Sharmistha Ray Paints Pickleball Courts Into a Playable Public Mural at Arts Landing
The work turns recreational courts into an active civic artwork that uses sport to draw people into shared public space.
Overview
- The installation, Geometry of Play, debuted during Picklesburgh in July 2026 and remains open for public play at Arts Landing.
- Ray painted three large pickleball courts with interlocking circles, triangles and a full ROYGBIV palette so that player movement continually reshapes the composition.
- The design draws on South Asian visual traditions and historic board games like Pachisi to link abstraction with rules of play and inclusion.
- Arts Landing is a $31 million Cultural District project by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Field Operations that launched multiple inaugural commissions slated to remain for at least one year.
- Coverage notes this is Pittsburgh’s first artist-designed pickleball court project while a wider claim that it is the first in the U.S. appears in one outlet without independent verification.