More cats and dogs The Warhol and Animal Friends will offer workshops for elementary and middle school students and teachers beginning March 8 from 10 a.m. to noon. For further information, call the Animal Friends’ education department at 412-847-7033. The workshops “will teach art and responsible pet care through Andy Warhol’s love of animals,” according to the museum’s news release. Lessons and other online resources will be available at www.warhol.org .
Anyone interested in adopting a pet from Animal Friends may call 412-847-7002 or visit thinkingoutsidethecage.org . The dog that Warhol called “Cecil” is the most famous animal in the artist’s collection of taxidermy. Inspired by Warhol’s love of animals, the “Canis Major” exhibition features photographs, paintings, screen prints, drawings and videos of animals, including his pets.
The homeless animals housed in the Animal Friends shelter in Ohio Township also are getting the 15 minutes of fame that Warhol predicted everyone will achieve. A scruffy dog named Peggy Sue, a cat named Patience and a rabbit named Evelyn have had their portraits painted in Warhol’s signature style. They’re displayed on a wall outside the museum’s coffee shop.
Visitors can print their own portraits of the Animal Friends animals at workshops in the Warhol’s Weekend Factory Program on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. “I never met a pet I didn’t like,” Warhol once wrote. Growing up in McKeesport, he had many pets, according to museum spokesman Rick Armstrong, including a dog named Lucy. His factory had resident cats named Black Lace and White Pussy, and he had more than a dozen Siamese cats over the course of his life.