The 112th Annual Exhibition, Near Here, will span a network of university galleries throughout western Pennsylvania, each situated within or near the broader cultural orbit of Pittsburgh: Media Arts Gallery at Robert Morris University, Martha Gault Gallery at Slippery Rock University, Kipp Gallery at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Harlan and Jodee Harris Galleries at Seton Hill University. The exhibition invites artists to consider what it means to be near and the conditions through which nearness is formed. The exhibition approaches nearness as malleable, relative, and negotiated through bodies, objects, environments, and geographies.
Jurying for the 112th Annual Exhibition will open on May 25, 2026.
Meet the Juror: Allison Lacher
Allison Lacher is a curator, visual artist, and arts administrator whose work operates across institutional and independent contexts. She serves as Director of the Visual Arts Gallery at the University of Illinois Springfield, where she leads a contemporary art program committed to ambitious, artist-centered exhibitions and public engagement. She is also Co-Director of STNDRD Exhibitions, an independent platform for site-responsive contemporary art that invites artists to approach architecture, industrial history, and surrounding landscapes as conditions that guide new work.
Lacher has curated exhibitions and public projects with institutions and organizations that include the Illinois State Museum, Chicago Artists Coalition, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, and Kidzeum: Children’s Museum of Health and Science. She co-organized three iterations of the Terrain Biennial: Outpost at Enos Park, a dispersed public art exhibition presenting site-specific work across homes, yards, and public spaces throughout Springfield’s historic Lincoln-era Enos Park neighborhood. A longstanding commitment to artist-run and alternative exhibition models is reflected in her role as co-founder of DEMO Project and Monaco, both artist-led exhibition platforms, as well as her continued investment in collaborative and experimental exhibition frameworks.
As an artist, Lacher’s work has been exhibited nationally in museums, galleries, and artist-run spaces. She is a two-time recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award and has been awarded residencies with Ox-Bow, Vermont Studio Center, ACRE, Signal Fire, the Ellis Beauregard Foundation, The Luminary, and Pedantic Arts Residency in her hometown of Pittsburgh. She has been a visiting artist and curator at institutions that include the NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Washington University in St. Louis. Her work and curatorial projects have been featured in Newcity Art, New Art Examiner, Sixty Inches from Center, NPR Illinois, and From Here to There (Princeton Architectural Press). She holds an MFA from Indiana University.
ABOUT THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual Exhibition is one of the nation's longest-running juried exhibitions. Established to celebrate and highlight the diverse creative talents within the region, the first Annual Exhibition opened in 1910 at the Grand Old Opera House in downtown Pittsburgh. Over the years, the Annual has been hosted at esteemed art institutions such as the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Andy Warhol Museum, the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, and The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Moreover, throughout its history, the Annual Exhibition has showcased numerous Pittsburgh artists who have achieved both national and international acclaim, including Mary Cassatt, Henry Osawa Tanner, Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, Mel Bochner, Henry Koerner, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, and Thaddeus Mosley. The Annual Exhibition is a juried show that welcomes artists over the age of 18 residing in or maintaining a studio within a 150-mile radius of Pittsburgh.
111TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 111th Annual Exhibition opened February 20, 2025 at the Erie Art Museum. Under the curatorial direction of jurors Laura Domencic and Melanie Yugo, the 111th featured 74 works of art by 60 artists. The 111th will be a first for the organization: the first anuual hosted by the Erie Art Museum. The 111th Annual closed o December 14, 2025.
110TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 110th Annual Exhibition opened September 2024 at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s SPACE Gallery. Visit https://www.aapgh.org/110 for more information.
109TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 109th Annual Exhibition opened on July 29, 2023 at the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Miller ICA Director Elizabeth Chodos served as juror. The exhibition featured AAP artists alongside a small group of invited national and international artists. The 109th closed on September 3, 2023. A catalog is available at the AAP office.
108TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 108th Annual Exhibition was held in two locations: the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and the Detective Building in East Liberty. The work was on view from November 2021 – January 2022. The 108th was juried and curated by Wendy Given and Ben Owen. For more information & images from both venues, click the button below.
107TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 107th Annual Exhibition opened on November 10, 2019 at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and Seton Hill University. Juana Williams of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts served as juror for the 107th Annual Exhibition, and the exhibition featured the work of 53 artists. To learn more about the 107th, click on the button below.
106TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh held the 106th Annual Exhibition at 2708 Sidney Street in the Southside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The exhibition was juried by the University of Maryland Art Gallery Director Taras Matla. For more information about the exhibition, click on the button below.
105TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
The 105th Annual Exhibition opened May 14, 2016 at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Independent curator Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer served as juror. To learn more, click the button below.