Artists Brightening Once-Gloomy South Side Passage With Mural
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Fox Way is a South Side alley that once was littered with trash and unprintable graffiti.
But recently, University of Pittsburgh assistant professor Caitlin Bruce and South Side resident Steve Root took the lead in brightening the once gloomy passage. A bordering wall is covered with a magnificent mural.
"We started Graffiti Watch in 2007," Root says. "With the goal of removing and preventing graffiti on the South Side. A lot of the residents were very frustrated about vandalism on their properties and just felt pretty powerless."
The graffiti problem was resolved on Fox Way by three talented Mexican artists, hosted by Caitlin Bruce and the Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project. Their work is a combination of Pittsburgh and Latin American style.
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"I'm really happy with the work they did," Caitlin Bruce adds. "They worked really hard to create images here that have resonance with Pittsburghers. So there's the trolley. There are steel girders. There's the eagle. They're using the design from the dollar bill as an inspiration as well. There's a glassblower. Landscape."
They also created a mural at the old Carrie Furnace in Rankin. These works are just the beginning.
"We want to give artists a chance to participate in our community, be paid for their work if possible, and feel like theiy're welcome here and part of it," Steve Root says.
The mural on Fox Way is painted on a wall that aims to connect people.