From the Mattress Factory:

Mattress Factory Founding Director Barbara Luderowski will be recognized for her contributions to the visual arts during ArtTable’s 30th Anniversary gala celebration at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

ArtTable is the leadership organization for professional women in the visual arts. The organization’s President, Lowery Stokes Sims, notes, “Since our founding in 1980, we have recognized that a network of women leading, managing, and working in the arts is the source of much of the profound growth and change in the art world.”

ArtTable is dedicated to recognizing and promoting the achievements of outstanding women in the visual arts and has selected 30 catalytic women to honor during its 30th Anniversary gala celebration. This highly anticipated event will be co-chaired by Agnes Gund and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and attended by 700 ArtTable members and guests.

The Mattress Factory’s Barbara Luderowski will be among the evening’s honorees. With the support and partnership of foundations, individuals, and passionate colleagues, Luderowski has contributed to the arts in the Pittsburgh region and played a role in the redevelopment of the city’s North Side.

In 1975, she purchased a vacant Stearns and Foster mattress warehouse in the Mexican War Streets area, and two years later the Mattress Factory became a nonprofit museum. In 1977, Luderowski began a life-long partnership with Michael Olijnyk and 34 years later, they serve as the museum’s co-directors dedicated to the mission of the Mattress Factory. Since then, the Mattress Factory’s unique residence program has supported over 500 artists from around the world. The museum welcomed more than 55,000 visitors in 2010, and the Education department serves more than 16,000 people annually.

A leader in the arts community, Luderowski received honorary doctorates from Carnegie Mellon University (2010) and Seton Hill (2003). Luderowski received the Harry Schwalb Excellence in the Arts award for visual arts, is recognized as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, and has served on numerous panels, including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Bush Foundation Artist Fellowships, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Her sculptures have been shown throughout the United States, including a solo exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art and in group shows at the opening of the Carnegie’s Sarah Scaife Gallery, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford and the Westmoreland Museum of Art. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections.

The Mattress Factory is a museum of contemporary art that presents “art you can get in to” — room-sized environments, created by in-residence artists. Located at 500 Sampsonia Way, on Pittsburgh’s Northside, since 1977, the Mattress Factory is hailed as the best facility for installation art in the United States.