Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area

Spray Cans and Stereotypes

Museum Studies Intern at Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area - Spring 2016

Click. Click. Click. Shhhhhh.

The shadow watches as a single stream of black spray paint shoots from the nozzle. Shaking the can softly again, the ball mixing the paint rattles encouragingly to continue. One hand steadies the canister while the other shakes slightly in nervousness. Just a few more lines…done. The writer flings the can into their opened back pack before trailing back through the moonlit trees in front of the Carnegie Library.

Art for Us with Rivers of Steel

Author: Jon Engel, Milton Fine Museum Profession Fellow at Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area – Summer 2019

Curating Little Steel

Museum Studies Intern at Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area - Fall 2016

Covered in Rust, Paint, and History: The Carrie Furnace Graffiti Project

Photo: Nicole Scalissi
Photo: Nicole Scalissi

Once a heat-swollen, record-setting producer of iron for US Steel, Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnaces is now a bony relic of the American steel industry, a salvaged monument to the sweat that built the region, and – amazingly – an expansive collection of graffiti.