The Frick Pittsburgh Museums and Gardens

🎉 After an extensive, multi-month national search, The Frick Pittsburgh is proud to announce Amanda Dunyak Gillen as the new Executive Director! Amanda started her career at the Frick as an intern in the curatorial department. It was then that her dedication to the Frick took root, and she decided to stay at the organization for the next 20 years! She has served as the organization's Interim Executive Director since November 2024. Before that, Amanda was the Frick’s Director of Learning and Visitor Experience since 2013 where she oversaw all adult, student and family programs related to the museum’s collection. The Frick Pittsburgh’s Board of Trustees concluded after its search that the best person for the job was already at the organization. Amanda has kept the Frick on course while serving as Interim Executive Director, and the board has the utmost confidence in her ability to continue to steer the Frick forward. Please join us in congratulating Amanda!

☀️ I'm Gonna Block Out The Sun 🚫 Last week, our curatorial department welcomed Duquesne University's Dr. Michael McMaster and two of his physics students, Nia Nicholson and Tyler Williams, to the Frick to lend us their optical expertise! Clayton currently uses UV-blocking film on its windows to prevent damage to the interior of the home and the objects within it. The existing film, however, is reaching the end of its lifetime and effectiveness. During their visit, the team of Duquesne experts used custom-made equipment to measure UV levels in various spaces around our site. They will also be analyzing a sample of the existing film in Duquesne's Civil and Environmental Engineering Lab. All of that research will lead to a final recommendation for what cutting-edge UV-blocking technology can best protect Clayton for years to come. Their advice will be particularly helpful during the final stages of our ongoing preservation project at Clayton, when the windows of the house will receive a full overhaul. This curatorial department collaboration, a first with the Duquesne University School of Science and Engineering, is the latest milestone in the Frick's ongoing relationship with Duquesne and other local universities. A big thank you to Dr. McMaster, Nia and Tyler for helping us preserve Clayton and our collection for generations to come!

Thanks to KDKA-TV’s Director of Community Impact Lisa Smith for having Interim Executive Director Amanda Gillen and Chief Curator Dawn R. Brean on her show “Intersections” to talk about our Kara Walker exhibition. 🎥 Check out the KDKA-TV segment: https://lnkd.in/eS97yPmT

🥣 This Sunday, April 6 is the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's annual Empty Bowls fundraiser, and The Café at the Frick is donating 6 gallons of delicious potato leek soup (vegan and gluten free 👀) for attendees to sample! Not only will you get to savor mouth-watering soups and support the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's critical work, but each ticket purchase also comes with a beautiful handmade bowl made by local potters. RAINY WEEKEND, COZY SOUP ➡️ bit.ly/447tIL6

Hi there from the opening gala of The Frick Collection! Interim Executive Director Amanda Dunyak Gillen traveled with Frick Trustee Laura N.K. Miller to celebrate this exciting time for our sister organization. All the art they loaned us for last year's smash success "Vermeer, Monet, Rembrandt: Forging the Frick Collections in Pittsburgh & New York" is now on view in NY after their five-year major renovation and expansion project. Amanda and Laura are seen with Frick NY Head of Education April Kim Tonin in front if an absolutely incredible cake and Amanda stands with our Frick PGH japanned secretaire on long-term loan to NY. We couldn't be happier for The Frick Collection team! Want to see the soon-to-be opened NY mansion? If you're a The Frick Pittsburgh member with reciprocal benefits, you can visit for free with your membership card!

Enjoy free admission to Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) this Wednesday, April 2 during Highmark Bright Blue Futures Free Admission Day sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Registration is required for entry ➡️ bit.ly/4cdZE2y Thanks to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield for their generous support! #highmarkbrightbluefutures // Highmark Inc. // Highmark Health

If you have passed Clayton on Penn Avenue or have visited our campus in the last few months, you have probably seen scaffolding encasing it. The Frick is undergoing a multi-year effort to preserve the mansion for decades to come. This includes stripping the bricks of their current yellow paint in favor of a more historically accurate color: a rich gray with mossy undertones. Tours of the house are still happening even as the preservation of the exterior continues. We think right now is an extra special time to come so you can see both paint colors — the former yellow and new gray — side by side. It won’t be like this for long though, so book your visit soon! Also, a special thanks to Perspectus Architecture, Barber & Hoffman, Inc., and Heritage Conservation Collective for helping us select the color and making other preservation recommendations.

"The museum has partnered with over a dozen local artists, scholars, and cultural leaders to contribute guest labels, offering personal reflections on Walker’s work and its relationship to the region’s history. (Full disclosure: the author contributed a guest label to the exhibition.) This collaborative approach broadens the interpretive lens, moving beyond the institution’s voice to foster a more polyphonic dialogue. Among the voices included are Black women artists and writers whose work addresses the ongoing erasure of Black histories in Pittsburgh. The city’s East End, where the Frick family amassed its wealth during the Gilded Age, remains a site of contested memory, as gentrification and displacement continue to impact Black communities." Thanks, Tara Fay Coleman and Pittsburgh City Paper for writing about Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)! Check out the full story: https://lnkd.in/eBUeF6R4

Not sure what to do this weekend? Sean Collier has "Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)" at the top of his list! "Walker’s work is beautifully presented at the Frick Pittsburgh; while many associate the institution with classical painting and art (a fine permanent collection of which is always present), the Kara Walker exhibit is a bold reminder that the Point Breeze institution dramatically engages with modern art and artists as well." Thanks for adding our exhibition to your list, Pittsburgh Magazine! Read what else Sean suggests to do this weekend here: https://lnkd.in/gHJJfBW

Explore stories cut from the past on a visit to Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War. On view at the Frick Art Museum through May 25 → bit.ly/4fDLzfk