Brereton St. x Dobson St.
I arrived on this corner on August 27th, 2019 at 7pm. The air was moist and warm and the weather was cloudy. The first thing I noticed was the sidewalk. The concrete had different textures that were contrasting each other. On one side it was completely smooth and I felt no bumpy pebbles below my shoes. It was a brand new sidewalk that seemed to have been renovated sometime this year. Just a couple steps away lied interlaced bricks that seeped old weeds and dirty shoe prints. The community was changing in drastic ways, quickly too, in hopes of updating it’s environment.
Walking along, I noticed some of the locals had placed fences around their front trees. It was great to see them take care of the plants, and what was even interesting was to see that some had put small, little rocks on top of bigger rocks. Almost like a sculptural piece, each rock was placed neatly in the middle. It was fun and creative. Which made me think who would put such a thing? A creative adult who’s a kid at heart? An artist? A child? Or a parent? While thinking about potential candidates, I got distracted by a dog barking inside their home.
On the other side of the street, I noticed a small bar. It was plastered with stickers and graffiti and had a different look to the rest of the street. I saw a man in a black suit walk in, a couple adults in their mid 20s, and an older male in his 40s. It seemed to be a popular local bar since there were some traffic on a Tuesday. The college students I’ve seen had a similar look to each other as well. Dyed hair, tattooed bodies, and fashionable clothing. They seemed to be musicians and artists living in the area as there was a small cafe that had posters for musical/gallery events.
The best part about this walk was that there was a small “bookstore”. A free, donation based, book storage box was located next to the Polish Hill Civic Association and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. This corner has a jewish community as well as a keen awareness of Antwon Rose. Black Lives Matter posters were up on multiple homes and the small cafe in the corner. This community seemed very knowledgable and educated in current events happening in Pittsburgh. The corner was lovely in its acceptance of creativity and diversity.
While looking at the renovation of new buildings, it’s hard to ignore a home as run down as this. Clearly, there is a huge disparity of wealth in this short walk I’ve taken. The home here had broken blinds and rotting wood. The corners of the house was full of trash and overgrown plants. Which made me wonder, how different are the people in this small area? My question was quickly answered as I walked around the corner of Dobson St. and entered Hancock.
The street was similar to the ones near Brereton Intersection, but before I could contemplate more on the architecture and details of the area, my mind was interrupted by an elderly group of white folks. As I was walking up the steep hill, an old man yelled, “Konichiwa!” on the top of his lungs. I looked up and saw three individuals sitting on the front porch of an old, run down home. Before I could answer, two white adults in front of me yelled back and said, “That’s racist!”. The two groups argued back and forth while I tried to leave the area and still analyze the situation as best as I can. It made me think about the diversity of minds in such a small section of land. On one hand I saw people who were accepting of all races and genders, while on the other hand, I saw people who couldn’t see past their own assumptions and judgments. This social interaction made me think back to the sidewalk I saw in the beginning of my walk. People who lived so close to each other, yet had such different qualities of mind.
I returned back to the intersection and walked along the now familiar street. The weather was similar to my first day here — cloudy and humid. This time I heard some different noises, such as a plane flying above the neighborhood, a child screaming on the other side of Dobson and people driving along. This street seemed to be busier than before, so I asked one of the locals about the roadwork. He said that the construction was to update the pipe system under the streets. It was surprising to see that it wasn’t to update the street, but rather the water pipes below.
I decided to go inside a popular bar that most of the locals entered and exited. It seemed very welcoming and the people were nice enough to start a conversation with me. One woman in her mid 40s asked me if I was new around here, and I told her about the project I was working on. Inside the bar, the woman told me that the intersection here went through a lot of changes over the years. There used to be a local barbershop and a poultry store. The neighbors that used to live here, moved away because the rent has gone up too high. What began as an affordable $500 a month ended up becoming $1000 and so many chose to move away from the neighborhood they grew up in. It was sad to hear people moving away and I asked how the woman felt about the change. To my surprise, she was optimistic about the situation. She thinks that overall it is better since there are more people from all over the country coming to the neighborhood. From New York to Boston, many are moving in and the residential houses are getting updated/renovated. The polish community here are staying positive about this transition.
I went back to my intersection once more to see if I missed anything else that may be critical to understanding Polish Hill. I went on Wednesday at 1pm, and contrary to my other two days I visited, the weather was nice and bright. There were more shadows to look at as the sun was hitting the buildings. I decided to choose this viewpoint to capture the ambiance of my intersection. It included a hip cafe that the locals go to (on the left) and the main church in the background. Many people in their 20s were seated at the cafe and drinking coffee. I saw one individual walking their dog on the side of the street. She had a similar look to the first female I saw on this intersection. Dyed hair, tattooed bodies, with casual yet fashionable clothes. The younger generation of people were prominent in this area, so I felt that capturing this small corner coffee shop was essential to show the artsy and young newcomers in this area.
During our discussion on the first draft, it was stated that my paper cut out was too flat. I decided to add more layers on this one to show a depth of field in my piece. I added in more details to the back at the church to highlight the importance of the building in Polish Hill. I still had a difficult time in creating this piece because it was hard to get two layers of the same size and shape and glue them on perfectly. I did learn about how the shadow can help in understanding which objects are in front of the other.
The grayscale one was a challenge because of the limited amount of tones we could use for this project. I was trying to decipher which tone should be placed and felt that some areas came out more muddier than others. I believe this one could have had more details to bring out the architecture.
On my last project with the colored paper, I decided to use red as a color to bring out some of the features in the foreground that otherwise would have been lost with the darkest tone. I added in some extra details to the back of the building to bring out the church and added in more textures to the trees on the right. I also worked more accurately to the power lines in the picture to show the right perspective on the paper cut out. I believe having those perspective lines draws the viewer in to the piece. I also changed some of the color choices I had in the previous cut out, such as the crosswalk and the street color to make the buildings more grounded than float in mid air. Overall, more care and detail was put into this last colored paper cut out, and I believe it created a more complete piece than the previous iterations.
