Rivers and Veins, 2021

Frankie Mae Pace Park reconnects the Hill District neighborhood to downtown Pittsburgh, PA.
The park includes a rain garden, spiral storm water system, and open space enhancements I designed in collaboration with La Quantra Bonci Associates.

3 Acre park, trench drain and seating elements at Frankie Mae Pace Park in Pittsburgh, PA.
Sponsored by the Sports and Exhibition Authority and administered by the Pittsburgh Office of Public Art.

Concrete, steel, cast iron pavers, plant material, stone, water, digital photographs, enameled steel. Dimensions variable.

Named for longtime Hill District activist Frankie Mae Pace (1905-1989), the park celebrates important local African American figures, history and culture, as well as ecological underpinnings such as area waterways, topography and geology.

Spiral trench drain stormwater system
Custom trench covers, cast iron, concrete, plant materials.

Custom trench drain covers featuring a motif inspired by traditional braid techniques

Gabion Benches, park view
18" x 24” x 48”. Engraved metal, digital collage, rocks, steel wire. The collaged imagery represents overarching park themes like Pittsburgh topography, hydrology, fossils, settlement trends, transit maps, the city's history as a stop on the underground railroad, and cultural history.

Gabion benchtops

  • Aldous Huxley bench top. Digital collage, engraved steel.

  • Detail of Huxley bench, the cosmos from Pittsburgh's vantage

  • Langston Hughes benchtop. Digital collage, engraved steel

  • Detail of Hughes benchtop, featuring collage focused on the prominent rivers and waterways of Pittsburgh.

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