Curatorial Projects

What Have We Done, is a post-apocalyptic take on the aftermath of human intervention, achieved through the mediums of print, painting, fiber, sculpture, installation, jewelry, and video, on view at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media, November 15 – December 31, 2019.  Through this clouded lens that has been polluted by corporations, greed, and the selfishness of a few, it has left the majority of us suffocating, grasping for a breathe of fresh air.  The artists in this exhibition explore the possible ramifications of the mistreatment of the planet, and propose a grim narrative of the not so distance future.  Included in this exhibition were local and regional Guild Member Artists: Isaac Bower, Michelle Browne, Doug Eberhardt, Gerry Florida, Arron Foster, Sarika Goulatia, Scott Hunter, Maria Kretschmann, Maria Mangano, Angela Pasquale, Aaron Regal, Laura Tabakman & Matt Van Asselt.

Every three years Guild Members of the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media are invited to submit work for a juried group exhibition called The New Collective.  This year, they invited a guest-curator, Tina Dillman, to organize an exhibition around selected guild members, and What Have We Done, is the product of her studio visits with selected artists. Each participating artist exhibited new work that was either created for this exhibit, or recently made and never shown in the area, including several site-specific installations.


Rolling Coal, a two-man show about toxic masculinity with Pittsburgh based artists Seth LeDonne and Derek Reese.  The pop up show took place over a weekend in July 2019, in a vacant storefront in the Highline Development on Pittsburgh’s Southside, thanks to the sponsorship of Beauty Shoppe.  This exhibition included original work by each artist, in addition to a few collaborative works, and with the truest intent their individual practices began to diverge and become one.


Our Desires @ Big Orbit Gallery in Buffalo, NY, January 2016. This project was a collaborative text based project that included 100 original drawings of affirmative sayings that were meant to inspire one another for a more collective forward thinking approach to life. Each archival drawing is on a sheet of 5″x7″ high quality watercolor paper by Strathmore, and is one of a kind. This project was intended to help raise funds for Project Grant programming. Photos courtesy of Dana Tyrell.


SAN FRAN BUFF NON STOP @ Cepa Gallery’s experimental space, Big Orbit, January 2015. Tina utilized this exhibition opportunity as a way to introduce herself and her art collection (and past memories) to her new hometown area.  She turned the gallery into her living room, with shared artworks hanging on the wall, a video piece about her past space, WE Artspace on view, and during the opening, she set up a “Bar” in respect to Tom Marioni’s Studio Bar in San Francisco, and served drinks (liquor donated by Lockhouse Distillery), while engaging in conversations with guests.  During the opening there were also musical performances by local artist/musicians.

Upon entering looking right

Guest pointing at hands

View of video installation

Back wall collaged with works

Mail Art Installation

Close up of Mail Art by Mike Dyar

Bar Installation with ephemera from Tom Marioni

Close up of Tom Marioni Ephemera

Overhead view at the opening

Left Wall

Close up of one of the works

Upon entering looking left

Guests at the opening


________ vs. ________ (& everything that falls in b/w), 2014, included the work of four local artists, Elizabeth Cayne, Scott Greenwalt, Erik Parra, and Karen Thomas, who were not currently students, and whose work Tina had exhibited in the gallery space she ran out of her graduate studio over the course of her last year of study.  The Bay Area Art Scene was becoming an endangered ecosystem. Within the current economic and political state of the Bay Area, space had become a very “hot” commodity, as artists, galleries, and other cultural spaces were being forced out of their homes, to make way for new “community members”.  Since the MFA exhibition occurred over the same weekend as the San Francisco art fairs, she wanted to provide her fellow colleagues an opportunity to exhibit and have exposure to a mass audience.

XX (KISS KISS), by Elizabeth Cayne, a site-specific installation in the women's bathroom of the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
XX (KISS KISS), by Elizabeth Cayne, a site-specific installation in the women’s bathroom of the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Point of Departure, by Erik Parra, a site-specific installation in the lower stairwell of the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Point of Departure, by Erik Parra, a site-specific installation in the lower stairwell of the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Transforming Fiction, drawings by Scott Greenwalt. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Transforming Fiction, drawings by Scott Greenwalt. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Exploring the Other, drawings by Karen Thomas, site the men's bathroom at the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
Exploring the Other, drawings by Karen Thomas, site the men’s bathroom at the Old Mint. Photo documentation by Mido Lee.

Aside Gallery, was a project space for artists outside of the current SFAI student community (2013-2014) to show work within the graduate setting.  Tina set aside one wall within her graduate studio to showcase other artists that were not currently students, in order to expose the SFAI graduate community to outside work.  As a graduate student she was aware that it is challenging to manage time and visit other galleries and institutions outside of school, so she brought the outside, inside. Exhibitions changed monthly and the viewing hours were, Monday thru Friday, from 9am-5pm.

April 2014, Karen Thomas

The Chimira, 23" x 22", Gouache and Graphite on Paper, 2012
The Chimira, 23″ x 22″, Gouache and Graphite on Paper, 2012

March 2014, Elizabeth Cayne

Hands i, 2014, Collage
Hands i, 2014, Collage

February 2014, Ryan Hendon

White vinyl text on wall
White vinyl text on wall

November 2013 – January 2014, Nathaniel Parsons

Artwork from 1993-2013 by Nathaniel Parsons.
Artwork from 1993-2013 by Nathaniel Parsons.

October 2013, Scott Greenwalt

Installation view of Scott Greenwalt's new work, Gestation Period.
Installation view of Scott Greenwalt’s new work, Gestation Period.

Septemember 2013, Erik Parra

Ray Gun, 2009, Collage on Paper
Ray Gun, 2009, Collage on Paper

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