Mary Briggs
BENEVOLENT DICTATOR
A native of Westmoreland County, PA, Mary Briggs returned to the area in 2013 from Arlington, Virginia where she worked as an artist, a fiddler, and an arts manager at Arlington Cultural Affairs where, beginning in 1989, she managed services to artists and developed programs to support folk and traditional arts for Arlington’s diverse population. After moving to Pennsylvania, she worked for Folk Arts, PA, then an office under the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and was on the faculty at Goucher College in Towson, MD as an adjunct lecturer before joining forces with Jen Costello to create You Are Here: a place for art in Jeannette.
Dawn Wallhausen
OFFICIAL ART PERSON
As a child growing up in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Dawn Wallhausen spent hours each day drawing, and she spent many a Saturday studying the art and natural history sections of the Carnegie Museum. In her preteen years, a family friend who made specialty lab glassware for a living made a blown-glass ornament for Dawn for Christmas, igniting a life-long fascination with the medium. Dawn spends most of her artistic energies making stained-glass mosaics and lamp-worked glass beads, but she uses that love of drawing to make her own mosaic patterns and her appreciation for the natural world often shows up in her designs. Dawn also works as an editor, having graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BA in literary theory.
Natalie Condrac
Curator, Exhibition Designer, our Inspiration
Natalie Condrac is a mixed media artist living near Monroeville, PA. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Painting and Drawing, however has since spent her time transitioning into three dimensional work. Her primary focus involves the creation of complex miniatures that celebrate attention to detail and hidden narratives. Natalie enjoys using different materials for her work from our Oh, Scrap! shop in both her collages and her miniatures.
Richard “Dick” Nagle
LEAN ON ME Cane Project
Jen Costello
SHAMAN
Childhood cancer and its aftermath led Jen Costello to study and practice psychology, then, ultimately, to art. She found that the prescribed medical canes made her feel self-conscious and depressed. It was then that she began to design and carve her own canes, using recycled and repurposed materials whenever possible to create functional and spirited art works. Thus, not only was the Lean On Me Project born, but so was Jen’s career as a 3D artist who addresses personal as well as cultural issues in her work. In 2018 she and Mary Briggs joined together to create You Are Here.
Adrianne Weaver
OH, SCRAP! Goddess, AND SO MUCH MORE!
Bio coming!
McKenna Kulkusky
Art Therapy /Lean On Me Project
McKenna Kulkusky is a Seton Hill University Art Therapy senior intern who created the YAH wellness-based art groups for those in our community who are looking to get creative. Through guided art-making, she is bringing people together for “conversation, friendship, and self-expression."
McKenna was the inspiration for YAH to expand ihe Lean On Me project to include wellness-based arts along with canes. The are so many ways we all lean on one another!
McKenzie Dalicandro
Intern
Kenz comes to us from the Art Department at Seton Hill University and assists with whatever we throw at her from arts administration to mural painting and everything in between.
Volunteer at You Are Here!
Assist in Oh, Scrap! by organizing donations, pricing items, stocking the shelves, keeping the place neat at tidy.
Become a YAH Ambassador (staff YAH booth/table at community festivals and events; develop make-and-take craft projects suitable for community festivals; assemble project kits; teach other volunteers how to workshop the crafts at the events, assist at special events at the gallery)
Benefits: Free programs such as artist talks and workshops; free shopping days at Oh, Scrap!; discounts on art purchases; LOTS OF LOVE!
Qualifications: at least 18 years of age; interest in art; willingness to commit; good working with public; willingness to share ideas and opinions.