Wind down from the holiday season with these free art shows

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season leaves little time to catch all the new gallery and museum exhibitions opening around Pittsburgh. Once presents are opened, cookies are eaten, and families are visited, wind down with these group art shows before they close. And because this season tends to leave people strapped for cash, Pittsburgh City Paper recommends two free shows to close out the year. Your eyes and bank account will thank you.

HyperLocal at Assemble. December 2018 through January 2019. 4824 Penn Ave., Garfield. Free. assemblepgh.org

Since 2011, the nonprofit arts and technology community space Assemble has provided a place for people to explore their creative and innovative sides through a variety of free or low-cost programs. To ensure its commitment to the surrounding neighborhoods, Assemble created HyperLocal, an annual show featuring work by artists and makers who reside within ten blocks of its location, in Bloomfield, Garfield, Friendship, and East Liberty.

Started in early December, the latest event will hold another opening on Jan. 4 to introduce arts lovers to people of all ages in Pittsburgh. To make it equitable, the show has a free, open submission process, and they accept pieces representing a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and jewelry, as well as zines and digital art.

The only major requirement is that all work be acceptable for young eyes to see, as Assemble often hosts programming designed for K-12 youth. (So, yes, HyperLocal is kid-friendly.)

Ten Futures at 937 Gallery. Continues through Feb. 24. 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. trustarts.org

The New Year, with its resolutions and other forward-looking traditions, causes people to consider the future, whether it’s the coming year, the coming decade, or a more distant time. Such is the case with Ten Futures at 937 Gallery, an exhibition presented by Wood Street Galleries and The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Curated by Fred Blauth and Dave Zak, the multimedia group show operates on a theme described in a Facebook post as “perched between the science fiction genre and the futures unfolding around us in real time.” The displayed work questions whether or not the scientists and engineers driving technology are designing software and devices with people of color, queer and non-binary people, and other groups in mind. 

For Ten Futures, Pittsburgh-based artists representing a wide range of media try to “make sense of, escape from, and question their own 21st-century realities and the futures they hold.” Among them are fashion designer Elaine Healy, Japanese-American sculptor and conceptual installation artist Shohei Katayama, and Celeste Neuhaus, a self-described interdisciplinary artist, educator, and witch. It will also feature a video game designed by duo Everest Pipkin and Loren Schmidt, and selections from zine and comics illustrator Paul Peng.

Also included are works by Summer Jade Leavitt, Adam Milner, Maybe Jairan Sadeghi, Centa Schumacher, and Bradley Weyandt.