South Side Flats in Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
The Workers
2012
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel
1. The Workers Marker
Inscription.
The Workers. Pittsburgh is an amalgamation of land and water and people. Art that attempts to mirror this city's spirit, if it hopes to succeed, must acknowledge and reflect the collaboration between landscape and memory. The city forged by these men and women is not a finished product. The Workers celebrates Pittsburgh's ever forward motion, driven by an abiding respect for the past.
The sculpture uses leftover scrap metal from vanished Pittsburgh steel mills-an iron hot-metal ladle donated by another mill and the ties from bridges that once carried steel's raw materials across the city's' rivers. The materials and methods employed to create The Workers are a testament to the unions that have set Pittsburgh in motion: unions between men and women, workers and capital; between the land the piece guards and the rivers that it watches; and unions of past, present, and future.
The Workers creators, the twenty-four artists of Pittsburgh's Industrial Arts-Coop, operate in much the same way as their millworker forebears. For a decade, they labored individually and as a team in a former mill site. For a decade, they collaborated with industrial, foundation, and political entities necessary to make this massive sculpture a reality. And for a decade, they committed themselves wholly to an endeavor that they may have never seen finalized - just as the workers and entities that made Pittsburgh.
The Workers is not a nostalgic monument; the piece creates, in its material and conceptual bricolage, a sculptural break from the past. These strong, vigilant watchmen act as reminders that this city's legacy is a commitment to collaboration, whether between millworkers or teachers, boilermakers or nurses, engineers or technologists. The Workers is a Pittsburgh forever in progress, built on the hallowed ground of industry, but forged in the crucible of its peoples' minds- people fueled by history, and looking toward a future brighter still.
Pittsburgh is an amalgamation of land and water and people. Art that attempts to mirror this city's spirit, if it hopes to succeed, must acknowledge and reflect the collaboration between landscape and memory. The city forged by these men and women is not a finished product. The Workers celebrates Pittsburgh's ever forward motion, driven by an abiding respect for the past.
The sculpture uses leftover scrap metal from vanished Pittsburgh steel mills-an iron hot-metal ladle donated by another mill and the ties from bridges that once carried steel's raw materials across the city's' rivers. The materials and methods employed to create The Workers are a testament to the unions that have set Pittsburgh in motion: unions between men and women, workers and capital; between the land the piece guards and the rivers that it watches; and unions of past, present, and future.
The Workers creators, the twenty-four artists of Pittsburgh's Industrial Arts-Coop, operate in much the same way as their millworker forebears. For a decade, they labored individually and as a team in a former mill site. For a decade, they collaborated with industrial, foundation, and political entities necessary to make this massive sculpture a reality. And for a decade, they committed themselves wholly to an endeavor that they may have never seen
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finalized - just as the workers and entities that made Pittsburgh.
The Workers is not a nostalgic monument; the piece creates, in its material and conceptual bricolage, a sculptural break from the past. These strong, vigilant watchmen act as reminders that this city's legacy is a commitment to collaboration, whether between millworkers or teachers, boilermakers or nurses, engineers or technologists. The Workers is a Pittsburgh forever in progress, built on the hallowed ground of industry, but forged in the crucible of its peoples' minds- people fueled by history, and looking toward a future brighter still.
Erected by Friends of the Riverfront/City of Pittsburgh/Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area/Ironworkers.
Location. 40° 25.928′ N, 79° 58.555′ W. Marker is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County. It is in the South Side Flats. It can be reached from Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Located in 18th Street Park on Pittsburgh's South Side. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pittsburgh PA 15203, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Northeast, in the Mid-Atlantic, in the Ohio River Valley, in Appalachia, and specifically in Northern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, and one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on June 30, 2020, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 1,021 times since then and 77 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on June 30, 2020, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
