Artist Mary Tremonte with Literacy Pittsburgh

Mary Tremonte collaborated with the staff and students at Literacy Pittsburgh (LP) from 2017-2019 as part of Shiftworks’ Artist Residencies in the Public Realm with Immigrant and Refugee Communities. As the host organization, Literacy Pittsburgh’s goal was to develop a sense of community between their students, many of whom are English-as-Second-Language (ESL) learners, and the American world around them. Over the course of her residency, Tremonte hosted multiple classes and workshops at the Downtown and Prospect Park locations that engaged adult students as well as members of the LP staff.

Tremonte collaborated with students from the program to design and implement Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? This temporary public artwork was featured on public buses throughout the Pittsburgh area. Tremonte’s sketches of the students appeared alongside quotes recounting their experiences of arriving in Pittsburgh and learning how to access the city around them. The quotes were sourced from interviews that the students conducted with each other, which was integrated into their lessons as a way to practice English.

Together, Tremonte and LP staff developed arts-based lessons to complement Literacy Pittsburgh’s ESL teaching. Tremonte launched a collaborative process with the students in Family Literacy classes to create designs for wallpaper and curtains. During a field trip to Braddock Neighborhood Print Shop, the students then screen printed wallpaper and fabric for curtains, based on their custom collaborative designs. They were then able to refurbish the Early Childhood Education room at LP’s Prospect Park location, hanging their custom-printed curtains and creating a mural based on their custom screen-printed elements.

Tremonte also held a weekly knitting club for students and staff as well as a bi-weekly sewing classes for students. Another field trip to Braddock Neighborhood Print Shop allowed the students to engage in additional arts-based activities, including designing and printing bags and posters. Finally, a field trip to Bathhouse Ceramics Studio engaged the students in designing and creating home decor items.

Learn more about Mary Tremonte and her other projects on her website.

Learn more about Literacy Pittsburgh on their website.

Mary Tremonte is an artist, educator, and DJ. A member of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and formerly youth programs coordinator at The Andy Warhol Museum, she values creative expression as a tactic in movements for social and environmental justice and youth empowerment. As DJ Mary Mack she strives to make safe(r) spaces on dance floors for embodying a body politic with pleasure. She has exhibited, lectured, taught workshops, and performed throughout Pittsburgh and Toronto as well as internationally. In her practice she endeavors to create temporary utopias and sustainable commons through pedagogy, collaboration, visual pleasure, and serious fun.

Literacy Pittsburgh (LP) is a nonprofit that provides free education to adults throughout Allegheny County. They serve both American-born people seeking help with literacy skills and foreign-born people seeking help with English language learning. Literacy Pittsburgh’ s mission is to better lives through learning. Their vision is a more inclusive and productive community-driven by access to education.

Braddock Carnegie Library, Braddock Neighborhood Print Shop, Bathhouse Ceramics Studio, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Baldwin Whitehall Library, and The Andy Warhol Museum.

Image credits

Gallery, top:
(1) Screen printing workshop with artist, photo courtesy artist; (2) Sewing workshop with artist, photo courtesy Heather Mull; (3) Screen printing workshop with artist at Braddock Neighborhood Print Shop, photo courtesy artist; (4) Curtains screen printed by students and hung at Literacy Pittsburgh, photo courtesy artist; (5) Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by artist, photo by Shiftworks; (6) Detail of Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by artist, photo courtesy artist; (7,8,9,10) Sewing workshop with artist, photo courtesy Heather Mull; (11) Screen printing workshop with artist at Literacy Pittsburgh, photo courtesy artist; (12) Sewing workshop with artist, photo courtesy Heather Mull; (13) Screen printing workshop with artist at Braddock Neighborhood Print Shop, photo courtesy artist; (14) Sewing workshop with artist, photo courtesy Heather Mull.

Artist Headshot:
Artist Mary Tremonte, photo by Jesse Purcell, courtesy artist