The swirling multicolor art installation on the pavement of Downtown Pittsburgh’s Strawberry Way will be replaced with a new design next month.
This marks the fourth iteration of public art on the pedestrian-only roadway since the nonprofit Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership first launched an art project at the site a decade ago.
This time, the public will get to help paint, said Bruce Chan, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s senior director of urban design.
Strawberry Way, a narrow alley, starts across from U.S. Steel Tower on Grant Street and runs to Liberty Avenue. The painted portion fills the stretch from Grant down to Smithfield Street.
The new artwork will be completed in collaboration with Hemispheric Conversations: Urban Art Project, an initiative launched out of the University of Pittsburgh. Nicknamed HCUAP (pronounced “hiccup”), the organization next month is bringing three internationally recognized street artists — Ish Muhammad, Gloria “Gloe” Talamantes and Tomas Ives — to Pittsburgh for a two-week residency.
During that time, each of the three artists will be paired with two local artists to complete the Strawberry Way artwork. Each team will work on one of the three blocks included in the project.
Exact designs have not yet been revealed, but Chan said the out-of-town artists will work with locals to create something that fits the city.
“Each of the blocks will kind of have their own feel,” Chan told the city’s art commission Wednesday.
Prior iterations of the project included a design that resembled a maze and the Rainbow Way installation that now brings vibrant colors to the stretch.
Work on the newest version of the art project is expected to start in mid-September.
Community paint events are scheduled for Sept. 26 and 27. That will provide members of the public a chance to watch artists at work and even help paint certain portions.
“This is something that we are very excited about in terms of just keeping it going,” Chan said. “This is our longest-running art project that just keeps evolving.”
Chan said the art has helped make Strawberry Way “one of those defining corridors Downtown.” He views the frequent updates in the art there as a feature that keeps it fresh.
“This constant change is a good thing, because it keeps that wonder and keeps that quirkiness of Downtown alive,” he said. “It’s not something that’s stagnant.”
Benjamin Filio, manager of public realm projects at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, said the new version is expected to last “less than a year.”
“We’re just being realistic about the fact that paint on asphalt will never last longer than a year without some sort of maintenance schedule,” Filio said.
Currently, he said, the roughly 4-year-old art on Strawberry War is “more asphalt than paint.”
Because the project is expected to last less than a year, it does not require approval from the city’s art commission, Assistant Director of City Planning Kevin Kunak said, but the partnership presented their plans to commissioners to keep them updated on public art efforts Downtown.