Photos of Wilkinsburg Murals by Kyle Holbrook and Brian Holderman

You likely have seen work by these artists around. Holderman did a big Downtown mural and Three Rivers Arts Festival Poster; Holbrook's murals are all over East Liberty and many other places in and near Pittsburgh.

Still, these murals are pretty great examples of their work. Brian is all about, highly designed and skillful hipster style--but this work is also extremely imaginative. One of his best works.

Kyle, who works with local kids and community members on his projects, throws the book at the walls, filling them with cultural and historical images. This is just a small taste of some of his murals which fill the area around the Bus way in Wilkinsburg.

Some Shots of Wilkinsburg

Here are some of the shots I took in Wilkinsburg, the other day, which I hope give a somewhat balanced view of both the opportunities, amazing buildings and work that still needs to be done there.

Partly, because part of it is relatively flat, this particular place reminds me pretty strongly of Cleveland, in terms of the big mix of building types, relative abundance of empty lots and fascinating rural and urban character.

As you can see, there's a lot of serious restoration work being done here.

Wilkinsburg is pretty big so I want to go back and shoot some more.

Great Place: Garden Dreams, Urban Farm in Wilkinsburg

All the great events coming up in Pittsburgh, have pushed off some of the slice of life posts I would like to do more of.

We have a tiny but productive garden in our front yard, but when we need more great stuff from fresh plants to fresh vegetables, we have been heading to this amazing and beautiful urban farm in Wilkinsburg.

"Heirloom tomatoes, sweet & hot peppers, eggplants and basil are our passion and specialty. We offer an amazing variety of each."

The farm has a large selection of small seedlings, available during regular hours. Vegetables are primarily marketed to restaurants and only available Saturday mornings.

(PS, I know the basket shows a few things that are overripe or have minor defects. We happily take their rejects)

Preserving Pittsburgh's Stained Glass Legacy

Today's Post Gazette, has a great video profile of a guy who works to preserve the vast number of amazing stained glass windows in area churches.

"John Kelly has devoted much of the past three decades to refurbishing old windows. His latest challenge is the restoration of three Gothic-style stained-glass windows from Sacred Heart Church in Shadyside."

DREAMING IN TECHNICOLOR - ST. JAMES CHURCH - FILM II: ACROSS THE TRANSEPT from ARCHITECTURAL MEDIA on Vimeo.

A video of the interior of St. James church in Wilkinsburg.