Pati Beachley, assistant professor of art at Seton Hill University, has recently been elected president of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) is the largest visual arts organization in the Pittsburgh region. Founded in 1910, AAP serves both artists and the community at large by hosting a wide range of exhibitions, outreach programs and educational forums. Past members of AAP include Andy Warhol, Samuel Rosenberg, John Kane, Mary Cassatt, Philip Pearlstein and Louise Pershing.

Beachley’s work is currently being shown in an exhibition at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts titled “Artists + Industry Pilot Project #1 Dielectric Solutions.” The exhibition is a collaborative installation to kick off AAP's new art and industry program.

“The program involves the pairing of AAP artists and Seton Hill art students to produce art using the industrial products produced by the company Dielectric Solutions,” says Beachley. “It will begin this March with a tour of the factory and materials sampling of fibrous strands of glass. The student/artist teams will then produce collaborative works from the industrial materials through their different stages of production.”

Dielectric Solutions is an advanced materials company specializing in light-weight glass fiber fabric, a key component of many electronics products.

The artworks resulting from the art and industry program will be exhibited on Seton Hill’s campus in October as part of the Pittsburgh 2007 “Year of Glass” celebration.