Site-specific and integrated art
2-D art, including murals, mosaic, photography, etc.
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Janel Young
JY Originals
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Murals
Painting/works on paper/printmaking
Site-specificity determines materials used
Second + Seven, 2023, acrylic on brick, 3,500 sq. ft. Photo by Vince Dalton.
Avalanche, 2020, digital illustration
Pathway to Joy, 2021, acrylic and sand additive on asphalt, 15,000 sq. ft, photo by Renee Rosensteel
Heroes on the Horizon, 2021, acrylic on alumalite panels, LED lights, vinyl, 10′ x 16′ each, photo by Vince Dalton
Home Court Advantage Project, 2019, sports surfacer and acrylic on asphalt, 4,500 sq. ft, photo by Lindsay Hayes
About the Artist
Janel Young is a Pittsburgh native and traveling artist. She is a painter, muralist and community leader on a mission to inspire through creativity and play.
Prior to pursuing art full-time, Janel attended Schenley High School in Pittsburgh, PA as an International Baccalaureate student athlete, and went on to study Business Marketing and International Studies at Penn State University as a Bunton-Waller Fellow.
A year after practicing art full-time in NYC, Janel’s passions brought her back to Pennsylvania to install the city’s first art basketball court: The Home Court Advantage Project in Beltzhoover. The City of Pittsburgh awarded Janel a proclamation for her community-centered effort to wrap the city in color. On the anniversary the following year (2020), Janel established the JY Originals Scholarship for Creatives – an annual $1,000 award for a young adult pursuing the arts.
Young’s approach to her work is two-fold: emotionally emerging into societal issues, or creating a visual escape from current realities. This includes taking a critical look at the Black American experience and confronting society’s views on what is “acceptable” and propelled in the sense of conventional beauty and love. Art has the power to simplify life, if even for a moment, to give the necessary space and peace to decompress, unravel and heal. Her art is a form of activism and representation, where the rebellious end goal is to create from a place of joy.
Notable commissions and awards from Young include the city-awarded 2019 proclamation “Janel Young Day,” the 2020 U.S. Open Tennis Tournament canvas work “Be Open To…,” nationally acknowledged digital piece “Avalanche,” Yahoo!’s first Black History Month logo redesign in 2021, Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2021 Person of the Year for Visual Arts, and the Artist in Residence at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in 2022.
Photo by Greg Toumey
Web
Accreditations, Certifications, and/or Awards
- Pittsburgh Public Art Commission (Mayor appointed in 2020);
- Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award Finalist, 2021;
- (Pittsburgh) Person of the Year in Visual Arts, 2021
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
Yes
Teaching Artist
Yes, ages 8 and up
Joined the Directory
March 2022
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“My integrated asphalt mural, "Pathway to Joy," was the first Creative Corps project, setting the stage for the Allegheny Overlook pop-up park. Working on this project was a growing experience, a fun challenge, and beautifully fulfilling for me and my team.”
Janel Young
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
