Arts + Artists
TRANSFORMATION CITY »
Showcasing a 'New America'
The Pittsburgh region has survived wrenching economic change and emerged with a balanced, innovation-driven economy renowned for health care and life sciences, technology and robotics, higher education and research, financial services, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy.
NEIGHBORHOODS »
A City Full of Diversity
As a city full of diversity, you will love exploring the culture, food, and atmosphere of Pittsburgh’s 89 unique and ethnically distinctive neighborhoods. Pittsburgh’s downtown is full of the city hustle and bustle, and Squirrel Hill has the quaint charm of a main street-like community. Meanwhile, Oakland, with its many universities, supplies a uniquely intellectual atmosphere. Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods and the unique people in them are just waiting for you to come and visit!.
Pittsburgh Glass Center
Contact: Paige Ilkhanipour, +1 412.365.2145 ext. 202, paige@pittsburghglasscenter.orgArt Transcends Industry in Pittsburgh
LEED®-gold certified Pittsburgh Glass Center is one of the top glass facilities in the world
Synopsis
Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) is one of the top public access glass art facilities in the world that has embraced its rich history in glass to become a forward-thinking recognized leader and educator of glass art. Pittsburgh was famous for glass long before steel and was known as "America's Glass City." A hidden gem in Pittsburgh, PGC is bridging the City's rich history in glass with its creative future while revitalizing its East End neighborhood through the arts.
Overview
Glassmaking is noted as America's earliest industry in the book "GLASS: Shattering Notions," written by Anne Madarasz. She says that the glass industry shared responsibility for establishing Pittsburgh's reputation in the early 1800s as ‘the dirtiest town in the United States.' That's because the Pittsburgh region was the production and marketing heart of America's glass industry for nearly a century.
Just as Pittsburgh made the steel for America's bridges, Pittsburgh produced the glass for globes that lit the nation's streets, for the windows of the countries homes and storefronts, and for the jars that held the foodstuffs to feed a growing urban population. In 1902, there were over 150 glass factories in the region. The city's strategic location on an inland river system, natural resources and rail lines made it an ideal location for the manufacturing of glass. By 1920, the area produced 80% of the glass in the U.S.
Unfortunately, the industry declined in the late 1960s due to a series of challenges including prohibition, the Depression, competition and alternative materials.
Today the traditional glass making techniques and tools of the past are making a resurgence in Pittsburgh where art is transcending industry. The environment has changed from dark smoky factories turning out tons of utilitarian products to a LEED Certified school, gallery and state-of-the-art studio known as Pittsburgh Glass Center that is cultivating artists in their exploration of glass art.
Since opening in 2001, over two dozen glass artists have moved to Pittsburgh to live and work at PGC and over 5,000 students have taken classes from internationally renowned glass artists. In all, over 50,000 people have visited PGC to take a class, rent the studio, explore the gallery or see a demonstration.
Pittsburgh Glass Center is a LEED Gold Certified green building with state of the art ventilation in all shops and heat recovery from the furnaces. Building elements such as garage doors, glass paneling and exposed brick are recycled and give PGC its unique urban/industrial edge.
A hidden gem in Pittsburgh, PGC is bridging the City's rich history in glass with its creative future. It is the largest arts organization on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's East End and is a cornerstone of the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, a collaborative community effort to revitalize this East End corridor through the arts.
MEDIA »
Media Resources
Get the inside scoop while you report on the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. Find story ideas and media contacts that have the information you need to make deadline.
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ENVIRONMENTAL RENAISSANCE »
A view of the David Lawrence Convention Center
Green Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is leading the way in green initiatives. With green buildings located throughout the city and the nation’s first green convention center, we’re rethinking the cityscape and uncovering new ways to keep it green.
