PETRICHOR IS GOING PRINT

by Emma Riva
Cover photo by Lisa Cunningham
This article is cross-posted on the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Arts Blog

Human beings cannot survive alone. We depend on each other for food, shelter, and companionship. When I was studying fiction during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of my professors had little to say about querying agents or negotiating with editors, but instead imparted this on us: “Writing may be a craft you do alone, but the industry of writing will not survive without more collective projects.”

I moved to Pittsburgh in 2021 and kept in the back of my mind that being a writer here was not just something I was doing for myself. But when I started Petrichor in 2023, I didn’t know if anyone would care about what I was doing. I had become frustrated with the lack of opportunities for arts writing in Pittsburgh. It seemed to me like most existing infrastructure wrote only about institutions and didn’t look to emerging talents or underground elements of the scene. 

I know that I am not an insider voice on Pittsburgh. I grew up in New York, which is about as outsider as you can be, and I felt I had to proceed with care to not be perceived as the big city slicker stomping around in a community I wasn’t a stakeholder in. But I came up writing about graffiti and street art in New York for UP Magazine, so I had a model of how a magazine could be DIY, for a niche community, and knew I could also deliver a quality project. I decided I wanted to call it something unique that didn’t overly lean into local kitsch, so I landed on Petrichor (“a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather,” which felt fitting for Pittsburgh, where the air has a distinct, heavy smell and the rains are frequent.) I had my boyfriend, Pittsburgh-based artist Grant Catton, mock up a logo for me. I built a basic website and went for it. 

Since then, we’ve covered music, theatre, art, and literature all around the city. We’ve written profiles on artists of all generations and disciplines, produced critical reviews, and blended thoughtful features with op-eds and interviews with community voices. I have tried to combat some of the redundancy in arts coverage in the city by keeping an eye out for fresh angles and new perspectives.

I’ve loved writing profiles of artists who’ve gotten little other coverage like Alex Lecce, Dom Lazzini, and Jannick Wildberg, and featuring the voices of writers and critics like Tara Fay Coleman and Mingsi Ma. Some of the recent posts I’m most proud of are ones that blend criticism with personal experience, like Zara Yost’s “Centering the Mother Artist” on Flock Collective’s exhibition at the Midwife Center and Connor Sites-Bowen’s “Tiny Worlds, Scraposaurs, and the Botanic Hound” on Rosalie Haizlett’s Appalachian landscape miniatures in the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden.

Through Petrichor, I’ve made new hopefully lifelong friends like writer and photographer Zach Hunley. I know that what I produce is not as polished as a publication with more resources, but I am incredibly proud of what I have created. 

Since I started the magazine, though, I’ve wanted to tackle a print issue. I believe in holding something in your hands. My time working for both UP and TABLE Magazine highlighted how meaningful print can be. This year, I received a Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Fund grant, but also, in the spirit of collective work, what really made it happen was a collaboration. I met Geoffrey Callahan and Jeremiah Gregory of SKYPOMP, a new gallery in Downtown Pittsburgh, by chance at an art opening at Union Hall in the Strip District. SKYPOMP produces artbooks and poetry books, and Geoff told me right of the gate that he wanted to help me do print.

Though I do not want to downplay my own labor I put into Petrichor, as there is a lot of it, I want to emphasize that what ultimately moved this project forward was someone else believing in my vision. Help your friends out and gather with them. Friendship is not just for coffee catchups, drinks, or phone tag. Your friends are the people who should believe in you and uplift you. Be protective of your work and selective about your company when you need to be but know that shared resources can lift everybody up. 

My debut print issue features exclusive studio visits, critical essays, profiles, poetry, fiction, and original artwork. The issue, hopefully the first of many, will debut at SKYPOMP (301 Smithfield Street) on Saturday, July 18 from 6-10 p.m., with wine from Allora Wine Group and music by Molly Goblin, accompanied by artwork by Zach Milder of SKYPOMP. I hope to see you there.