Art Creep and Crawl

The Office for Public Art (OPA) is pleased to announce a new series of artist-designed walking tours during the late summer and early fall of 2023. OPA maintains a long-standing history of hosting and organizing walking tours for the public. To further expand this programmatic offering, OPA commissioned four Pittsburgh Creative Corps artists to design and experiment with how tour-goers experience the region’s public realm. The artists for the tours are: Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Erin Mallea, Jason McKoy, and Monica McElwain.

Each tour in the series was conceptualized by the artists and focuses on engaging audience members through artistic practices, participant observations, listening, physical activity, and games.

Art Creep and Crawl

Participants will be taken on a guided tour through Etna and Sharpsburg led by artist Jason McKoy whose recent work We Are Windows was installed in both boroughs. The tour will include stops that are popular points of interest in both Etna and Sharpsburg, and will encourage attendees to engage with people and places that were significant to McKoy’s development of his artistic project. The tour will end with refreshments. It is intended that the stops remain secretive so that participants can try and guess each location based on riddles that will be emailed to registrants in advance. Tour stops will be revealed during the tour and are intended to create an informative and game-like atmosphere.

We Are Windows is an artwork created by Jason McKoy in collaboration with the Etna Community Organization and the Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization and is sponsored by the Public Art and Communities Program of the Office for Public Art, Neighborhood Allies, and the Borough of Millvale.

About Jason McKoy

Jason McKoy is a brand consultant, ARTvocate, social innovator, and weirdo. Living with major depressive disorder has informed how he navigates the world creatively. He is the founder of McKoy Creative, a warm hug for your business providing creative services from concept to completion that benefit communities. When not making stuff, he’s either playing video games or sleeping. He hails from NYC.

Preparation

Participants will be emailed a set of riddles where the answers are stops on the tour. The riddles are a fun pre-tour activity where participants can check their answers as the tour moves from stop to stop; tour stops will not be revealed in advance. Participants are encouraged to engage at each stop and, at the end of the tour, attendees will have the opportunity to relax with refreshments. Participants will also receive a swag bag from the tour.

Directions and Parking Information

The Etna Park and Community Pool is located at 2 Pine Street, Etna, PA 15223.

Unmetered street parking is available within the vicinity of the park and pool.

If taking public transportation, the park and pool is accessible via bus routes 2 and P13 with a stop at Butler Street and Maplewood. For more information on public transportation, please visit the Pittsburgh Regional Transit website HERE.

Registration

This artist-designed tour will occur rain or shine. In the event of severe weather, registrants will be notified of cancellation via email up to three hours ahead of the event’s start time. Registrants will be reimbursed if this tour is canceled due to inclement weather. All other tour sales are final.

Registration for this tour is $10 per person; advance registration is required. To register, please click on the button below; you will be redirected to Eventbrite where you can complete your registration.