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VaultArt Marks 5 Years with a 53-Foot Mural in Garfield The Mural Showcases all 19 Artists Currently Working at the Studio

July 7, 2022
Mural on the side of a building

VaultArt Marks 5 Years with a 53-Foot Mural in Garfield

The Mural Showcases all 19 Artists Currently Working at the Studio

Article by Abby Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Darian Johnson, poses in from of an enlarged version of his Betty Davis painting at the VaultArt Studios mural at the corner of Penn Ave. and Winebiddle St. (Vanessa Abbit/Post-Gazette)

Musicians save riffs until their minds form a song around them. Chefs hold back new flavor combinations until the ingredients are in season. And muralists, like Max Gonzales, wait for walls.

For years, he’s eyed a more than 50-foot-long exterior wall on South Winebiddle Street in Garfield. More than just empty wall space, it faces a mural across the street memorializing deceased Pittsburgh graffiti artist Danny Montano, a meaningful sentiment to Mr. Gonzales who hails from a Mexican-American community on the south side of Chicago known for its rich graffiti culture. But it’s also right around the corner from VaultArt Studio, whose working artists live with disabilities.

He knows the organization well because of their mutual participation in First Fridays, the monthly artist exhibitions along Penn Avenue in Garfield and Bloomfield, but the connection goes deeper because its creative arts manager, Steph Neary, is also a personal friend.
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VaultArt Studio is a project of Achieva. Visit the studio and view the new mural at
5100 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh.

Through October 7, stop by VaultArt for Unblurred: First Fridays on Penn,
an art and entertainment crawl on the first Friday of each month from 3 - 10 p.m. organized by the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative.

Regular Hours: Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

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