Skip to main content

Point Park University has received a $65,650 grant from The Heinz Endowments that will support a design team commission for a public art project. Point Park and Riverlife are partnering to sponsor the commission, which will result in a public art installation designed to create a stronger pedestrian connection between Point Park's campus and the newly constructed Mon Wharf Landing linear park.

The entrance to the Mon Wharf Landing is currently separated by a harsh urban edge of roadway, highway ramps and the intersection at the juncture of Wood Street and Fort Pitt Boulevard. Through the design team commission, an independent artist will be selected to work in collaboration with LaQuatra Bonci Associates, the Pittsburgh landscape architecture firm who designed the Mon Wharf Landing. The design team commission will use public art to mark and invigorate the entrance to the Mon Wharf as a gateway that leads in one direction to the Mon Wharf Landing and in the other direction to the Point Park University campus.

Since 1999, Riverlife has worked with property owners to create Three Rivers Park, downtown Pittsburgh's 13-mile interconnected riverfront park system. The Mon Wharf Landing project aligns with the vision of Point Park University's Academic Village initiative to cultivate stronger visual and user connections between Pittsburgh's waterfront and the Point Park campus. This design commission will serve to create an iconic portal where the waterfront and the campus are joined.

Point Park and Riverlife have engaged Pittsburgh's Office of Public Art to manage the artist selection process and the development of conceptual designs. The Office of Public Art is a partnership between the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Request for Qualifications has been made available by the Office of Public Art at publicartpittsburgh.org. Postmark deadline for artist qualifications submissions is March 7, 2011.

More information on the Mon Wharf Landing can be found at riverlifepgh.org. More on Point Park University's Academic Village initiative can be found in the Academic Village section of the Point Park website.