Exquisite Thoughts was a part of the ProjectArt Student + Teacher Exhibition: Reimagining the Ordinary from April 18- April 24 2026 at The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination in Pittsburgh, PA.
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“ProjectArt Pittsburgh is proud to present the 2025-26 Student and Teaching Artist-in-Residence Exhibition, Reimagining the Ordinary. A culmination of this year’s ProjectArt classes and Teaching Artist Residency, this exhibition presents student and teacher work side-by-side.
The works included were co-curated by the students and reflect a wide range of skills and concepts that they have developed throughout the school year. The work by our Teaching Artists-in-Residents was developed over the course of their Residency, in tandem with (and often inspired by) teaching and lesson planning. While each of the artworks reflect different projects and visions, they each demonstrate, in one way or another, an imaginative use of something ordinary to create and inspire extraordinary works of art. Animating the ordinary objects, everyday places, and time-honored stories that make up the fabric of our day-to-day lives, the works in this show demonstrate how creativity and community can illuminate fresh new perspectives and possibilities—and amazing works of art!
Teaching Artist Juliet Phillips’s sculptures are inspired by the countless hours she’s spent in Pittsburgh’s public libraries this past year, both while teaching for ProjectArt at Homewood Library, and while spending time with her own child reading, playing, and exploring the different locations of the Carnegie Library system. Over the course of her residency, Juliet began to notice all sorts of curious things about different library spaces that had never caught her attention before—old toys, interesting patterns and textures in the built environment, unexpected architecture, and new views of each neighborhood. Juliet monumentalized these small observations, mingled with her own daydreams, into her large ceramic sculptures. Stacked and resting one atop the other, this work is an ode to the library in all its wonderfully strange glory.
Throughout the year, Juliet has worked through lessons with her students at Homewood Library that were grounded in similar approaches to fantasy and transformation. Over the course of different projects, her students transformed ‘trash’ into treasure, using common recycled and reclaimed materials to make works of art that not only explore the fundamentals of sculpture and wearable art, but which also invite them to tap into creative expressions of their own personal identities. Homewood students also explored narrative and sequential art through collaborative comics and animation projects, transforming themselves into their own personal superheroes and animating imaginative clay sculptures into lively claymation characters. Juliet says “ I am so proud of the artwork that you see here on display — each piece reflects the playful, thoughtful and unique expressions of all our wonderful young artists.”
“
“ProjectArt Pittsburgh is proud to present the 2025-26 Student and Teaching Artist-in-Residence Exhibition, Reimagining the Ordinary. A culmination of this year’s ProjectArt classes and Teaching Artist Residency, this exhibition presents student and teacher work side-by-side.
The works included were co-curated by the students and reflect a wide range of skills and concepts that they have developed throughout the school year. The work by our Teaching Artists-in-Residents was developed over the course of their Residency, in tandem with (and often inspired by) teaching and lesson planning. While each of the artworks reflect different projects and visions, they each demonstrate, in one way or another, an imaginative use of something ordinary to create and inspire extraordinary works of art. Animating the ordinary objects, everyday places, and time-honored stories that make up the fabric of our day-to-day lives, the works in this show demonstrate how creativity and community can illuminate fresh new perspectives and possibilities—and amazing works of art!
Teaching Artist Juliet Phillips’s sculptures are inspired by the countless hours she’s spent in Pittsburgh’s public libraries this past year, both while teaching for ProjectArt at Homewood Library, and while spending time with her own child reading, playing, and exploring the different locations of the Carnegie Library system. Over the course of her residency, Juliet began to notice all sorts of curious things about different library spaces that had never caught her attention before—old toys, interesting patterns and textures in the built environment, unexpected architecture, and new views of each neighborhood. Juliet monumentalized these small observations, mingled with her own daydreams, into her large ceramic sculptures. Stacked and resting one atop the other, this work is an ode to the library in all its wonderfully strange glory.
Throughout the year, Juliet has worked through lessons with her students at Homewood Library that were grounded in similar approaches to fantasy and transformation. Over the course of different projects, her students transformed ‘trash’ into treasure, using common recycled and reclaimed materials to make works of art that not only explore the fundamentals of sculpture and wearable art, but which also invite them to tap into creative expressions of their own personal identities. Homewood students also explored narrative and sequential art through collaborative comics and animation projects, transforming themselves into their own personal superheroes and animating imaginative clay sculptures into lively claymation characters. Juliet says “ I am so proud of the artwork that you see here on display — each piece reflects the playful, thoughtful and unique expressions of all our wonderful young artists.”