Well that’s just great!!

I started to think about the streetcars in the image I wanted to use for the recycle show. Here’s the image. It turns out those streetcars are not Pittsburgh streetcars. We never had green ones and that round one never came in yellow. As far as I can figure they are Boston streetcars. Pittsburgh in the 1960’s had red and cream colored cars. 

I tried to decide if that was important or not. I tried making both cars red, but that was just boring. I made one car red, but the yellow one is not historically right. Does that matter? I tried to convince myself that it did not. Eventually I decided it did matter since my memory is Pittsburgh. I wanted the story to be about Pittsburgh.

So I began thinking about taking a different approach. Why not have a real Pittsburgh streetcar from the 60’s in the city? My story doesn’t have to be about rusted streetcars. My husband found this image that I modified several times to get an image to work with.

A few of these have perspective issues. I saw that and spent a lot of time trying to get that right. Eventually I settled on the following image. I wanted the once upon a time to be about me as a young person in the  60’s waiting for a streetcar. I remember being so relieved on a cold night when the streetcar was finally coming. I will have to look at this image to make sure it’s OK, but this is where I am. I rode the Shannon Library car. So this once upon a time went from rusted streetcars to a more personal story. 

Here’s the streetcar a bit closer. Looks like I lost the conductor!

Title: Steel City Memories (my husband hated the last Journey)

Artist Statement:

Once upon a time in Pittsburgh, the red streetcars took me everywhere — to school, to Saturday art classes at the Carnegie Museum, and on shopping trips in the city.

I wanted to capture a piece of that memory: a snowy winter night when the shop windows glowed warmly against a cold, a Pittsburgh street, the CAR STOP where I waited in my wool coat with a simple tote, and the red 1706 Shannon-Library streetcar coming down the tracks — a part of my life that is gone.

I chose to make this piece from materials that might otherwise be thrown away — recycled plastic shopping bags and used dryer sheets. There is something fitting about using plastic bags to remember something that has disappeared. The streetcar is gone, but the plastic remains.

Size 18 by 24

Now about the surreal piece. I’ve decided to stick with my original plan with the raven. Done….end of story…enough anguish.

Thanks for reading.

Chris