Ever since I first learned about Rachel Sager’s project with the abandoned coal mine she discovered she was the proud owner of, I definitely wanted to be a part of it. Over the next seven years I answered her original call to be a contributing artist. As she is located in Western Pennsylvania, it took me all this time to craft a plan to go all the way there from Oregon.
This was the year! We had banked travel dollars with Alaska that we had to use or lose. So early this year we made our plan. Traveling from Redmond, Oregon to Pittsburgh has to go through Seattle, so we decided to make the travel days easier and stop in Seattle. We spent four nights there, and had great visits with two sets of friends who live in Washington. Then our travel day to Pittsburgh was one easy flight.
To fill our week in Pittsburgh, we planned several things. We scheduled the trip for this specific time frame because the San Francisco Giants would be in town for a series against the Pirates. Mid-July is perhaps not the ideal time to visit, when one is not used to humidity, but we just sucked it up and enjoyed ourselves! Our Airbnb apartment was air conditioned and a comfortable, newly remodeled accommodation, so we hung out there a lot. But took plenty of time to wander around the town. We rented a car for two days so we could get out to Whitsett for Rachel and The Ruins, and the following day drove out in the country again to see two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces: Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob. The western PA countryside is beautiful!
But back to the reason for this blog post. Mosaics, and my connection to an abandoned coal mine in western Pennsylvania. I’ve known Rachel Sager professionally for many years. Through SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) we met, both in the nascent stages of our journey to become mosaicists. Her journey with the project and her career is well documented Sager Mosaics/The Ruins Project) Here, in pictures and some words, is my first in-person visit. At the end of the photo story, there is a link to the conversation Rachel and I had for her podcast. I was super honored to have her ask if I wanted to do an episode!
But first, photos of our tour through The Ruins!
(if you don’t see captions, swipe on the photo, or if on mobile device, touch the photo, then the dot on bottom right)
After our tour, I sat down with Rachel for a conversation. She has a podcast on Substack where she’s been interviewing artists and locals, people who come from coal, for fascinating conversations since last November. I was honored that she asked me early on if I’d chat with her for a podcast. We arranged it for me to do it in person when we made this visit. I was fairly nervous about it for weeks in advance, but in the end, it was a lovely experience. It was great for me to be there in person. It’s been years since we’ve been in the same room together. Here is the conversation:
The Ruins Podcast