Budget and Accounting, 1997

End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Project Overview

In their examination of historic as well as contemporary issues in Pittsburgh communities, the artists held workshops at neighborhood Carnegie Branch Libraries. Four common themes surfaced from participants’ oral histories, photographs and collage-making: The Unsung Hero, Urban Removal, Rebuilding Our Neighborhoods and Community Gardening. Inspired by these themes, the artists digitally composed photo-collage, vinyl bus billboard murals and photo-collage full color posters for display on a fleet of 20 Port Authority buses, driving their routes throughout Allegheny County. Each bus exhibited one of the four themed vinyl murals on its exterior and a photo-collage announcement poster, complete with the project's web site address on the inside, behind the driver's seat. The artists designed End of the Line to be a project that crossed boundaries between Pittsburgh neighborhoods, both in the unifying themes of the visual artworks and in these works' means of display on public buses and on the internet.

End of the Line's 1997 web site demonstrates limitations of the original web browsers and is an example of early NET art. Link and Speranza were the first STUDIO fellows to use the World Wide Web for sharing project processes, community interaction and public art. End of the Line toured Russia in the "Engaging the Urban Environment" exhibition at the Centers for Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Moscow. The project was published in theorist Malcolm Mile's book, Uses of Decoration: Essays in the Architectural Everyday.

The project received funding through the New Forms Regional Grant Program administered by the Painted Bride, funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Interdisciplinary Arts Program, the National Endowment for the Arts/Inter-Arts Program, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc.

Technical support and printing consultation was contributed by TELab (Technology Enhanced Learning Lab), Carnegie Mellon. End of the Line drew additional support from Allegheny County Port Authority; Hazelwood, Allegheny Regional, Beechview, Homewood, Lawrenceville and West End Carnegie Branch Libraries; The Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Youthbuild, Inc. and the Lawrenceville Historical Society. Internet Services Corporation donated web site hosting to the project.  End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 1 Project Overview and In-depth Project Development Correspondence

1) Project Overview: End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) 2) March 19, 1996: Carolyn P. Speranza to Lisa Link with DRAFT of initial request to house the project at the STUDIO (2 pages) 3) March 21, 1996: Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers request to house project at the STUDIO 4) October 7, 1996: Lisa Link to Carolyn P. Speranza on project production and design decisions 5) October 21, 1996: Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers mid-project update on image theme decisions, printing technology, library workshops 6) January 28, 1997: Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers detailed update on community engagement with organizations in the Branch Carnegie Library neighborhoods; details on project management, administrative elements, STUDIO publicity 7) January 25, 1997: Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers hand-written note regarding budget, project production, bus billboard advertising contract  End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 2 Original End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways Project Archive

At the completion of the project Link and Speranza organized a 3-ring binder and gave it to STUDIO personnel. This folder contains pages and artifacts from the original binder. (Some elements are still missing as of March 25, 2024 – cps)

1) (6) 5x7 black and white photographs documenting the project: a. At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Busway Penn Station stop, the May 8, 1997 press conference group photo for the project b. Artists Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link holding an End of the Line announcement poster in front of an Allegheny County Port Authority bus displaying the Community Gardening mural c. Buses displaying digitally composed photo-collage murals printed on vinyl. Left to right: Urban Removal, Community Gardening, Rebuilding Our Neighborhoods and The Unsung Hero d. Detail of the Rebuilding Our Neighborhoods mural theme e. Allegheny County Port Authority bus displaying the Urban Removal vinyl mural f. Allegheny County Port Authority bus displaying the Community Gardening vinyl mural 2) PHOTO LIST for (6) 5x7 black and white photographs with detailed descriptions, including names of project partners, supporters and participants 3) (35) 35mm full color slides, in (2) archival sleeves documenting Carnegie Library branch location workshops; buses with exterior vinyl billboard murals and interior poste; project press conference; Pittsburgh city-wide public participation in the project; pages from the original 1997 web site; source materials for the mural series; and the artists at work 4) SLIDE LIST for the (35) 35mm full color slides with detailed descriptions (2 pages) 5) Printed from End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways web site: "End of the Line" Introduction and Context (2 pages) 6) Printed from End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways web site: End of the Line Information Sheet (2 pages) 7) Printed from End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways web site: May 8 1997 Press Conference Remarks by Barry Chad, Assistant Head, The Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library 8) Printed from End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways web site: May 8 1997 Press Conference Remarks by Cheryl Engel, Hazelwood Branch Library Head Librarian 9) Free Art Workshops! 8.5" x 11" Flyer for Lawrenceville Carnegie Branch Library 10) Press: Standard Observer "NetSoundings" 11) Press: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "City's past gets high-tech treatment" 12) Press: Pittsburgh Sunday Tribune-Review "Neighborhood portraits will ride PAT bus fleet to the 'End of the Line' " (2 pages) 13) Press: The Observer "West End workshop will develop art for use on buses" (2 copies) 14) Press: FOCUS Carnegie Mellon publication "Artists mount traveling photo exhibit on Port Authority buses"  End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 3 Partnership with the Carnegie Branch Libraries and The Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library

1) March 31, 1996, Speranza to Link, draft of "Overview Portion" for "Free Art Workshops Available for Branch Libraries Overview and Workshop Specifics," 2) Link and Speranza, "Free Art Workshops Available for Branch Libraries Overview and Workshop Specifics," 2-page engagement outreach 3) From Carolyn P. Speranza's presentation at a Monthly Branch Library Meeting, "Free Art Workshops Available for Branch Libraries" Sign Up Sheet with the librarian's sign-ups 4) April 19, 1996 Carolyn P. Speranza to Lisa Link, Barry Chad and two other librarian email address: finalized library workshop dates 5) Free Art Workshops! Flyer for Lawrenceville Carnegie Branch Library 6) Free Art Workshops! Flyer for Homewood Carnegie Branch Library 7) Branch Library Workshops Sign-in Sheets, completed by workshop participants (6 workshops) 8) July 25, 1996 note from Lisa Link to workshop participant, Theresa 9) Transcriptions of audio cassette recordings made during Carnegie Branch Library workshops. These recordings were of the artists interviewing workshop participants on current and past issues and concerns, projects and initiatives in their neighborhoods and communities. It was from these transcriptions that Speranza and Link determined the themes for the four designs that were displayed on the exterior rear sides of twenty buses. 10) Digital Sketch for the Rebuilding Our Neighborhoods theme, one of the four designs for the bus billboard murals, printed in black and white, 2 (8.5"x11") sheets, taped together 11) May 1, 1997 STUDIO Business Manager Jennifer Brodt to STUDIO email distribution list: "End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways" Reception and Press Conference. On letterhead, this invitation was also sent to the Carnegie Branch Libraries that had participated in the project. Many of the Library Workshop participants attended the reception at the STUDIO and/or the Press Conference at the Martin Luther King Jr. Busway stop at Penn Station 12) May 8, 1997 Press Conference Remarks: Barry Chad, Assistant Head, The Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library 13) May 8, 1997 Press Conference Remarks: Cheryl Engel, Head Librarian, Hazelwood Branch Library, Carnegie Library 14) May 8, 1997 Press Conference Remarks: Jane Dayton, Assistant Director for Neighborhood Services for Carnegie Library 15) Library Workshop Press: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "City's past gets high-tech treatment" 16) Library Workshop Press: Pittsburgh Sunday Tribune-Review "Neighborhood portraits will ride PAT bus fleet to the 'End of the Line' (2 pages) 17) Library Workshop Press: The Observer "West End workshop will develop art for use on buses" (2 copies) 18) Excerpt from the book, The Uses of Decoration: Essays in the Architectural Everyday, by Malcolm Miles (5 pages)  End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 4 Press and Media Engagement

1) Overview note that accompanied "PR Floppy Disc" from Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers and Artists Bio for Speranza and Link's accomplishments together and apart. (The "PR Floppy Disc" is stored in the Mailing Box with other objects from this archive – cps) 2) (3) Press Releases (4 pages) 3) Link and Speranza, Biography 4) Link and Speranza, press release 5) DRAFT Outline for May 1997 Press Conference timeline and structure 6) May 8, 1997 Press Conference Group Photo with Participants Identified (2 copies) 7) August 20, 1997 letter from Daniel Morrow at Heart: human equity through art to Chris Potter at In Pittsburgh Newsweekly requesting that he write an "End of the Line" project article for the forthcoming Heart Profiles to be published in December 1997 8) (12) 35mm color slides documenting the End of the Line press conference hosted by the STUDIO at Penn Station Bus Station, Pittsburgh Pa. (These slides were most probably photographed by Jennifer Brodt, STUDIO Business Manager – cps)   End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 5 Press Clippings, Book Publication Excerpts, and Public Comments submitted through End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh web site in 1997

1) Standard Observer (2 copies) "NetSoundings" 2) Vol 2, #1 Public Art web site print-out, "Public Art on the Net," New Listings: End of the Line is . . . (directly quoting for the project's web site) 3) February 19, 1998 email from Carolyn P. Speranza to Jen Saffron, Lisa Link, Marge Myers, on the topic of "End of the Line" being listed in a new site on public art, "publicart-new.html" 4) Orion Afield journal "End of the Line" 5) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "City's past gets high-tech treatment" 6) Pittsburgh Sunday Tribune-Review "Neighborhood portraits will ride PAT bus fleet to the 'End of the Line' " (2 pages) 7) The Observer "West End workshop will develop art for use on buses" (2 copies) 8) FOCUS Carnegie Mellon publication "Artists mount traveling photo exhibit on Port Authority buses" (original FOCUS plus 1 photocopy) 9) Excerpt from the book, The Uses of Decoration: Essays in the Architectural Everyday, by Malcolm Miles (5 pages) 10) (2 copies) Full color prints of "End of the Line" Public Response: Comments made through a cgi enabled form in the project's 1997 web site by: a. Fred Truck, July 6, 1997 b. Petronio Bendito, June 7, 1997 c. Nancy Ward Balderose, June 1997 d. PGHTOFTP@MSN.COM, May 23, 1997 e. Joshua Green, May 15, 1997 f. Kathy Jo Kramer, May 13, 1997 (Had an "On the Bus with Kathy Jo" column in In Pittsburgh Newsweekly-cps)   End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 6 Project Support Defined and Assessed

1) Correspondence, contract and billing: Gateway Outdoor Advertising for Port Authority Buses (8 pages 1 envelope) 2) Port Authority Press Conference Statement by Jan Blahut 3) Overview of TELab (Technology Enhanced Learning Lab) at Carnegie Mellon support and contribution to the project, in an email Carolyn P. Speranza to Marge Myers (2 pages) 4) Link and Speranza, New Forms Regional Grant Recipient Interim Report, December 3, 1996 (6 pages) 5) Marge Myers, handwritten project response assessment on Hilton Gateway stationary   End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 7 Budget and Accounting

1) STUDIO accounting 6/6/97 2) STUDIO accounting 6/30/97 3) Link and Speranza, line item, full budget, accounting for New Forms + STUDIO gift (2 pages, 2 copies) 4) Carolyn Speranza and Lisa B Link Dollar Bank joint account 06/04/96 statement. This account was set up to document incoming checks from the New Forms Regional Grant Program funding. Attached is a May 8th 1996 email from Lisa Link. Although the subject line is "Re: Heinz Grant," Link writes about talking with the Painted Bride in Philadelphia, the nonprofit organization conduit administering the main source of the "End of the Line" project's funding, the New Forms Regional Grant Program that was funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Interdisciplinary Arts Program, the National Endowment for the Arts/Inter-Arts program, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. Link's phone call was to determine when she and Speranza could expect the next check. Then, as many of the email exchanges did, the communication turns to another topic, that of thematic questions pertaining to the design of the bus billboard murals.   End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 8 Failed Small Arts Initiative Heinz Endowment Proposal

1) Link and Speranza, Budget (4 pages) 2) Link and Speranza, Proposal Narrative (3 pages) 3) Heinz Endowments, July 3, 1996 rejection letter   End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Project Participants Group Photo at Press Conference

End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways May 1997 Press Conference at the Martin Luther King Jr. Busway at the Penn Station Stop

With one of the twenty Allegheny County Port Authority Buses in the End of the Line fleet, Project Participants are from left to right: Cheryl Engel [Hazelwood Library Head], Scott Thorburn [TELab, Carnegie Mellon], Barry Chad [The Pennsylvania Department Assistant Head, Carnegie Library], Four Representatives from Youthbuild, Inc., Janet Rosfeld [Unsung Hero billboard Ruth Rosfeld's daughter], Lisa Link [Artist, Project Co-Author], Marge Myers [Associate Director, STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon], Carolyn P. Speranza [Artist, Project Co-Author], Debra Tomson [Artist Assistant]

  It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

"You see, they give me money to live, so I keep this town clean like a table. It makes my bread taste sweeter . . . " were the words of Italian immigrant Mario Ezzo who lived in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. For the Community + Art = Adopting Aliquippa initiative, the artists digitally re-constructed the signs and symbols of Ezzo's history, collaging and then simplifying photographs. The It Makes My Bread Sweeter billboard mural was then silkscreened and installed on both Sheffield Avenue behind St. Titus Church and on Aliquippa's main street, Franklin Avenue.

It Makes My Bread Sweeter was sponsored by the Aliquippa Alliance for Unity and Development. Advertising space was donated by Aliquippa's D. Leo Signs and printing by Design Dynamics, Inc. in Ambridge. The project is featured in Chapter 3 of The Lure of the Local: senses of place in a multicentered society by Lucy R. Lippard.

Archive Folder 9 Project File 1) Project Overview: It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) 2) Research: "Aliquippa Gives Its Hero A Real Funeral This Time," The Pittsburgh Press, May 15, 1939 with "Because He Worked," New York Herald Tribune, May 21, 1939 3) Research: "Survival a Struggle in a Town That Steel Forgot," New York Times, April 27, 1993 4) Research: "Aliquippa Statistics" document prepared for the Greater Aliquippa Area Chamber of Commerce by the Beaver Valley Chamber of Commerce. (This is undated but from 1994 or earlier - cps) 5) Project Flyer: billboard mural image and project credits coupled with "Aliquippa Gives Its Hero A Real Funeral This Time," The Pittsburgh Press. Monday May 15, 1939 (3 Copies) 6) Press: "A sign of undying spirit," The Times/Beaver Newspapers, Inc., Pennsylvania – July 29, 1994, Page 5 (2 copies) 7) Community + Art = Adopting Aliquippa initiative documentation including the introduction by Murray Horne and a list of Invitational Site Specific Works that include It Makes My Bread Sweeter and projects by Greg Pierce, Industrial Arts Coop, Bill Miller and Bob Qualters 8) Slide Sheet with (4) 35mm full color slides in an archival sleeve: a. Silkscreened billboard mural installed on Franklin Avenue b. Silkscreened billboard mural installed on Sheffield Avenue c. Detail of prehung billboard paper with silkscreened image d. It Makes My Bread Sweeter at Franklin Avenue with Link and Speranza 9) Excerpt from the book, The Lure of the Local: senses of place in a multicentered society by Lucy R. Lippard, Chapter Three: Entering the Big Picture, Lisa Link and Carolyn P. Speranza, It Makes My Bread Sweeter (2 copies, 4 pages ea.) 10) It Makes My Bread Sweeter black and white, 8"x10" photograph by Carolyn P. Speranza ©1994 used for Lucy Lippard's book, The Lure of the Local: senses of place in a multicentered society by Lucy R. Lippard, Chapter Three: Entering the Big Picture 11) Two Page Phone Call List in both artists' handwriting. Numbers are for project background history and research, locating images to use in designing the billboard mural, print and installation production.  It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) By STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Project Overview



"You see, they give me money to live, so I keep this town clean like a table. It makes my bread taste sweeter . . . " were the words of Italian immigrant Mario Ezzo who lived in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. Like many at the time, Mario was living on public assistance. He became a folk hero by sweeping the main street of Aliquippa every day, saying it was the least he could do in return for the government check he was receiving.

The artists digitally re-constructed the signs and symbols of Ezzo's history, collaging and then simplifying photographs of a local tombstone, a janitor friend on the job–sweeping the floor, and a historic photo of Aliquippa's main street, Franklin Avenue. The billboard was then 2-color silkscreen printed in a third to two-thirds grid: melon orange and cobalt blue on the left; neon yellow and black on the right onto the 9.4' x 21.3' billboard paper. For the Community + Art = Adopting Aliquippa initiative, It Makes My Bread Sweeter was installed in two Aliquippa locations: Sheffield Avenue behind St. Titus Church and on Franklin Avenue itself.

It Makes My Bread Sweeter was sponsored by the Aliquippa Alliance for Unity and Development. Advertising space was donated by Aliquippa's D. Leo Signs and printing by Design Dynamics, Inc. in Ambridge. The project is featured in Chapter 3 of The Lure of the Local: senses of place in a multicentered society by Lucy R. Lippard.   Literacy Windows (1993–1994) a community-based public artwork and collaboration by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Literacy Windows was Pittsburgh's first digitally designed, printed and portable public art mural. Content for the 20′ x 30′ image printed on vinyl was based on interviews with teen and adult participants in Pittsburgh area literacy programs. Currently at its third location in Braddock PA, "Literacy Windows" was initially installed at the H.J. Heinz Plant in 1993 and then moved to Goodwill in Pittsburgh's Southside in 1996.

Commissioned by the Times Project, Literacy Windows was co-authored by artists Lisa Link and Carolyn P. Speranza working with collaborating students from Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and funded by the Heinz Endowments. Critical support in completing the project came from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon.

Archive Folder 10 Project File

1) Project Overview: Literacy Windows (1993–1994) 2) Digital Sketch for Literacy Windows, black and white print with colored pencil on fourth book, furthest to the right 3) Digital Sketch for Literacy Windows, full color print cut up in four sections with pencil and marker drawing on the third and fourth books, furthest to the right. As a practical way to avoid computer memory issues, the print was cut up into sections for the purpose of rearranging the order of the books without using Photoshop 4) Digital Sketch for Literacy Windows, black and white taped collage of the brick background, the four separate books, the row of gesturing human figures underneath – reaching up to the books. To create this row of figures, the two artists and four of the five students were photographed at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild. Lisa Link developed and printed the film in the Guild's darkroom. The entire group of the artists and students determined which of these photographs to use and in which order by using an extended process of in-person voting. 5) Digital Sketch for Literacy Windows, black and white print with colored pencil drawn over its entirety, with additional detailed notes in the margins concerning color choices and tone, saturation adjustments 6) Pencil Sketch with hand-written notes for Literacy Windows, of the first book on the left, featuring a spiral of publishing and communications technology, mapped around the curve of a nautilus shell 7) Full color photographic print, 8x10, Literacy Windows mural image backed by 8.5x11 project fact sheet, clear plastic sleeve 8) Slide Sheet with (12) 35mm full color slides in (1) archival slide sleeve: a. Literacy Windows mural at first location, Heinz Plant, 20' x 30' digital photo collage on vinyl b. Literacy Windows mural at second location, Goodwill bookstore between 26th and 27th Streets on Carson Street in Pittsburgh's Southside c. Literacy Windows mural with closeup of artist Lisa Link's real hand, next to her hand photographed, scanned and collaged into the mural d. Literacy Windows closeup of the third of the four books with the "K is for Key," and "F is for flight," with a key and feather that had been directly scanned as they lay on the scanner bed, not photographed. Then student and now contemporary artist, Emily Noelle Lambert created this design. e. Literacy Windows installation: the 20' x 30' vinyl mural arrives in a big roll f. Literacy Windows installation: vinyl mural is hung and stretched on a wooded frame from a cherry picker g. Literacy Windows while being installed with the cherry picker, two books are visible h. Literacy Windows while being installed with the cherry picker, the last book is visible i. Literacy Windows digital collage computer file in Photoshop with the spiral of publishing and communications technology, mapped around the curve of a nautilus shell j. Literacy Windows mural closeup of the stairway book, fourth to the right of the mural k. Literacy Windows mural closeup of the jumbled text book, second to the right of the mural l. Literacy Windows mural closeup of artist Lisa Link and student Daniel Yauger reaching up

9) Image Map: A Key to Literacy Windows, an explanatory map of the mural paired with a project fact sheet (2 copies, 2 pages ea.) 10) ARTCOM: an online magazine forum dedicated to the interface of contemporary art and new communication technologies, March 1994, Number 66, Volume 15, Number 2; A Public Computer Image in Pittsburgh: Literacy Windows by guest editors, Lisa Link and Carolyn Speranza (2 copies, 5 pages ea.) 11) Photocopy of trifold project pamphlet, "Times Project: Art in Public Places: A Collaboration, "Literacy –Spoken Through the Arts," including a detailed digital work-flow, project support 12) Project Research: Study Says Half of Adults in U.S. Can't Read or Handle Arithmetic, The New York Times National, Thursday, September 9, 1993 (2 copies, 2 pages ea.) 13) Press: Artists, students focus on illiteracy with mural, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 14, 1993 (2 copies) 14) Press: Art Beat Mass Media, In Pittsburgh Newsweekly, October 21 -27, 1993 (2 copies) 15) Review: Literacy Windows, The New Art Examiner, March 1994 (2 copies) 16) Press: A Picture About Words, Carnegie Mellon Magazine, Volume 12, Number 4, Summer 1994 (2 copies) 17) Press: City of Murals, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, August 18, 2013, with map of regional murals 18) STUDIO for Creative Inquiry Equipment Access Agreement signed by Marge Myers, Associate Director, with Time Project Director's Janine Stern's business card. (We used Carl Loeffler's VR Team Quadra Apple Computer and even then, had difficulties managing the Photoshop file size relative to computer memory, both the RAM and on the hard drive – cps) 19) Times Project staffing and board (2 copies) 20) Correspondence: Goodwill to Janine Stern, Times Project Executive Director upon the transfer of the mural to Goodwill, Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA, its second of three locations (2 copies, 2 pages ea.) 21) Literacy, spoken through the arts a public art work, Pittsburgh, PA, VHS video project documentation, Carnegie Mellon libraries catalog page (2 copies)  Literacy Windows (1993–1994) By STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Project Overview



Pittsburgh's first digitally designed, printed and portable public art mural was a commission to explore the complex issue of literacy in a public artwork. Content for the 20′ x 30′ image printed on vinyl was based on interviews with teen and adult participants in Pittsburgh area literacy programs.

The artists worked with five high school students at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild to design the mural and develop its imagery and symbolism. The source of the primary motif of large books held by mysterious hands with human figures gesturing and posing underneath was a collage created by Hajara Bey. Emily Noelle Lambert developed the pairing of the key and feather for her book pages; Daniel Yaeger designed the blur of letters in which just a few words can be read; Heba Ali chose the use of the sky and planets; while George Kanakis researched the distinctions between illiteracy and functional illiteracy.

In 2024 Literacy Windows is at its third location in Braddock PA. Literacy Windows was initially installed in Pittsburgh's Northside at the H.J. Heinz Plant in 1993 and then moved to the Goodwill bookstore in the city's Southside in 1996. The mural was commissioned by the Times Project, a Pittsburgh based nonprofit organization dedicated to placing public artworks in urban settings. The project, production management and artist commissions were funded by a generous grant given by the Heinz Endowments. Critical support in completing the project came from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon.  Literacy Windows (1993–1994) It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) community-based public artworks and collaborations

by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Archive Folder 11 Two half-inch bound binders of 8.5 x 11 full color, photocopy prints in clear slip-sheets, documenting all three of Speranza and Link's community-based public artworks. Many of these images are duplicated within the archive in slide form. This degree of redundancy in the archive has been intentionally created in response to the loss of the original 3-ring binder documenting the End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways project and process. Partial contents of the original binder are now stored in Folder 2 of this archive.

Binder #1: entitled Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link Electronic Media Artists specializing in public works with an image from the May 1997 End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh's Busways press conference, (left to right) Carolyn P. Speranza, Lisa Link, Janet Rosfeld, (Ruth Rosfeld's daughter) inside one of the buses with a clearly visible project announcement poster behind the bus driver's seat on the cover.

Binder #2: entitled Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link Electronic Media Artists specializing in public works with a scan of the artists' fluorescent lime green business card on the cover. Binder #2 documents Literacy Windows and It Makes My Bread Sweeter   Literacy Windows (1993–1994) It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) community-based public artworks and collaborations

by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

As the Mailing Box for Archive Objects has a location separate from the rest of the Speranza-Link STUDIO Fellow archive that is stored in folders within the STUDIO's filing system, this folder documents both the box and its contents.

Archive Folder 12 Documentation for Mailing Box for Archive Objects

1) Photograph of Mailing Box for Archive Objects contents (2 copies) 2) Mailing Box for Archive Objects' detailed listing of 7 items that are either ephemeral, three dimensional or an unusual size and not suited for file folder containers   Literacy Windows (1993–1994) It Makes My Bread Sweeter (1994) End of Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh Busways (1996 – 1998) community-based public artworks and collaborations

by STUDIO Fellows, Carolyn P. Speranza and Lisa Link

Mailing Box for Archive Objects

1) Literacy Windows (1993–1994) Paper envelope: Clipart cutouts (6) from Speranza's design of the nautilus shell spiral of publishing and communications technology for the first book on the left of the mural design and then, Speranza-designed and printed, Link-Speranza business cards (6) with the tagline: electronic media artists specializing in public works 2) Literacy Windows (1993–1994) Transparent envelope: Color photos of Daniel Yauger (9) and black and white 5"x7" photos of George Kanakis (2), source materials for the mural design's gesturing figures reaching up to the books above their heads 3) Literacy