Sculptural art
Site-specific and integrated art
Environmental and landscape art
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Ben Grubb
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Fabrication, including wood, metal, glass
Kinetic art
Metals
Crossing Beacon, 2023, weathering steel, stainless steel, marine grade awning fabric, powder coated mild steel, aluminum, 45′ x 45′ x 3.’
Wave Signal/Wake Signal, 2022, steel, plastic dock floats, 112″ x 72″ x 60.” Commissioned for Clean Water Act Festival.
Cave Bell, 2022, steel, 84″ x 84″ x 48.” Commissioned by the Wild Woods Forest Kindergarten.
Gong Platform, 2022, steel, stainless hardware, 96″ x 36″ x 36.” Commissioned by the Wild Woods Forest Kindergarten.
Connected Vessels, 2018, steel, stainless hardware, soil, trumpet honeysuckle, and swamp milkweed, 24′ x 24′ x 12.’ Commissioned by the City of Pittsburgh.
About the Artist
Ben Grubb is a sculptor whose work belongs outdoors, meeting and intermingling with the edges of its surroundings. Each piece is an armature for life, to lean on, crawl in, grow over. With tributaries of material and social history, ecology, acoustic harmony and resonance, his work offers opportunities to make connections with place on a deep time scale that includes the present and points to the future.
Drawn to its availability, its durability, and its transmutable and reusable qualities, his primary medium is steel. Light, sound, fabric, and kinetic elements also find their place in his work.
Grubb grew up in Wisconsin, received a BA in Studio Art from the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, and has lived and worked in his chosen hometown of Pittsburgh since 2006. He has traveled the length of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Arkansas rivers on various boats and rafts. He is a member of the Allegheny County branch of the Master Watershed Steward program.
Photo by Anna Brewer
Web
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
Yes
Teaching Artist
Yes, ages 8 and up
Joined the Directory
February 2026
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“I like to make things that participate, act and promote action, in the emotional and physical life of the city.”
Ben Grubb
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
