Contemporary Craft (CC) is pleased to announce a new residency with artist and designer Tereneh Idia, exploring the material culture of Black Pittsburgh – past, present and future. The residency is made possible through a generous $35,000 Creative Development Awards grant from The Heinz Endowments, with additional support from Dawn and Chris Fleischner. The residency is set to begin in April 2022.
During this nine-month residency, titled C3, Idia will examine the history of cloth, culture, and community of Black Pittsburgh to create a new body of work that draws upon underknown cultural knowledge and traditions of the people with African ancestry and the African diaspora in western Pennsylvania.
“Black Pittsburgh’s history and material culture is woven throughout this region’s history even before Pittsburgh became Pittsburgh. I am so excited to explore the Cloth, Culture and Community with Contemporary Craft as artist in residence in 2022,” said Idia. “Contemporary Craft is the perfect partner because of its dedication to craft, commitment to supporting artists, expanding education of craftsmanship and skills in the region and understanding that community is created and celebrated through the arts.”
C3 will provide resources for artistic development through opportunities to learn new textile skills; provide space to experiment, create and display new techniques; conduct research on material culture of Black Pittsburgh that fills gaps in the regional knowledge base; uncover creative expression within Pittsburgh’s Black community related to garments and adornment; and share artistic products with multicultural audiences in hopes of strengthening our region’s collective self-identity. C3 will also prompt a discussion around cloth and community in the field of craft beyond Pittsburgh, as CC connects Idia with craft institutions across the country.
"It is an honor to have the opportunity to be included in Tereneh’s work, as she researches and explores creative expression through textiles and adornment," said CC Executive Director Rachel Saul Rearick. "We look forward to being able to draw connections between her practice and the work that we do at Contemporary Craft; while learning more about the history and culture of the Black community in Pittsburgh.”
The project will consist of four interwoven and overlapping phases: explore, research, create and share. At the end of the residency, the information and documentation collected during the Explore and Research phases will be made available online, and the new designs will be presented in an exhibition at Contemporary Craft’s BNY Mellon Satellite Gallery.
About Tereneh Idia
C3 is consistent with Idia’s artistic interests, having conducted collaborative endeavors throughout her career. Her primary artistic enterprise, IdiaDega, is a global eco-design collaboration of Maasai, Oneida and African-American women artisans; centering the design innovation of people who are often appropriated but never duplicated, to create new design languages and build multicultural creative communities.
Idia speaks and conducts workshops on issues of sustainability, fashion, adornment, appropriation, global design and creativity highlights of her work including: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Africa Energy Forum - Copenhagen, Denmark; Yale-National University of Singapore; The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, FiberArts Guild; and the Society of Contemporary Crafts.
About The Heinz Endowments
The Heinz Endowments is devoted to the mission of helping our region prosper as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to our work is the vision of a just community where all are included and where everyone who calls southwestern Pennsylvania home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.
About Contemporary Craft
Celebrating its 50th anniversary year in 2021/2022, Contemporary Craft presents contemporary art in craft media by regional, national, and international artists. Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity and contemporary art, as well as a range of artist-led studio workshops, community engagement programs, and a store. Located at 5645 Butler Street in the Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, Contemporary Craft’s exhibition and Drop-In Studio art activity are always free to the public. For more information, visit www.contemporarycraft.org.