Born in Pittsburgh to a devout Byzantine Catholic family, Andy Warhol grew up attending multiple weekly services at his local church with his mother, Julia Warhola. In the Warhola family's Carpatho-Rusyn neighborhood, life revolved around the church community, and the young artist was deeply impacted from this environment. From iconic portraits of celebrities to appropriated Renaissance masterpieces, Warhol flirted with styles and symbolism from Eastern and Western Catholic art history, carefully reframing them within the context of Pop. Using The Andy Warhol Museum's robust holdings of the artist's early works, the presentation will trace the influence of his religious roots in Pittsburgh to his Pop career in New York City. This course is inspired by the 2019 exhibition, Andy Warhol: Revelation.
Grace Marston is an arts educator at the Andy Warhol Museum. She has worked at the museum for over ten years and aspires to become the preeminent Warhol scholar of her generation. She has conducted gallery talks, tours, and workshops for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. She specializes in LGBTQ+ education, senior education, and research projects.