James Allan

Jim Allan is a local artist who paints, sculpts, and animates. He taught for many years at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and ran an animation studio with fellow artist Philip Wilson. Allan met Wilson when they both were working at the Allegheny County graphics and print shop. They began working together in the early 1970s and produced animation work for local clients like “Dirty Girty” for the GASP campaign, which was a local advocacy organization, Group Against Smog and Pollution. In 1980, they formed an animation studio and working out of their Pleasant Hills location, they produced commercial animation at a national level, most notable the Tom Petty video “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and two animation shorts for… “Allison and the Magic Bubble” and “A Star for Jeremy”. “A Star for Jeremy” was the first feature-length animated television program produced completely in Pittsburgh, it debuted on Showtime in December of 1982. The studio began in Allan’s basement at 350 Mowry Street, the home, built in 1959, also happens to be the first home bomb shelter built in the United States before moving to 981 Walnut Street in Castle Shannon. Besides his art career, Allan provided a home for many teenage boys in the foster system, winning two Outstanding Citizen awards from the Post-Gazette. Allan grew up in Uniontown, but came to Pittsburgh to attend the Art Institute, graduating in 1964.