CV
Rell Rushin
Multi-Media Artist | Maker
EXPERIENCE
Harambee Black Arts Festival, PGH — art handler
August 2018
Assisted in the installation and breakdown of the festival’s first pop up art exhibition, which featured work from local artists and the Braddock Carnegie Library art archives.
CMU staff picnic, Staff Art Exhibition, PGH -Co founder
May 2018
Conceptualized the idea for an art exhibition for staff members who were ineligible to participate in the university’s faculty show.
CO founded, curated, and coordinated the first pop up art show showcasing the artwork of 15 Carnegie Mellon staff members. Co-founded and coordinated with Krista Campbell, operated with the help of Carol Hernandez and the CMU staff picnic council.
RESIDENCY | PROGRAMS
Nafasi Artist Residency 2023 - 2025
PGH Office of Public Art, Public Art and Communities Program Artist in collaboration with FroGang, June 2021 - Sep 2023
CDCP + MONMADE Art Business Coaching Program 2021
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Solo Show, Reflections, StopWatch Gallery, Greensburg PA, Dec2023-Jan 2024
Solo Show, Wilkinsburg CDC Lohr gallery, Wilkinsburg PA April 23 - Jun 2022
Solo show, Don’t Forget Your Kitchens, Assemble Pgh June 2019
Solo show, Untitled, Zeke’s Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA Sep - Nov 2019
Solo Show, These Places I’m From, Braddock Carnegie Library, Braddock PA Jun - Aug 2018
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Group show, Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival 2025 Annual Juried Visual Arts Exhibition, Space gallery, Pittsburgh PA
Group show, ROUTES, The Tissue Farm, Latrobe PA, June-July 2024
Ecolution Fashion show, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh PA, June 2023, 2024
Group Show, WOV: ReSilience ReImagined, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh PA July - Aug 2023
Group Show, LAY BARE curated by Zeal Eva, Brew House, Pittsburgh PA, Feb - April 2023
Group Show, The Invisibility Collective: Thresholds of Liminality, Radian Gallery, San Francisco CA, Dec-Jan 2023
Group Show, WOV: Future Vision, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA May - June 2022
Group show, WOV Magnificent Motown with Charlotte Ka Reflections, Wilmer-Jenning gallery at Kenkeleba, NYC March - April 2022
Group show, Full Spectrum, PGH Glass Center, Pittsburgh PA February - May 2022
Group Show, WOV 40th anniversary, University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh PA October 2021 - February 2022.
Group Show, Women of Visions Magnificent Motown: Art inspired by the Music, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh PA June 2021 - January 2022.
Group Show, Face Value: Portrait show, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Museum Lab, Pittsburgh PA, June 2021 - January 2022
Group Show, Roots Run Deep: A Contemporary Survey of African American Hair Culture, Brew House Gallery, Pittsburgh PA Jan 2021-March 2021
Group Show, Seen x Unseen: The invisibility collective show, Radian Gallery, San Francisco CA, Dec 2020 - Jan 2020
Group Show, Herstory month, Braddock Carnegie LIbrary, 2020
Group Show, Collective Legacy presented by Boom Concepts, Carnegie Library main, Pittsburgh PA Dec 2019 -Jan 2020
Group show, Untitled, Pitt Community engagement center Homewood, Apr 2019
Group show, The Glow Up, Ace Hotel Pittsburgh, Nov 2018
Group Show, Untitled, FlowerHouse, Wilkinsburg PA, October 2018
Group Show, Black in the future, Cohen & Grigsby law firm, Pittsburgh PA, May- Sep 2018
Group Show, Allegheny West art show and sale, Pittsburgh PA, 2017, 2018
Showcase Noir, Pittsburgh PA 2017, 2018
Group Show, Ladies Room, Local 412 Pittsburgh 2016, 2017
Spirit Fashion Show, Carnegie Mellon University 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
AWARDS | GRANTS
2022 Heinz Endowments Creative Development Award recipient.
2025 BEST IN SHOW Dollar Bank: Three River’s Art Festival Juried Art Exhibition
MEMBERSHIPS
Origins PGH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
About
Rell Rushin is a mixed media artist born and raised in Pittsburgh. Her work is a response to daily life and happenings in international pop culture. Using paint and fiber as mediums to process, reflect on, and respond to beauty standards, Black existentialism, daydreams, and the representation of Black people in global media.
Rell’s most recent works layer portraits of past and present self and images of existing places to create dreamscapes, flattening multiple moments into one visual. The work is a reflection of the grieving process and letting go of the things we may never have while living each moment to the fullest. A collage of memories about herself throughout the timeline of life. Figures representing the idea of being the person your childhood self dreamed of, the fluidity of time, and creating an escape from the realities of adulthood and anti-Blackness in the world. An internal dialogue and endless daydream.
Rell is an Alumni of Pittsburgh CAPA, a recipient of the Heinz Creative Development Award, former member of Women of Visions Inc, and a current member of the Invisibility Collective. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums both locally and nationally including; Future Vision at Carnegie Museum of Art 2022, Women of Visions’ Magnificent Motown at Wilmer Jennings Kenkeleba NYC 2022, Face Value: Portrait Show at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Museum Lad 2021, and Roots Run Deep: A contemporary survey of African American hair culture at BrewHouse Gallery 2021.