The Cultural Trust’s Juried Art Exhibition this year is a grim reminder of the distance Appalachian residents hold themselves from the original inhabitants and the acts of colonization used to disperse the natives from this land. That is not to say that the exhibition focuses solely on one race or period. ___alachain [ah-LATCH-en] tells stories of immigrants, history, and cultural diversity. The exhibition pays close attention to its history in slave trade and the development of unions. It seems the jury went to great lengths to make sure that stories of pain, evolution, and trade were told here, but turned a blind eye to the namesake of our region.
When I first walked into the space I was impressed to see something other than an Amish-style quilt hanging sadly in a foreign environment, far removed from the artist and the object's intention. The blanket-style quilt finds its beauty in use. The viewer should be cuddled and bound tightly within it, not staring at it on a white wall. This is unfortunately common with regional-based art exhibitions and I was delighted to see a different approach. This exhibition opens with the face of a black man peeking through the trees in Remnant 2 by Curtis Reeves. I found myself face to face with a photography piece in which layers were used to transform the image into something resembling all three elements of the exhibition to follow: people, nature, and spirit. They were outlined in the most digestible way that highlighted the key elements and intentions of the gallery.
However, one group was sorely missed in this exhibition, claiming a summarization of the Appalachians. Absent from the discussion were the Cherokee, Shawnee, Powhatan, or Iroquois people. These nations cultivated the land, the true Appalachia, long before they were brutally colonized by immigrants. Even the name “Appalachian” comes from “Apalachen” which was how Spanish Explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca understood the name of a Native town during one of the first expeditions to the Americas. How can we understand this place without acknowledging the first people who lived here? These nations lived solely off of this land and worshipped her beauty, creatures, and fertile soils. While there were images about nature, the first of humanity to cultivate the land is not even mentioned.
I would also like to mention a piece that could potentially, to the uninformed seem as a reference to these indigenous nations. Although I cannot know the intentions of the artist or jurors, it seems to me as if the intention of the jurors was to include this piece as a representation of the native populations. Spirit Messenger Dove by Angela Pasquale is a beautiful piece worth recognition on its own for pure skill in fiber work. However, it is hard not to associate this with the appropriation of Native beliefs. While none of the nations that occupied this land had any belief in doves as a spirit creatures, the artwork, persists this kind of message in the gallery. Of course, this could be referring to a myriad of beliefs and that is why I refuse to condemn the piece, but its placement in this gallery seems to need some explanation.
People of the Appalachia is a central theme within the gallery, and the focus on Americana was bound to occur. I was delighted when I saw the distorted figures by Elizabeth Wells stand in opposition to images of Americana that we are all so tired of seeing. While still representing the trend of American folk art, it separated itself from the mass commercialization of folk art and the corruption of the iconography of the movement.
Moving on, I felt like a time traveler. Modern sculptures dotting the path between pieces, reminiscent of a sort of Soviet-Style realism that was common in the United States during the 1920s. This Realist style was co-opted by pro-labor union activists and artists to showcase who was really building America. This theme and idea is, and has been, a pertinent topic for Pittsburgh and all of Appalachia. It is interesting to see this exhibition in Downtown Pittsburgh, where murals within the same style found their way to bank ceilings and building storefronts in the Roaring 20s.
The modern Appalachia was built on this motif and has been surrounded by this motif for generations. As grateful as I was for these images of labor and middle-class life, I was relieved when I rounded the corner to see something contemporary. The artist, Molly Stout Davis, created three cylinders of floorboards. Their rustic attributes match perfectly with the industrial setting and seem to sprout like tree trunks out of the floor. Connecting labor and nature, I found these works to be incredibly compelling as a vision from Appalachia.
The works in regard to nature were few and far between, but each totally unique. Having personally grown up in the Johnstown area, I found a particular resonance with Stephanie Martin’s piece, The World Where Rivers Ran Orange: Belt II to be particularly interesting. It is the only work in the exhibition that directly calls for climate justice, and does so very elegantly. An abstracted bodily form molds beautifully with a topographic map in greens and browns while also looking a bit like a tree. The title piqued my interest and connects with the orange ribbons of paint that flow throughout the work. Pollution from mining and industry has caused irreparable damage to many rivers that the ecosystem depends on. Orange rivers are common on the rust belt, and I grew up playing in them. Emerging from the Conemaugh river slightly discolored was a common and normal thing on the Ghost Town Trail, and it was not until much later I realized the implications of that off-putting color. The truth is, that Appalachia as we know it will disappear if action is not taken.
This exhibition had many highlights, but its lower spots seem too obvious to miss. How can we, societally, always turn our heads when it comes to the natives of this nation? It is high time we show Native artists the spotlight they deserve, especially in an exhibition about their land.
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