Art of the City
What began as Sean Beauford’s personal fondness for Pittsburgh’s art scene and a drive to foster creativity while leaving a personal imprint has resulted in the first pop-up exhibit at downtown’s Wood Street Gallery. While the space usually hosts out-of-town exhibits and installations, with the occasional local performance, this is the first time the gallery will be hosting a pop-up featuring local art, an exciting prospect for local artists and curators alike. And it all started with a simple email to one of the gallery’s curators.
Sean got his bearings planning events by helping farESH, a local clothing brand, execute some of their own. A recent example includes a sold-out Badboxes performance at Brillobox. His newest endeavor seems to have occurred organically. “It’s kind of crazy how it all came together,” Sean states, claiming the gallery was very open to the idea and gave him the space with no reservations.
He utilized his networking skills and connections with the local art community to find talent to showcase for tomorrow’s event, stating, “I know a lot of talented people so I reached out to see if they wanted to do something and luckily most of them said yes.” His work ethic and love for art is also quite pronounced, ” I want to do what I can to contribute. I was an artist when I was younger but I’m not a practicing artist now. All of the artists in the show, I’ve either met through going out to different events, or seen their work while out,” says Sean.
The exhibit features installations from D.S Kinsel, Gianna Paniagua, and The Locomotive Explosive. Also on exhibit will be the work of visual artists LinShuttr, JMYJAM, and Gerri Peter Viloria. Clothing from homegrown brands MAW by Makayla Wray, farESH Brand, and New Pittsburgh will be on display. Rising musician, Mars Jackson, and spoken word artist, Grits Capone, will entertain the crowd with their performances. Maestro for the night, DJ Bamboo, will be performing a turntablism exhibition as well. More info can be found on their website.
Sean’s ultimate goal with the project is to make this a recurring event, “Hopefully this event will lead to more local artists being featured in the gallery and others like it.” His selfless approach, ambition and hard-working attitude have brought him to this point, and should take him very far if he maintains this momentum. “I’m not a promoter or anything like that and I don’t have a brand to promote. I’m just someone who wants to do cool things for our culture. If I can do it, I will.”
