Earlier this month at the 5th Annual Community Festival, SHNA launched a campaign to fund the creation of the Stanton Heights Mosaic Steps! Our vision is to transform a set of Pittsburgh city steps — at the gateway to Stanton Heights as you enter it from Lawrenceville — into a magnificent mosaic work of public art.
Artist Laura Jean McLaughlin has designed a whimsical, humorous, stunning image of diversity and nature that represents the essence of the neighborhood (see image left). This design will unfold on the outside of each of the 44 steps, and full image can be seen in one view.
Along with our green infrastructure and rain garden projects already underway near this site, and the future installation of a “Welcome to Stanton Heights” gateway sign, Stanton Heights will have one of the most beautiful gateways in Pittsburgh when we complete the project.
The Stanton Heights Steps will promote neighborhood and Pittsburgh pride, as well as provoking conversation and prompting smiles at the project’s beauty, creativity, and humor.
Project details:
Residents of Stanton Heights and other friends of the project will create each of the 44 steps based on a template created by artist Laura Jean McLaughlin, and they will apply the tiles and grout in a process that is expected to take six to eight hours per step.
The tiles have been ordered from Italy and are expected to arrive in late August. We hope to train volunteers to work on the tiles in September and October, and then install the tiles on the steps next year.
Residents surely will take pride in knowing that they worked on a particular step, and the project will be a source of inspiration for the neighborhood and all who take part!
Please visit our ioby fundraising page to contribute and make this project a reality!
