Meet The Maker Behind Iconic Pitt Public Art Pieces In The University Art Gallery’s Latest Exhibit

Take a stroll through the University's Pittsburgh campus and you're bound to see a Virgil Cantini piece. The grid of iron rods and glass suspended from the ceiling of Posvar Hall? You're walking beneath "Skyscape." The bronze, skeletal figure flanked by steel wedges on the facade of the Public Health Building? That's "Man."

But Virgil wasn't the only celebrated artist in the Cantini family. His wife, Lucille, was a notable jewelry maker, ceramist and enameler. "Earth and Ether: The Art of Lucille and Virgil Cantini," a new exhibit curated by students in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, dives into the duo's shared creative passions and explores their lasting impact. The show, on view at the University Art Gallery through Jan. 30, includes never-before-seen art uncovered by museum studies students in the Heinz History Museum's archives as well as pieces from Pitt's collection and the Cantini family.

"Lucille and Virgil were life partners, and even though they created art separately, you can see throughout both of their works themes of celestial bodies, Earth, what it means to be human, and how nature and man interact with each other," said Loghan Hawkes, a senior museum studies major who was enrolled in the spring 2025 Curatorial Development course that contributed to the exhibit.

"Earth and Ether" is both a celebration of Virgil's influence on Pitt - the University holds 13 of his public art pieces, and he founded Pitt's studio art program - and as a means to bring Lucille's art to the forefront.

"Virgil helped shape the visual appearance of the Pittsburgh campus. His time went hand in hand with Pitt becoming the entity it is today," said Sylvia Rhor, director and curator of the University Art Gallery.

"I think history has a way of prioritizing male artists, but as students discovered, Lucille was an artist in her own right and made art on the same level as Virgil," she added. "They both shaped Pittsburgh in different ways."

See the exhibit yourself through Jan. 30.