Pathways are the central theme of the Coal and Franklin Street garden installation, as are some of Pletsch favorite trademark plants. Perilla, a self-seeding annual with maroon leaves, is prominent throughout the garden. "I use it as a background, an under-painting. It fill the space while the perennials get established," says Pletsch. He goes on to explain, "This garden will take several years to make-and even then it will keep changing. That is the nature of the garden. It's dynamic. It's never the same. And there's always a surprise. That's what I love most."

Gary Pletsch

Wilkinsburg resident Gary Pletsch is a professional production potter and partner in Penn Avenue Pottery in the Strip District. For many years he taught and managed the ceramic studio for the Carnegie Museum's art education program. Pletsch is known for his intricately carved patterns on wheel-thrown stoneware.

Over the past decade, Pletsch has become an obsessive gardener and has often opened his home and garden to public viewing. In 1997, he created Broken Windmill, an installation involving a cornfield planted in his second floor apartment. In 2000, Sequoia--a maze of plants, garden torches and littered paper--took over his and his next-door-neighbor's backyards. This past summer he protested the plans for the Mon Valley expressway with the performative installation Tollroad, which featured the pouring of a concrete path, symbolic of the highway, through his garden.