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Shuttered factories, abandoned warehouses and boarded up store fronts are being re-purposed as galleries and performance spaces by people with passion and vision. Art From the Ground Up was created to provide a showcase for some of the most innovative members of Pittsburgh’s emerging arts community.00000176-e6f7-dce8-adff-f6f7706f0000Art From the Ground Up is hosted by Bob Studebaker and is a monthly series highlighting small grass roots arts organizations and individual artists that take non-traditional approaches to the creation, presentation, and even the definition of art.Know an organization Bob should check out? Email him with your suggestions.

How Friends of the Wolfe Sisters Responded to Tragedy with Art

Courtesy photo

After the murders of Sarah and Susan Wolfe earlier this year, a community of grieving artists and friends were faced with the question of how to move on from the tragic loss.

Matthew Bucholz, Sarah’s boyfriend, led the group to channel their grief into something productive. Inspired by the Wolfe sisters’ involvement in the Riot Grrl movement in the mid-90s, Wolfepack Goods sells the work of local makers to raise money for the charity Girls Rock! Pittsburgh. Girls Rock! stages empowerment-through-music camps for young girls.

Amy Garbark — whose art project Garbella contributes to Wolfepack — said they wanted to remember the sisters for the things about which they were passionate.

“We wanted to honor them through art,” she said.

The Wolfepack Goods website is hosted through Commonwealth Press, which recently hosted a kickoff event for the project featuring bands from Girls Rock! Pittsburgh. Dan Rugh of Commonwealth said Wolfepack came from the friendship of the local artists.

“We all saw the same goal and just set together and put it up,” he said.

Vanessa Veltre from Girls Rock! Pittsburgh said it was an honor for Wolfepack to choose them as beneficiaries.

“It’s a very powerful thing for us to be a part of,” she said.

Learn more about the project and shop the store at wolfepackgoods.com, and learn more about Girls Rock! Pittsburgh at girlsrockpittsburgh.org.

Bob is a host for JazzWorks. Bob has been working in different areas of the radio industry for 33 years. He thinks “public radio is a forum for ideas and entertainment unavailable on commercial radio and that makes it indispensable.” Bob is a lifelong Pittsburgher who married and raised both of his children in his home city.
A native of Flagstaff, Arizona, Reid joined 90.5 in May 2013 as a fellow in the WESA programming department. The triple major--English writing, sociology and film studies is on track to receive his degree from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2015. Following graduation, Reid wants to make a career out of writing.