Materialities
The materials used to create works of art, architecture, and visual culture reveal connections between these objects and the circumstances under which they are produced, displayed, and encountered by viewers. Moving beyond what an object looks like and delving into what it is made of elicits questions about natural resource extraction, environmental impact, trade, and conquest across the globe. Materials also inform how we perceive objects as visual and tactile presences, and impact how we display and attempt to preserve them.
- What distinguishes a medium from a material?
- How does focusing on the materiality of visual culture inform the way we understand historical networks of trade and distribution, locally and globally?
- Why have artists manipulated materials in particular ways in particular times and places, and how does their attention to their chosen medium inflect the meaning of works of art?
May 4, 2026
Author: Jeffrey Shellenberger
Each of the University of Pittsburgh’s Nationality Rooms is a small version of a museum. Everything inside them, from cabins full...
May 1, 2026
Author: Evelyn Medendorp
I never imagined myself holding a fuzzy microphone and writing a script while at an art exhibit, but I have always said I will...
May 1, 2026
Author: Emma Christensen
With my time here this spring working in the Jonas Salk Legacy Collection, I have learned not only a lot about myself, but also...
May 1, 2026
Author: Celeste Smith
The collection associated with the Nationality Rooms has the magical ability to connect visitors with cultures from around the...
May 1, 2026
Author: Liam Flynn
The Carrie Blast Furnaces at Rivers of Steel in Homestead are a dynamic historical site. They are remnants from the steel mills...
December 8, 2025
Author: Madison Wise
I’ve always been drawn to the kinds of lessons that don’t happen in classrooms, the ones you stumble into by doing, observing, or...
December 8, 2025
Author: Aly Myers
Glass mosaic art is the process of arranging small pieces of colored glass to form a larger image. During my internship at...
December 8, 2025
Author: Audrey Carasoni
Paintings, furniture, cars, an entire home and its belongings, plus many more, make up the collection at The Frick Pittsburgh....
December 1, 2025
Author: Museum Studies Interns
For this interview, current Pitt students interviewed an alumni from the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the...
September 12, 2025
Author: Anya Hammer
My introduction to the Worcester Art Museum as an intern began in the photo room crammed with white backgrounds, wires, and...
April 22, 2025
Author: Kaiya Kubasik
Goblins, two-foot-tall marionettes, and dozens of hand puppets are in the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s storage, just waiting...
April 22, 2025
Author: Catherine Spiller
After hearing that I was going to intern at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh last December, I spent the whole winter break...
April 22, 2025
Author: Paige Colón
People experience art in different ways, and some may not get to experience art at all. With the goal of shaping more meaningful...
December 14, 2024
Author: Oliver Petersen
Did you know that the Carnegie Museum of Art has a collection of 19th and 20th century wallpaper? Well neither did the Carnegie...
December 14, 2024
Author: Raven Mattiko
In a visible lab at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), conservators and volunteers work hard to conserve planks of...
December 14, 2024
Author: Leighton Curless
If you walked through the first-floor staff hallway at the Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) in October, you most likely would have...
August 23, 2024
Author: Louise Matthews
Can a piece of jewelry also be a sculpture? Can artwork be wearable? These were among the questions that the work of Pittsburgh...
August 9, 2024
Author: Saige Rucker
On February 18, 1976, painter Frank Mason (1921-2009) led a group of around fifty protesters to the steps of New York’s...
May 1, 2024
Author: Ethan Mancillas
Ethan Mancillas, Collections Intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology - Spring 2024
When I...
May 1, 2024
Author: Lauren Shuty
Lauren Shuty, Museum Studies Intern at the Jonas Salk Legacy Collections - Spring 2024
When starting this internship at the...
May 1, 2024
Author: Sydney McGahey
Sydney McGahey, Museum Studies Intern at the Salk Collection - Spring 2024
Going into this internship, I wasn’t quite sure...
May 1, 2024
Author: Lucy Eickelberg
Lucy Eickelberg, Museum Studies Intern, Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Spring 2024
My Spring 2024 internship at the...
May 1, 2024
Scientific Documentation or Creative Exploration? Bridging the Gap Between Natural and Art Histories
Author: Olivia Buehler
Olivia Buehler, Museum Studies Intern, Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Spring 2024
Tucked away in an annex of the...
May 1, 2024
Author: Sam Browne
Sam Browne, Museum Studies Intern, University Art Gallery - Spring 2024
Upon receiving my acceptance for the intern position...
April 30, 2024
Author: Grace Marston
As a recipient of Pitt’s Archival Scholars Research Award (ASRA), I had the opportunity to spend the semester working with the...