activities.

This show originates from a love of designing, printing, and distributing bandanas as wearable artwork, and a means to continue a queer communication of flagging, of finding affinity with plants, animals, mycelia, and each other.   

Queer Ecology Hanky Project is full of artwork intended for activation - artist bandanas that will hopefully accompany walks in the woods, accessorize outfits at queer dance parties, bundle up foraged mushrooms, and start conversations. All work is created in editions of 20 or more, and is available for sale at the exhibition. In that spirit, as part of the exhibition, there will be a hanky code dance party, Sappho: Hanky Situation, on Saturday February 15, from 7-11 pm and an artist market for artists involved in the Queer Ecology Hanky Project and local queer artists on Sunday, February 9, from 12-5pm. All programming takes place at the Irma Freeman Center.

 The Queer Ecology Hanky Project is: Vanessa Adams, Dana Aleshire, Finley Baker, Kat/Luca Bartlow, Douglas Baulos, Chris Bernstein, Amanda Blix, Aja Rose Bond, Natasha Brennan, Jim Bullard,  Eli Campanaro & Heather Douglas, Devon Cohen, Jen Cooney, Molly Costello, Amy V Cousins, J. Avery Theodore Daisey, Alek de Dóchas, Jessika Fancy/ Jfancydesigns, Femme Prints, Zeph Fishlyn, Kerri Flannigan, Pidge Fletching, Keith Foster,  Lindsey french and Willy Smart, Clement Hil Goldberg, Mia Greenwald, Jacq Groves, Ian Hanesworth, L. Hartsock, Eriko Hattori, E Henderson, Tristan Higginbotham, Eli Howey, Hana Jimenez (A Visceral Boy), Katie Kaplan, Devon Kelley-Yurdin, Karey Kenst & Mel Hardy, Rowan Leek, Levi (2headedcoralsnake), Sam Loewen, Selena Loomis, Ayden Love, alyx rene lunada,  Soren Lundi, drea marcos, Georgia McCandlish, Chemlawn/Sarah McDermott, Kate McNeely and Jason Patten, Bekezela Mguni, A-B Moore, Kate Morales, Mary Murph, Andrea Narno, Celeste Neuhaus, Lex Non Scripta, Zackary Petot, em pike, Nevena Pilipovic-Wengler & Milica Bogetić, Catherine Please, Claire Ragland, A. Reid, Jenna Reid, syr reifsteck, Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, Rigel Richardson, Nora Rickey, Quinn Rivenburgh, Rev. Matta Ghaly and Quinn Rivenburgh, Avery Rose, Erin Roussel,  E.T. Russian, Lucy Satzewich, August Schultz, Nick Shick, H Simon, Marta Syrup, Corinne Teed, Trash Tmblweed, Frankie Toan and Émilie Mulcahey, Amalia Kalisz Tonsor, Mary Tremonte, Anna Wagner, Blue Wallick, Vivien Wise, Summer Wood & Meg Houston, Natalie Woodlock, and Jon Woolley. It is organized by Mary Tremonte and Vanessa Adams. 

For more information and interviews contact:

Vanessa Adams & Mary Tremonte  hankyexhibit@gmail.com

For tours and gallery appointments contact: Sheila Ali sheiladali@irmafreeman.org

The Irma Freeman Center has had hundreds of events and exhibitions. This list show the most recent and current event and/or exhibition, as well as an archive of some past events and exhibitions. To distinguish the current from the past read the most recent chronologically, See the dates associated with each event and /or exhibition. This is a partial list of past events and exhibitions. Looking for older dates? We will be restoring our 11 year archive in the near furutre. If you have specific questions, feel free to contact us!