Pittsburgh has always made room for the weird, the wild, and the out-of-step. In basements, repurposed storefronts, union halls, and unassuming neighborhood venues, generations of artists have pushed against the grain of convention, creating work that defies easy categorization. But unlike other cities whose experimental scenes often get historicized and canonized, Pittsburgh’s avant-garde legacy has remained largely under the radar.
The release of Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde: 60 Years Inside the Underground Art Scene, a 336-page self-published art book compiled and edited by Sheila Ali, finally gives this hidden history its due. The book, which features the work of over 60 artists, many of whom have been active for decades, documents a thriving but often overlooked ecosystem of performance, painting, installation, photography, fiber, video, and zine-making that has taken root outside of major institutions and market trends.
“These are artists who’ve been working in this fringe community for decades,” Ali tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Their persistence and loyalty to their craft is powerful. This is a history that deserves to be documented, not just for the artists but for the scene that shaped them, and that they, in turn, shaped.”
The book’s origins trace back to Pittsburgh by Pittsburgh Artists, a 2018 group show Ali organized at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, where she serves as director and curator. That exhibition, which spotlighted voices across Pittsburgh’s local art community, planted the seed for a more comprehensive archival project. With funding from the Arts Revival Grant, Ali expanded the idea into a book honoring the scope and depth of Pittsburgh’s avant-garde artists.
Initially imagined as a modest catalog, the project quickly ballooned. “There were over 100 points of contact,” Ali says. “It was too big for any local printer or publisher. That’s why we had to self-publish.”
The result is a bold, ambitious volume that functions as both a historical document and a living archive, that challenges the dominant narratives of what Pittsburgh art has been, and who gets to be remembered.
Held earlier this year at the Irma Freeman Center, an exhibition also titled Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde consisted entirely of submissions from artists featured in the book, including sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, painters Rick Bach and Robert Qualters, “citizen artist” vanessa german, and Women of Visions leader Christina Bethea, among many others.
“It wasn’t a traditional curated exhibition,” Ali explains. “Everyone included in the book was invited to submit, and 60 artists took part. That open structure reflects the nature of the community itself, nonhierarchical, porous, and always in motion.”
Ali emphasizes that Pittsburgh’s avant-garde art scene has often existed at the intersection of localism and rebellion. “It’s very steeped in a fringe community of people who aren’t waiting around for institutions to validate them,” she says. “There’s an anti-establishment nature to it. Many of these artists are also part of local organizations like Associated Artists or the Fiber Arts Guild, but they’ve built their own networks. Some have shown in New York or other big cities, but they keep working here.”
Ali believes that, unlike in larger markets, Pittsburgh offers more accessibility and room to experiment. “I think our scene is more underground than in other cities,” she says. “Because it’s easier to have an art show here, you can take bigger chances on things that aren’t in vogue.”
That spirit of experimentation will be front and center again this fall, when the Pittsburgh Art Book Fair returns to the Carnegie Museum of Art in September for its third year. The fair, which features independent publishers, artists, and bookmakers, reflects the city’s deep connection to self-publishing and DIY culture, key lifelines for artists working outside traditional channels.
“Self-publishing plays a big role in documenting the avant-garde,” Ali says. “It’s been that way since the zine scenes of the ’90s, and it still is. You don’t need to wait for someone to approve your work. You just make it.”
While Ali acknowledges the limitations of independent publishing, she also sees its critical role in preservation and storytelling. “If you’re not doing the work, these histories get lost,” she says. “The establishment has a complicated relationship with experimental art. That’s why documenting it ourselves matters.”
Still, larger institutions have played a part in showcasing local artists, particularly those who blur the boundaries of form. But Ali notes that smaller, DIY spaces are often the true engines of support for experimental work. “Those are the places where these artists can show. Unless a museum decides to present someone who’s been working here for 40 years, it’s usually these grassroots venues that carry the weight.”
The artists in Pittsburgh’s Avant-Garde span generations, with most ranging in age from 50 to 100. For Ali, this longevity tells a story of resilience, devotion, and community. “They’ve been here, doing the work, whether they’ve been seen or not,” she says. “That deserves recognition not later, but now.
At its core, Pittsburgh’s avant-garde is about honoring a legacy of artists who have long created space for experimentation, often on the margins, and ensuring that this legacy continues to evolve.
“Pittsburgh is full of artists doing incredible, boundary-pushing work,” Ali says. “We just need to keep paying attention.”
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2025.
