FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mandy Wilson, 412.465.1637 | mwilson@contemporarycraft.org
CONTEMPORARY CRAFT EXPLORES CLIMATE CHANGE IN NEW EXHIBITIONPITTSBURGH, PA (August 2023) – Contemporary Craft (CC) is exploring the complexities ofclimate change through the lens of art in its new exhibition, Climate Awakening: Crafting a
Sustainable Future, opening Friday, September 8, 2023. Climate Awakening will be the fifth
exhibition in the organization’s series of socially-engaged art experiences. The exhibition will be onview through January 13, 2024 and will include a series of related public programs.
Featuring work by four contemporary craft artists, Climate Awakening aims to create social change
and provide viewers an alternative perspective when exploring artistic and creative responses to theissues of climate change. Contemporary Craft hopes this exhibition will serve as a catalyst forcommunity engagement, conversation and action.
Participating artists include Adrien Segal, Susie Ganch, Courtney Mattison and Meghan Price. For
each of these artists, the environment and environmental concerns serve as a driving force in theirpractices, methodologies and subject matter. While their approaches to the topic and materials may
differ, their practices are all rooted in craft traditions.
Adrien Segal is a sculpture artist working in various mediums, including glass and wood. She draws
from scientific research, data visualization, history, landscape, emotion and perception to reveal
trends, patterns and changes in the landscape that occur over time. Courtney Mattison creates
intricate and enormous ceramic sculptures inspired by the beauty and fragility of marine life inresponse to human-caused threats. Susie Ganch crafts large scale works of art from commonly
discarded waste, such as used coffee lids, bags and bits of trash. And Meghan Price’s New Balance
work is a series of low relief sculptures made with used athletic shoes, creating geologic patterns. Alarge print of one of these pieces will be wheat pasted to the front of Contemporary Craft’s building,serving as a public artwork.
"It’s an honor to work with Adrien Segal, Courtney Mattison, Susie Ganch and Meghan Price for thisthought-provoking and timely project. Now, more than ever, there is a sense of urgency toacknowledge and process the emotions and feelings resulting from the immensity of climatechange,” said Yu-San Cheng, Associate Director. “The artists in this show create a pathway from art
to environment by merging data-driven and creative approaches, applying alternative and recycledmaterials, and examining the underlying patterns of nature and human's role as parts of the wholeecosystem. Our hope is to provide a space for artists and citizens to come together for meaningful
dialogue that promotes awareness and connects visitors with resources and information."
Partner organizations for Climate Awakening: Crafting a Sustainable Future include Pennsylvania
Environmental Council, Triboro Ecodistrict, and International Living Future Institute.

Opening Reception & Related Events
Opening Reception: Friday, September 8, 5:30 – 8:00 PM. Free and open to the public. Join us as
we celebrate the opening of Climate Awakening: Crafting a Sustainable Future. Light refreshments
will be served.
Monthly Guided Tours: The third Saturday of each month, join us for a free guided tour of Climate
Awakening.
Climate Awakening Forum: Saturday, October 14, 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM. This forum brings togetherspeakers from different sectors, including nonprofit organizations, business leaders, innovation
catalyzers, and visual artists who promote environmental awareness through collaboration,education, advocacy and innovation. This program consists of three elements: 5 speaker sessions, agroup reflection, and a guided exhibition tour (optional) at the end of the program.
Tour of City of Bridges Community Land Trust Homes: Saturday, November 4, 11:00 AM – 1:00
PM. As part of a partnership between Contemporary Craft and the International Living Future
Institute, we are pleased to invite you to join us on a tour of affordable homes built with Core Green
Building Certification in mind. These homes were constructed as part of the City of Bridges
Community Land Trust.
Information on all Climate Awakening related events can be found HERE.

About the Artists
Adrien Segal is an artist and writer based in Oakland, California. Drawing from landscape, science,history, emotion, and perception, her sculpture synthesizes information into knowledge as an intently
human experience. Her work has been exhibited internationally since 2007, and is published inseveral books and academic journals. She has been awarded numerous Artist Residencies acrossthe US, Canada, and Europe. Adrien was the Latham Fellow at IIT Institute of Design in Chicago in2020, and has held Visiting Artist positions at San Diego State University and at California College of
the Arts, where she teaches art and design. Adrien pursues her creative practice out of her studio on
the former Naval Base in Alameda, California.
Susie Ganch is an artist living in Richmond, VA, where she is an Associate Professor in theDepartment of Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Ganch received her MFA
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Issues of waste and cultural habits of consumption areimbued through her work. Part of her practice is Directing Radical Jewelry Makeover, aninternational jewelry mining, and recycling project that continues to travel across the country andabroad. Recent solo exhibitions: Different Land | Different Sea, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC, andHave a Nice Day, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, VA. Current and recent exhibitions include Fault Lines:
Art and the Environment, NCMA, Raleigh, NC, and This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World,
Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.
Her work has been included nationally and internationally in museum exhibitions including theNational Museum for Women in the Arts, MFA Boston; the Design Museum, London; the National
Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kohler Art Center,Sheboygan, WI; and Milwaukee Art Museum. Public/private collections include Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.; LACMA, Los Angeles, CA; Asheville ArtMuseum, NC; MFA Boston, MA; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA; Metal Museum, Memphis, TN;Quirk Hotel, Richmond, VA; John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI; and Kohler Company,Kohler, WI. Grants include Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant,
Theresa Pollack Fine Art Award, a VA Commission for the Arts Grant, and multiple VCU Faculty
Research Grants. She is represented by Sienna Patti Contemporary Gallery.
Courtney Mattison hand-crafts intricate and large-scale sculptural works that visualize climatechange through the fragile beauty of marine life. Her background in marine conservation science
informs her work, which has been commissioned internationally for permanent collections including
those of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Endurance
ship. Her exhibition history includes solo shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, theU.S. Department of Commerce headquarters, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and ICA San
Diego/North, where she was Artist in Residence. Curated group exhibitions include “Fragile Earth” atthe Brandywine Museum of Art and “Beijing 2022” at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in China. In
2020, the United Nations Postal Administration published Mattison’s work on a stamp tocommemorate Earth Day. Born in 1985, Mattison received an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts
degree in marine ecology and ceramic sculpture from Skidmore College in 2008 and a Master of Arts
degree in environmental studies from Brown University with thesis coursework at the Rhode Island
School of Design in 2011. Her work has been featured on the covers of American Craft, Nature,Beaux Arts and Brown Alumni magazines, and by Smithsonian Magazine, Good Morning America,
Oprah Magazine, and BBC World Service. She lives and works in San Francisco.
Meghan Price
Meghan Price is a Canadian visual artist living in Montreal. She has exhibited in spaces acrossCanada and internationally including the Canadian Cultural Centre (Paris), Fiberspace (Stockholm),
The Centre for Craft Creativity and Design (Asheville) and YYZ (Toronto). Price has held residencies
at the Banff Centre, the Scottish Sculpture Workshop and the Icelandic Textile Center and will be
Artist-in-Residence in Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal) beginning in the fall of ‘23.
Price’s work is in the Idea Exchange contemporary textile collection and in the corporate collectionsof Aimia, Canada Goose, RBC and TD Bank. Her practice has been awarded support by numerous
agencies including the Canada Council for the Arts. Meghan Price is represented by United
Contemporary (Toronto).
About Contemporary Craft
Presenting contemporary art in craft materials by regional, national, and international artists since1971, Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity andcontemporary art, as well as a range of artist-led studio workshops, community engagement
programs, and a store featuring work by top artists from across the country. Located at 5645 Butler
Street in Pittsburgh, PA, Contemporary Craft’s exhibitions are free to the public.
Support for Climate Awakening: Crafting a Sustainable Future is provided in part by Cathy Raphael, theNational Endowment for the Arts, McKinney Charitable Foundation through the PNC Charitable Trust Grant
Review Committee, the Lydon Innovation Fund, JENDOCO Construction Corporation, Aesthetic Plastic
Surgery of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, Seton Hill University, and Breathe Project. General
operating support is provided by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Heinz Endowments, Opportunity
Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation,Giant Eagle Foundation, Anonymous foundation, and by private donations.