Fresh A.I.R. (Art in Recovery) Festival
Atithi Studios & Ketchup City Creative
September 26-28th, 2025
Artist Bios and Artwork Descriptions
Artists are listed in alphabetical order by last name/initial except when anonymous or only one name is used. The gallery location, i.e., Atithi Studios (Atithi) or Ketchup City Creative (KCC), appears to the right of each title.
Anonymous
Shaler Township, PA
Although I remain anonymous, I share my story of recovery through my creativity, using the colors of the recovery awareness ribbon.
Bilger, Paul "Par"
Hazelwood, Pittsburgh, PA
Bombassaro, Jessica
Pittsburgh, PA
Jessica Bombassaro is the Assistant Operations Director at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, where she brings a strong background in organizational leadership and logistics. A Pittsburgh native, Jessica earned dual bachelor's degrees in Criminology and Sociology before spending a decade in New York City building her career and broadening her perspective. Recently embracing sobriety, she is navigating a meaningful new chapter focused on purpose and service. With a longstanding commitment to philanthropy, Jessica is proud to join Teetotal Initiative’s board as Recording Secretary and looks forward to giving back to the community in impactful ways.
Booker, Molly
Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Piece # 015
To Hell and Back...One Day at a Time
Creative Nonfiction
To Hell and Back…One Day at a Time is a raw, deeply personal story of Molly Booker’s battle with addiction, the night she nearly lost her life, and the long path to sobriety. Through honesty and vulnerability, it captures both the pain of self-abandonment and the healing power of finding connection, community, and love.
Boose, Kenneth
Ingram, Pittsburgh, PA
Kenneth Boose is a Pittsburgh-based visual artist working in drawing, diamond art, and colored pencil pieces. His art is defined by patience, precision, and deep attention to shading and detail—skills he first began developing while incarcerated. What began as a way to pass time became a source of discipline, expression, and ultimately transformation. Today, Kenneth’s art reflects both his creative vision and his personal journey of recovery from drugs and alcohol. Each piece carries the spirit of resilience and renewal, offering viewers a glimpse into the healing power of art.
Broom, Brian
Pittsburgh, PA
Brian Broome is memoirist, poet, and screenwriter from Ohio. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Chatham University and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Brian’s debut memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, is an NYT Editor’s Pick and the winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction. He is also a former columnist at The Washington Post. His work has also appeared in Hippocampus, Poets and Writers, Medium, and more. Brian was a K. Leroy Irvis Fellow and an instructor in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh.
He has been a finalist in The Moth storytelling competition and won the grand prize in Carnegie Mellon University’s Martin Luther King Writing Awards. Brian also won a VANN Award from the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation for journalism in 2019. And finally, his film, Garbage, won the Audience Choice Award at the Cortada Short Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in the Portland Short Fest.
Piece # 105
Mutiny
Live reading during festival Literary Session, 9/28/25 at 1pm, Atithi Studios
Brock-Reed, Amy
Pittsburgh, PA
So much of what has held my early early sobriety together has been relationships with incredible sober women and long walks in Pittsburgh's City Parks. Photos shot with a Kodak half-frame 35mm camera. B&W Ilford HP5 Film.
Broyles, Lauren
O'Hara, PA
Lauren Broyles is a hand-cut collage artist, founder of the Pittsburgh Collage Collective, and Director of Creative Arts Programming for Teetotal Initiative. In her collage work, she uses a variety of papers and images but is especially drawn to vintage ephemera and retro advertisements from the early 1900s to 1960s. She also enjoys nature and botanical crafting and upcycling diverse materials. A former addiction researcher, nurse, and woman in long-term recovery, Lauren looks for ways to tap into the creativity than can help heal people and communities, as well as share stories that help break down stigma and stereotypes. (Instagram: @Soraya_and_Daisy)
Burmeister, Tricia
Pittsburgh, PA
Tricia Burmeister is a collage artist and painter whose work explores human psychology, our relationship with the natural world, and the interaction of chaos and control. Reuse and recycling is central to her artistic practice: by recontextualizing discarded objects and old images, she hopes to emphasize the importance of history and memory in imagining creative possibilities for the future.
Wheeling, WV
Cianelli, Christy (They/Their/Them)
As an educator, mother of four daughters, and now two granddaughters, as a lifelong learner, I have learned I can do hard things, such as art. Making collages has been my top go to on this healing journey of recovery from so many things. Art has helped me to translate and inspire others to heal with me. I recently decided to earn a doctorate in education. This opportunity will allow me to integrate art therapy and expand on mental health programs available for First Responders and especially their families.
Pieces that were collected from new beginnings. Each piece is tied to the first purchases since August 3rd when my family's house burned down.
Collins, Zoe
Sharpsburg, PA
Dailey, Shannon
Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA
Shannon is a mixed media artist, filmmaker, and arts educator. In these pieces she uses collage and the Cut-Up method, to assemble fragmented narratives into visceral, provocative compositions
Dodds, Shawnelle
Mon Valley, PA
Shawnelle Dodds has loved all forms of art since she was a child. After receiving her degree in graphic design, she moved on to become a professional caricaturist artist, currently of 30 years. She has a love for photography but has chosen to keep it mostly as a hobby and has taken photos in five countries.
Duryea, Denise
Wilkinsburg, PA
Denise Duryea is a daydreamer, ponderous and enthralled by the world. Her goal in creation is sharing a moment, a concept, an idea, or an emotion with the viewer. She aims to create pieces that are full of emotion, magic, wonder and color. Denise works in photographic collage, ink, charcoal and encaustic.
Green Tree, PA
Earley, Kim Cardiel
Kim is a recovering alcoholic with over 6 years sobriety. She has walked many paths in this one life and spent many years walking down the path of a song lyricist and entertainer. She is still entertaining but now adding the element of healing and self love to her performances. She’s excited to be writing again and expressing herself with a sober mind.
Piece # 101
So This is Love
Poetry
A love affair with alcohol
Live reading during festival Literary Session, 9/28/25 at 1pm, Atithi Studios
Force, Lisa
Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Granito, Julia
Sharpsburg, PA
Julia Granito is an artist interested in figurative subjects. She works as a scientist and has a studio practice in Sharpsburg focusing on photography, drawing, and painting.
Gwen
Pittsburgh, PA
Gwen is a Pittsburgh-based artist self-described as Modernwatercolorist. She does abstract paintings generously described as landscapes that are heavily influenced by Fauvism, Surrealism & Abstract Expressionism. Her process allows for multilayered stories delivered through incredible colors & forms.
Harder, Kyle
Sharpsburg, PA
Hicks, David
Mount Washington, Pittsburgh, PA
David Hicks holds a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He traditionally paints with oils on canvas but has recently incorporated pastel drawing into his grid paintings. David also freelances as a photo editor and art director for national print and digital publications. He also enjoys repurposing vintage jewelry and sells his pieces at local shops and pop-up markets.
Hampton, Allison Park, PA
Hyre, Matthew D'Antonio
(AKA "TK Kavi")
Mathew D’Antonio Hyre, aka "TK Kavi," is a Multimedia Artist / Singer Songwriter known for his large scale digital art installations. The message behind all of TK’s creations is one of recovery and hope in the face of mental disorders, addiction, and heartbreak. On his mother's death bed, her final words to him were, "If you stay on the right path, you will accomplish great things." If one single person is touched by these works in a way that helps them get through hard times, or take a step in the right direction, then he has reached his definition of success.
Murrysville, PA
Johnson, Lindsay
My clean date is February 13, 2025. This is the first time I have had 7 months clean in my entire life. I have been an addict since I was 12 years old.
Pittsburgh, PA
Kirby, Quinn (They/Them)
Quinn Kirby (they/them) is a Pittsburgh transplant from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kirby uses digital and film photography to ground themselves, be mindful of the spaces they are in, and to build their visual gratitude journal. They are particularly drawn to the work of Tyler Thrasher, John Yuyi, Alok Vaid-Menon, and the photography curated by Aint-Bad Mag.
LaRusch, Jessica
Pittsburgh, PA
In my youth I turned to functional creativity in times of stress. I used pottery to help me through school like others used yoga or smoking and I would give away my pieces as gifts of joy. Clay teaches transformation, patience, wisdom, and community.
Lawrence, Erin
Brighton Heights, Pittsburgh, PA
Erin is a mixed media artist residing in Brighton Heights, Pittsburgh PA. She is a member of the Pittsburgh Collage Collective and credits recovery with the life she loves today.
Lee, Julia
Friendship, Pittsburgh, PA
Julia Lee is a multidisciplinary artist and social worker in Pittsburgh, PA. Her work encompasses a variety of mediums including collage, film photography, linocut, watercolor and acrylic painting. She considers herself to be in reciprocity with the materials she uses and allows them to guide her as she thinks about her relationship with time, memory, color and emotion. The act of creation has been an anchor, and one of the greatest gifts, of her sobriety.
Leon, Louis J., II
Penn Hills, Pittsburgh, PA
Louis Leon is a storyteller shaped by struggle, exploring the beauty that blooms after breakdown. Their work is a testament to resilience. Drawing from personal recovery, Louis crafts narratives that speak to the strength it takes to start over, again and again. His words trace the long arc of becoming—through grief, through grace, through the slow alchemy of healing. Once broken, now blooming, he gathers the fragments of his past and spins them into stories that ache, burn, and ultimately—breathe. His work is a lantern for the lost, a whispered reminder that even the shattered can shine.
Piece # 066
Memoirs of an Addict
Poetry
This piece expresses my struggle during the early stages of sobriety. Live reading during festival Literary Session, 9/28/25 at 1pm, Atithi Studios
Piece # 067
Self Titled
Spoken word
Trying to portray the feelings of worthlessness that ultimately led to finding accountability and sense of self. Live reading during festival Literary Session, 9/28/25 at 1pm, Atithi Studios
Piece # 068
When I'm Gone
Spoken word
A motivational piece transcending the lows of withdrawal depression to the heights of sobriety. Live reading during festival Literary Session, 9/28/25 at 1pm, Atithi Studios
Lilja, Patricia
Pittsburgh, PA
My love for mosaics began many years ago when I was desperate to get sober. I felt like a raw, exposed nerve without alcohol or drugs in early sobriety. In addition to recovery practices, I needed to do something with myself and began creating a mosaic on the side of my house. It provided some safety, purpose, and joy while I was learning to live sober by keeping my mind and hands busy. That gift of desperation turned into my now regular practice of the art of mosaics, which I have been enjoying and refining for many years. It’s been such a blessing in my own life and sober journey and I’m grateful to be able to share it today with others and give back.
