2013 Exhibitions

The Frank L. Melega Art Museum is an equal opportunity provider.

In 2012, Ronald Nigro was the first recipient of the Best of Show Award at the first National Road Festival Juried Exhibition. The Best of Show recipient is also asked to be the following years “Artist of the Pike”. It is our great pleasure that Mr. Nigro has accepted our invitation.

The art of Ronald Nigro presents challenging sculptures, imaginative fantasies, beautifully constructed. Mr. Nigro’s has described his medium as the discarded remnants of the throwaway society destined to be layers of refuse, reborn. Those components once cloaked and covered now exposed. Often under appreciated designs of mechanical forms given new purpose. The artist’s inspiration is derived from a variety of sources and is then combined into the sculptural forms. Architecture, religion, and fantasy are only a few of the influences that guide the direction of the work.

Mr. Nigro explains his process and motivations, “Today's technology produces possibilities at a pace often hard to keep up with. As progress marches on, the life of technologies hard ware is often short lived producing vast amounts of near useless material. Disassembly reveals brilliant colors, fascinating shapes, patterns and textures of all descriptions. My work is constructed of electronic components that have been recycled from a variety of devices and found objects. Added to the formula are materials of traditional craft. Wood and metal will become the armature, framing and connecting the pieces so unfamiliar to each other.”

The exhibition is the only the second to exclusively feature sculpture in the 13 year history of the museum. “Ron’s art works on many levels. His sculptures are a technical marvel, humorous and deadly serious, reflecting current issues in a provocative but accessible way” states museum director Patrick Daugherty.

Ronald Nigro is a lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area. An Edinboro State College Graduate, he has been an Art Educator for 39 years. Ronald obtained his Masters in Art education from the University of Pittsburgh. He teaches art at the Penn-Trafford School District, in addition has taught art therapy for Western Psychiatric Institute. Mr. Nigro is a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Sculpture Society, and Pittsburgh Society of Artists. He exhibits frequently in regional juried exhibitions, solo exhibitions, and galleries.

Ronald Nigro: 2013 Artist of the Pike

May 17 - July 21, 2013

The Norseman’s Box

Alexander’s Timepiece

Urn #1

Images of Memory

Terrance Hayes: RENDER

October 19 - December 8, 2013

The exhibition postcard features Terrance Hayes with his painting “Radio Pets”

Terrance Hayes is a renowned artist, the recipient of many awards and honors, however, the art he is most famous for is not the art he will be exhibiting at the Melega. The world knows Terrance Hayes as a poet and educator, we would like to introduce you to Terrance Hayes the painter. In 2010, Hayes became the second youngest author to receive the National Book Award for Poetry. The poet Cornelius Eady described the poetry of Terrance Hayes as “unblinking truth-telling”. A term that is also a perfect description of Hayes’ paintings.

The exhibition is the first solo exhibition of Mr. Hayes’ artworks in decades, and it will only be seen at the Melega. “Terrance’s paintings are stunning, expressive, and powerful. We could not be more proud and pleased that he is having his show with us” states Melega Art Museum director Patrick Daugherty.

The artist acknowledges the influence of Alberto Giacometti and Lucien Freud on his painting style. The following excerpts are from Mr. Hayes’ artist statement regarding his exhibition RENDER:

“These paintings engage questions of how character is rendered by appearance.”

“The work tries to express this through the implications of painterly gesture, color and composition.”

“Relying on poetic perspectives reflective of my training as a poet, my work explores how being and identity can be altered and conveyed.”

Hayes is author of Lighthead (Penguin 2010), winner of the 2010 National Book Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and Hurston Wright award. His honors include two Pushcart Prizes, four Best American Poetry selections, a Whiting Writers Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a United States Artists Zell Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

At Coker College where he studied painting and English, he was an Academic All-American on the men’s basketball team. After earning a Masters degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997, he taught in southern Japan, Columbus, Ohio, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Hayes returned to Pittsburgh, in 2001 to teach at Carnegie Mellon University, where he became one of the university's youngest full professors in 2006. This Fall, he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh.

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More information about Terrance Hayes can be found at his website:

http://terrancehayes.com