Part gallery, part toy shop is the best description for the Illustrious Order of Makesmiths, a quirky new addition to Blawnox.
Opened by West Deer residents Chief and Steve O’Hearn, both artists, the storefront at 334 Freeport Road welcomes visitors to find joy in professional art as well as bizarre trinkets — of which there are many.
Brightly colored papier-mache cakes, hedgehog pincushions and custom pet statues line the entryway alongside phone holders made from found junk and notebooks crafted from old album covers.
“We live in a time where humor is important to bring to the table,” said Chief, who grew up in Cheswick. “We think art should be joyous.”
Chief’s paintings have been displayed at Contemporary Craft in Lawrenceville and Chautauqua’s Strohl Art Center.
“We like to say the shop is very unvirtual,” Chief said. “We want you to pick things up and hold them.”
It’s a tough urge to resist.
Shelves in the front section of the shop are filled with peculiar, one-of-a-kind baubles that demand attention from curious patrons. There are snarly boxes — wooden containers with teeth — and gluppets — finger puppets that can be personalized with the faces of friends.
The store contains objects made of wood, ceramic, paint, metal, fabric and wit.
It’s Pittsburgh’s only source for wall pies, prehensile pencils, phone monstrances and images from Western Pennsylvania’s illuminated manuscript, “The Deer Creek Book of Hours.”
There are footlong wooden toothbrushes and salad tongs that flop and curl, because, Steve said, “We think brushing your teeth and tossing a salad should be more fun.”
“Almost everything is something that the two of us made,” he said.
“It’s wacky stuff you won’t find anywhere else. It’s nonpretentious and very Pittsburgh-y.”
A Shaler native, Steve graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and later attended graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University.
His work has been featured in a solo show at the Andy Warhol Museum and also has been shown internationally.
Chief also is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Steve is the co-founder and artistic director of Squonk Opera, a performing troupe that fuses fantastical visual design and playful staging in global shows.
“There’s something about using your hands and senses that grounds you,” Steve said.
Hours for the gallery of oddities is 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.
In addition to the retail shop, the space features a workshop where people can tap their creative juices with help from frontier-style tools, recycled goods and feedback from others.
Free community show-and-tell sessions take place from 4 to 5 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month; open drawing is at the same time on the third Wednesdays.
“People can bring their work in for others to admire or make suggestions,” Steve said. “Or, we can just enjoy being together and creating.
“It gives us a chance to play and invite others to play, too.”
The O’Hearns chose Blawnox for the gallery because the business district evokes a quaint but trendy vibe.
“We liked the storefront, and we could see us being part of the community,” Steve said.