BioForge artist team combines glass, light and mosaic mediums | The Homepage

Artists (from left) Jaime Guerrero, James Simon and Rob Long at Holy Cross Church in Hazelwood on a neighborhood tour in March. Photo by Heather Mull

By Laura McDermit

On a rainy March afternoon in Pittsburgh, a group of Hazelwood neighbors and Pittsburgh-based artists moved through the neighborhood. The artist team of Jaime Guerrero, James Simon and Rob Long took the tour as a way of introduction. They talked with leaders from Holy Cross Church, Industrial Arts Workshop, Carnegie Library of Hazelwood, Hazelwood Family Center, JADA House International, Hazelwood Initiative Inc., Community Kitchen and Center of Life. This grounded the team in place as they start the process of generating ideas for a new public artwork.

The artist team was selected to create this artwork onsite at the new University of Pittsburgh BioForge facility on Hazelwood Green. It sits at the intersection of Beehive and Blair streets. BioForge is a state-of-the-art biomanufacturing facility in the late stages of completion. A stretch of land between Blair Street and the new building has been identified as the artwork location. This site will be a beacon for building users and the Hazelwood community.

Artist selection process

A selection panel of neighborhood residents and University of Pittsburgh staff picked finalists from a pool of artists interested in the project. The finalists talked about how they make art during a public meeting at JADA House International in September. Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Simon and Mr. Long were commissioned and are in the first step of the design process: getting to know Hazelwood.

The consultant team of Jennifer McGregor, Renee Piechocki, Hazelwood’s Arts Excursions Unlimited director Edith Abeyta and Laura McDermit are working with the artists from selection to installation. The project is anticipated to be completed in late 2027.

As the design develops and the artwork takes shape over the next two years, the project team will keep neighborhood residents updated. This will happen through meet-the-artists opportunities, community meetings and communication through Hazelwood organizations.

Meet the artists

All three of the artists are Pittsburgh-based and are excited to learn more about Hazelwood through the project.

Jaime Guerrero is a distinguished Mexican American sculptor based in Pittsburgh. His primary medium is glass, though he also works with a variety of materials. Born in Los Angeles into a predominantly Latino, working-class community, Mr. Guerrero’s early life experiences have profoundly shaped his views on race, identity and social equity. These are core themes that continue to influence his work today.

Mr. Guerrero began his artistic journey at the California College of the Arts in northern California. There, he developed a strong connection to art installations and sculpture. An exceptional glass sculptor, he has studied with renowned Italian glass masters, including Pino Signoretto and Checco Ongaro. While glass remains central to his practice, Mr. Guerrero has also created large-scale installations using mixed media, with his work exhibited in museums and art spaces across the United States.

His art is deeply personal and politically resonant, engaging with issues of cultural identity, systemic injustice and resilience. Mr. Guerrero is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Saxe Fellowship Award for artistic excellence, and his 2019 solo exhibition at the Pittsburgh Glass Center was named one of the top ten exhibitions in Western Pennsylvania by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

At the core of Mr. Guerrero’s practice is his commitment to community engagement. He has worked directly with the communities he collaborates with. This has included Black and indigenous youth in Watts, Los Angeles, and underserved groups in McKeesport, Hazelwood and the greater Pittsburgh area. Mr. Guerrero believes that community work and art-making are inseparable, using his craft and his local glassblowing facility as a powerful platform for connection, education and empowerment.

James Simon’s sculptures and mosaics can be found worldwide including Vallauris, France, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Pirogovsky, Russia, as well as large-scale works in various cities in the United States.

Educated in the early ’80s in the art of violin-making in a private apprenticeship in Manchester, England, with David Vernon, and Oxford, England, with Andrew Dipper, Mr. Simon is known for his dramatic large-scale works such as the Liberty Avenue Musicians in downtown Pittsburgh, the Renaissance Man in Vallauris, France, and the Perry Harvey gateway sculptures, in Tampa, Florida. He works in a variety of mediums, including ceramic, concrete, bronze, glass and marble.

Mr. Simon’s studios are based in Pittsburgh. He has been at the forefront of revitalizing Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood. Since 1998, when he returned to live in his hometown, Mr. Simon has worked to bring change through the beauty and joy of art.

Rob Long is a professional artist and principal of Clear Story, a Pittsburgh-based design and consulting firm he founded in 2007. His creative practice bridges the disciplines of architecture, theater and fine art, working with light and technology to create dynamic and memorable experiences. His photographs are held in private and institutional collections.

Mr. Long’s abstract photography practice exists at the intersection of his work as an artist and architectural lighting designer. Observing light in the public realm, exploring movement and timing, gesture and line, color and form, he situates himself in spaces that feel sacred and quiet, where the light is layered and the contours of the landscape pronounced. Seeking compositions of surfaces, reflections and points of light, and using in-camera techniques to manipulate light and elements of the scene, the images in this body of work are alchemical experiments of chance and intentionality, rooted in a clear vision of possibility.

Laura McDermit is a public art consultant whose hometown is Pittsburgh. She is part of the team assisting with the University of Pittsburgh public art commissions.