Eligibility Requirements: Open to individual artists or teams with a minimum of 3 years' experience in large-scale outdoor murals, particularly in Black communities. Applicants should demonstrate:

• Strong community engagement and collaboration skills

• A deep respect for the Hill District's history and values

• The ability to work within the neighborhood context

Selection Criteria:

• Artistic vision and ability to incorporate community input

• Experience with community engagement and large-scale projects

• Proven success in completing projects on time and within budget

• Technical proficiency and a strong portfolio related to public art

Timeline:

• February 1 – Application opens

• March 14 – Application closes

• March 17–28 – Panel Review Deadline

• March/April – Virtual Panel Review Session to confirm 3 finalists

• April 7–18 – Community voting to select one final artist

• April 25 – Final artist announced publicly

• May–July – Community-led workshops to develop the mural design

• June – Mural production begins

• October – Mural painting completed

• November – Public mural unveiling

Panelists

A panel of eight public art experts will review applications identifying 3 finalists. Immediately following, community voting will determine the final artist from the 3 finalists, with votes cast in-person at 752 Clarissa and virtually.

*based in Pittsburgh.

The 2025 Clarissa Project Panelists include:

Naomi Chambers*
Naomi Chambers lives, works and loves in Pittsburgh, Pa. She owes her art practice to witnessing the public art growing up around her. Public art is integral to nourishing our societal spirit and community.

Abigail DeVille

Maintaining a long-standing interest in marginalized people and places, Abigail DeVille creates site-specific immersive installations to bring attention to forgotten stories. For example, she built a sculpture on the site of a former African American burial ground in Harlem. DeVille described her process: “In my research, I have found that the first Blacks brought to New York City were eleven Angolans in 1626. Unfortunately, history has erased the contributions and victories of this group. I want to make something that could honor their lives and question what it means to be a New Yorker, past, present, and future.”

Davita Galloway

Davita Galloway is a Black Girl, an Aquarius and Creative Entrepreneur. She attended The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Parsons The New School for Design in New York, as well as Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Davita is the CEO of DUPP&SWAT, an entity with several arms that include: an events venue, retail boutique, as well as a barber/beauty parlor. She is also the Executive Director of CrownKeepers (an arts-based nonprofit) and the Chief Activations Officer of creative agency, Hue House.

Max Gonzales*

Max Emiliano Gonzales, also known by their artist name “GEMS”, can be classified as an activist, art educator, muralist, graffiti writer, curator, and much more. Originally from the Southwest side of Chicago and raised in Latino communities, Max brings a unique perspective to Pittsburgh and their Garfield community. Lately, Max has become most well known for their spray paint Murals and community-driven Mural events. As a full-time muralist, Max wishes to use their identity and vast knowledge of the arts to serve the public and brighten the walls of any community they may be invited into.

Dr. Fahamu Pécou

Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar whose works combine observations on hip-hop, fine art, and popular culture to address concerns around contemporary representations of Black men. Through paintings, performance art, and academic work, Dr. Pecou confronts the social construct of Black masculinity and Black identity, challenging and expanding the reading, performance, and expressions of Blackness. Dr. Fahamu Pecou received his BFA at the Atlanta College of Art in 1997 and a M. A. and Ph.D. from Emory University in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Jameelah Platt*

Jameelah Platt is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in painting, collage, and filmmaking, inspired by Black American culture, history, and storytelling. Based in Pittsburgh, she has exhibited locally and nationally. Her work explores themes of luxury, community, spirituality, and ancestry, using color, light, and composition to craft compelling narratives. Jameelah is expanding her practice to include stained glass and neon, further highlighting the beauty and depth of Black American life and experiences.

Njaimeh Njie*

Njaimeh Njie is a multimedia artist. Working across photography, film, collage, installation, and public art, her storytelling practice centers everyday people, narratives, and landscapes with a focus on how the past shapes the present. She has worked extensively with communities throughout the Pittsburgh region to share stories in the public realm about the intersections of people, place, and identity. Njie has exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art and the Mattress Factory, and she has presented at spaces including TEDxPittsburghWomen and Harvard University. Njie earned her B.A. in Film and Media Studies in 2010 from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ashley Teamer

Ashley Teamer’s collages and sculptures explore the relationships between the body, nature, space, and time. As a visual artist and DJ, she uses sound to creatively intervene with indoor and outdoor architecture, revealing the malleability of our built environment. Teamer’s most recent public work, Tambourine Cypress is a playable tree with tambourine branches in Lemann Park, New Orleans, LA. Teamer received her MFA from Yale University in 2022. She has had solo exhibitions at Siena Heights University, Adrian, MI and 4th Ward Project Space, Chicago, IL. Teamer’s work was recently included in Get in the Game at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA and Prospect 6 the future is present, the harbinger is home in New Orleans, LA. Ashley is currently an Assistant Professor in Fine Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology.