Rivers of Steel Arts is excited to launch the 2020 Mon Valley Featured Artist Series. Showcasing some of the exciting creative professionals working across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor, this weekly blog highlights multiple artists each month—from a variety of boroughs—to provide a snapshot of the region’s growing cultural vitality.
About Curtis Reaves
It is with great excitement that we close our April 2020 Mon Valley artist features with the passionate work of Curtis Reaves. Few creative professionals have invested more in the Mon Valley than Curtis. Through his work as a documentary filmmaker and fine art photographer, to his dedication to the community of McKeesport, Pennsylvania via C-Clear Empowerment, Curtis exemplifies a brand of true grit and perseverance so often found in artists from the Mon Valley Creative Corridor.
A Message from Curtis
About My Work
My work embodies video documentaries, installations, and fine art photography. My fine art photography and installations have been exhibited at museums and galleries across the United States. My contemporary work concentrates on still life photography, where I utilize organic and repurposed materials and translate pieces for diverse environments and public art. I’m also an arts educator in schools with at-risk youth. In 2009, I co-founded my passion project, C-clear Empowerment, a nonprofit 501(c)3 community and economic corporation, located in the City of McKeesport. C-clear provides youth and adult employment and training programs centered around the arts, technology, and entrepreneurial initiatives.
My Home in the Mon Valley
I was born and raised in the Mon Valley, and I still live and work here. My entire family is from Braddock, and I now reside in the City of Duquesne with my wife and children. Professionally, I work with at-risk youth in schools throughout the Mon Valley, and my non-profit organization is located in the City of McKeesport. The Mon Valley has always been a family oriented and working-class environment, and I valued that as a child while growing up here. The community was tight knit, everyone knew their neighbors, and my parents were entrepreneurs in Braddock.
When the steel mills closed, the community folded and suffered in numerous ways. Families left, jobs were lost, the neighborhoods were no longer vibrant walkable communities, but rather places of blight and decline. As an adult, who lives and works here, my desire it to build upon the legacy that I remembered growing up. When my wife and I co-founded C-clear, we did it with a mission “To empower economically disadvantaged youth and adults by helping them to reach their true potential while serving as a catalyst for economic growth and change in the community.”
Our 6,000 sq. ft building located in the City of McKeesport, is currently under active construction. The space boasts three floors, two storefronts, and an enclosed outdoor rear green space. Upon completion, C-clear will offer community programming in the arts, technology, and entrepreneurship. We will provide co-working space available for lease, and a community gathering space for shows and events. We plan to open a coffee house, named Urban Java that will double as a youth employment and training program. It is our vision to bring back neighborhood vitality and connectivity through arts, culture, and economic opportunities for youth, families, artists, and entrepreneurs within the Mon Valley.
Rivers of Steel Arts is excited to launch the 2020 Mon Valley Featured Artist Series. Showcasing some of the exciting creative professionals working across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor, this weekly blog highlights multiple artists each month—from a variety of boroughs—to provide a snapshot of the region’s growing cultural vitality.
About Katy DeMent, “The Paper Lady”
This is the second piece in a two-part profile highlighting Mon Valley artists Katy DeMent and Lindsey Scherloum, who often work closely with one another on community and educational projects. Their individual practices share common threads of inquiry that include concerns over local environmental health and sustainability, social justice, and a creative philosophy that governs both their professional and personal lives. In week two of this double feature, we turn our eye to Swissvale, Pennsylvania for a look at “The Paper Lady,” Katy DeMent.
A Message from Katy
About My Work
As a lifelong gardener and artist, bee follower, nontraditional educator & PA Certified Teaching Artist, I draw from my experiences to create educational workshops that are STEAM-centered, sustainability-focused, and hands-on.
My work harvests materials from the waste stream to demonstrate water systems and creatively illustrate environmental situations. Through well-crafted visual narratives my tactile process utilizes natural materials and recycled papers.
Recently my work took a slight detour after I discovered “Crankies” a manual, panoramic, scrolling story-telling device that also happens to be a convenient allegory for rivers. My project Climate Change Crankie, is a bridge to conversations about Pittsburgh’s Industrial history, its environmental legacy, and man’s role in its brighter future. Highlighting how individuals, through innovation, grass roots initiatives and community can create solutions that lead to actions revitalizing our neighborhoods, Climate Change Crankie illustrates Pittsburgh’s industrial history, environmental legacy, and a more mindful future—all taking place on one typical Pittsburgh lot.
My Home in the Mon Valley
Our home and my studio is located in Swissvale PA. We = my fella’—an engineering hydrologist—two cats and just recently my 87 year old mother too, all live in a 100+ year old former, grocery store, barbershop, print shop, dance studio, Underground night Club, ”the Abandon Store,” and pirate radio station!
We have a large organic garden and a few fruit trees in the back too.
I have been impressed with my own resilience during the pandemic. We have been quite comfortable here with a freezer full of food from last summer, plenty of room for everyone to quarantine, the always-interesting panoramic view “from Kennywood to Homestead Grays Bridge”, and a big yard ready for an early start on the garden with time to pull weeds!
I moved from Atlanta GA to Pittsburgh, a relatively new place, that has many stories to tell. The people here have a casual DYI spirit that I as a self-taught artist, can appreciate.
The creative, scientific and environmental communities all interact to bring about awareness of these regions environmental scars, then work together to make improvement.
I have found my “peeps’ in the Swissvale Edible Gardner Community; a small enthusiastic group with a keen interest in producing healthy foods in our backyards, front porches and empty lots, and who also care about soil health and education as related to growing foods and growing community. YES!
By Ron Baraff, Director of Historic Resources and Facilities | Image of the Iron Garden at the Carrie Blast Furnaces
Nature’s Way of Reclaiming a Built Environment
When we first began to do work at the Carrie Furnaces site in 2010 we were faced with a landscape that had changed dramatically over the years. What was once barren and devoid of vegetation had become an overgrown oasis. The site was a mass of thickets—tree stands, honeysuckle, bittersweet, knotweed, and poison ivy. We made a decision that the goal was to not denude the site but to allow nature to reclaim portions of the site—to green it up, but not interfere with the site. How should we tame and manage the landscape without damaging nature’s remarkable work?
The goal was, and still remains, to create a park space within an industrial setting—highlighting the juxtaposition and reclamation without having nature interfere with the historic structures. To this end, our challenge was how to proceed with the work. What should we keep, what should go. The easy decisions were related to the plants growing on the structures, which are still a challenge to this day, and those that made it difficult to access historic / tour areas around the site. The more difficult decisions were what do we do the areas that were more densely grown, unstable, or hard to access.
The first and most obvious step was to save some trees to use them for shade along the tour route. But there were even bigger challenges; we had areas on the site that we could not mow or easily access due to concrete, rebar, twisted pieces of metal etc. What is now known as the “Iron Garden” was one of those areas. It was during this time, as we were debating the merits of the use of the eastern portion of the site, that we realized how beautiful the fields were and how they created an interesting contrast to the industrial site.
We originally looked at ways to make the northern end the eastern portion a parking lot and create a trail through the treed meadow to the ore yard. In July of 2010, Rick Darke found us. Rick Darke is a renowned landscape design consultant, author, lecturer, and photographer who specializes in urban parks and community places that celebrate the resiliency of the landscape. He had seen the site while he was taking a helicopter survey ride with people from the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden and Fallingwater. He asked his one of companions on the trip, Ann Talarek, if she could arrange a visit. He contacted us and I brought them into the site for a tour. We spent time walking around discussing the future of the site, how do want to use now? How to use it in the future?
On this and subsequent visits, we formed a great working friendship as he helped us to provide context and meaning for the “project” and create a more formalized approach to what we had already been doing intuitively. We lead our first public, environmental / wild garden tours shortly thereafter. It was a collaborative effort between Rick and myself to look at what has happened over time as nature and industrial / postindustrial landscapes converge.
The goal was to introduce people to this idea of succession and how to manage the landscape while creatively editing it. It was during this time that Rick Darke, Dave Couch, Rick Rowlands, and I laid out the pathway and the garden room within the garden area. Our goal was to create a visually stunning reveal of the industrial site within a green space where people could slow down and enjoy the sites natural landscape and garden.
During one of the Rick Darke tours in October of 2013, Joanne van Linden, a visitor who happened to be a local master gardener, talked with us about her interest in the project. I invited her and her master gardener class to come assist us with plant identification so that we could create a database and a finding aide for assisting educational tours and our tour guides. I wanted people to understand what they were seeing and experiencing within the landscape, these plants were not just weeds, they were not “invasive” but were natures way of reclaiming man’s built environment.
The following spring (2014) the Master Gardener class came in as a group and we started working together to do plant identification in some test fields throughout the site. Over the course of the season the idea for what became “the Iron Garden” evolved. With the assistance of the gardeners and Addy Smith-Reiman, Josh Reiman (sculptor on staff at CMU) was brought into the discussion. From there we set about creating a project to create cast iron plaques interpreting the flora and fauna of the site—creating a physical interpretative walking trail through the garden area. The gardeners and a number of regional artists did an amazing job of researching, creating, and casting the iron plaques which culminated in the Casting the Iron Garden event in October of 2014.
With the plaques in place and with further assistance from Rick Darke, Rivers of Steel formalized the project under two banners—the Iron Garden and Addition by Reduction. The latter project’s goal was an still is to create a template not just for our site, but for other public spaces throughout the country and beyond. The lessons of Carrie and the project could be used to show that by creative management and editing of a wild space, that nature can preserved and stewarded in a harmonious, economical, and responsible manner.
In 2017, Rivers of Steel partnered with six other regional gardens to create the Pittsburgh Garden Trail. Offering different landscapes, uses, settings, and species throughout the Trail’s unique destinations, the Garden Trail aims to inspire by highlighting the beauty and ecological diversity of western Pennsylvania. From cultural institutions like Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and The Frick Pittsburgh to the lesser-known gardens including the Rodef Shalom Biblical Garden and the Chatham University Arboretum, the collection of garden locations on the Pittsburgh Garden Trail gives visitors a chance to see the city in new and unexpected ways. Rivers of Steel is proud that our unique, postindustrial, wild garden has become recognized as one of the region’s botanical assets.
Tours of the Iron Garden are a popular option for groups, but are also a great resources for students and classrooms. Public tours are generally offered on the second Sunday of each month during the summer tour season. Right now, of course, the garden is closed—as is the entire Carrie Blast Furnaces site—but we welcome you to join once the pandemic restrictions open up. In the meantime, enjoy some additional images of the site from throughout the years.
Guide to Images
Featured Image: Wildflowers and Bottle Car / Rick Darke
Image 1: Ron Baraff / Richard Kelly
Image 2: Wildflowers and Detail of Bottle Car / Rick Darke
Image 3: Cutting a Path Through the Iron Garden / Rick Darke
Image 4: Visitors Examine an Iron Plaque / Rivers of Steel
Images in Gallery
(Left to Right)
Image 1: The Iron Garden Path / Rick Darke
Image 2: Yellow and Purple Wildflowers / Rick Darke
Image 3: Orange Wildflowers / Rick Darke
Image 4: Ornamental Grasses / Rivers of Steel
Images 5 & 6: Rick Darke Leading a Tour, 2019 / Rivers of Steel
Image 7: The Green Room of the Iron Garden / Richard Kelly
Image 8: Carrie Furnace #6 from the Green Room / Richard Kelly
Images 9 & 10: Eric Horgos Tour of the Iron Garden, 2018 / Rivers of Steel
By Suzi Bloom, Director of Education | Image of the Point from the Explorer riverboat
An Opportunity to Explore: City Nature Challenge
As we prepare to mark the 50th Earth Day on April 22, 2020, we invite you to embrace the healing power of nature. Once dubbed “The Smoky City,” Pittsburgh now has a thriving urban ecosystem. After decades of historical pollution during periods of industrialization, Pittsburgh’s three rivers now have a lot to offer in the way of aquatic species diversity. Additionally our backyards and urban parks are filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of nature exploding into spring.
The spring weather also has me missing our students on the Explorer riverboat, who under normal circumstances would currently be hard at work as citizen scientists studying the aquatic ecosystems of Pittsburgh’s three rivers, affectionately known as the Mon, the Al, and the O.
Through Rivers of Steel’s commitment to programming that supports the region’s natural and shared resources, approximately 3,000 students in grades 4-12 participate annually in the Environmental Science on the Three Rivers field trip aboard the Explorer.
During the Environmental Science on the Three Rivers field trip, students learn that the plants, animals, insects, microbes, rocks, soil, sunlight, and water found in and around Pittsburgh’s rivers all come together to form a valuable aquatic ecosystem.
My personal favorite activity during the field trip is the macroinvertebrates lab. Students collect and identify benthic macroinvertebrates, which are considered an indicator species to determining river health. Benthic macroinvertebrates live among stones, logs, sediments and aquatic plants on the bottom of streams, rivers and lakes. They are large enough to see with the naked eye (macro) and have no backbone (invertebrate). Some examples of past student findings include mayfly and dragonfly nymphs, both of which are useful indicators of improving river health.
While we are all adjusting to learning and engaging in experiences from home, there is still an opportunity to explore and share the diversity of Pittsburgh and Southwestern PA’s natural resources that includes the watery world of macroinvertebrates. The City Nature Challenge is back in Pittsburgh for Earth month 2020 and is facilitated locally by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Kicking off April 24, the challenge runs to the end of the day April 27. Participation is easy! All you need is a camera and the free iNaturalist app (a camera phone or tablet if you have one).
iNaturalist is an online database that collects your photographic observations of nature. Those observations are then used by scientists and resource managers to understand when and where organisms occur. Every observation can help contribute to biodiversity science via scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
This year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge is modified to help keep organizers and participants safe. Using the free iNaturalist app, let’s work together virtually with cities around the world to safely document biodiversity in whatever way we can, even at home or in our neighborhoods.
Rivers of Steel Arts is excited to launch the 2020 Mon Valley Featured Artist Series. Showcasing some of the exciting creative professionals working across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor, this weekly blog highlights multiple artists each month—from a variety of boroughs—to provide a snapshot of the region’s growing cultural vitality.
About Lindsey Peck Scherloum
For the next couple artist profiles, we chose to highlight two Mon Valley artists working very closely with one another, from the neighboring boroughs of North Braddock and Swissvale, Pennsylvania. Artists Katy Dement and Lindsey Scherloum maintain individual practices, but often work collaboratively on projects throughout the Mon Valley Creative Corridor. Their artworks share common threads of inquiry that include concerns over local environmental health and sustainability, social justice, and a creative philosophy that governs both their professional and personal lives. This week we take a look at the quiet and contemplative work of North Braddock artist Lindsey Scherloum.
A Message from Lindsey
I’m based in 2nd ward of North Braddock. I moved to the area because I wanted to live in the relative isolation and abandoned nature of my neighborhood, and within a year the cost of my house was less than I would have paid renting in Pittsburgh. I love that the money to time ratio is slow here, that relationships are the most important part of life (as I think they become in a lot of small and poor communities). My overhead is low and it allows me the time to be responsive to my environment—gardening, painting the abandoned house across from mine… I have time to know my neighbors, seek out the stories behind the abandoned houses, the mysteries of the grouch on the block, and ultimately feel part of a supportive family. I like having relationships with the kids in my neighborhood and demonstrating ways we can reimagine objects and spaces, being one more, maybe radically different, example of a grown up.
I love the view from my porch—the Edgar Thompson Mill pumping clouds out of its stacks, the green Monongahela, the long strings of roads and train tracks. It makes me feel connected to history and unable to ignore that our consumer culture demands people live without the right to clean air.
So I value the challenges this place presents by exposing me to a lot of different life experiences, showing me my bubble and asking me how my privileges can be of real service to others—people renting from slumlords, people deeply attached to the traumatic past of a place that is easy for someone like me to see only for its current material value. My practice has come to be rooted in the belief that there are ghosts in everything we look at and it takes time and patience and care to understand how to interact with them and one another respectfully.
Rivers of Steel Arts is excited to launch the 2020 Mon Valley Featured Artist Series. Showcasing some of the exciting creative professionals working across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor, this weekly blog highlights multiple artists each month—from a variety of boroughs—to provide a snapshot of the region’s growing cultural vitality.
About Carin Mincemoyer
Our next featured artist from the Mon Valley Creative Corridor is Carin Mincemoyer. While she calls Wilkinsburg home, Carin’s creative practice is rooted in the quintessential Mon Valley borough of Braddock, Pennsylvania. In nod to one of the Valley’s most striking dichotomies, her lighthearted public artworks and installations mine the space between natural reclamation and the remnants of an economy once defined by heavy industry.
A Message from Carin
My work ponders the ways in which humans try to embrace, struggle to control, yearn for, reject, and alter the natural environment. My creative practice encompasses sculpture, installation, public art and design in diverse materials including wood, metal, discarded packaging, and live plants. Mining the visual evidence of humans’ efforts to contend with the seeming chaos of nature, I employ the engineered forms of scaffolding and bridges, the image of the underappreciated dandelion, a weather icon meant as shorthand for the complexity of a thunderstorm. These works offer opportunities for heightened perception of our daily predicament, our constant navigation between civilization and wildness.
My studio is in Braddock. I really appreciate the do-it-yourself vibe of the area: there are community gardens, free bike repair shops, a great neighborhood library with community oriented programming. It feels like there is room here for people to try things out and to make a difference.
Another thing that I respond to is the presence of nature. Places that are a little rougher around the edges are much more interesting to me than a place where every square inch has been manicured. Our relationship to nature is the main focus in my work, and you can see that push and pull between the built environment and nature in a place that is in the particular moment that Braddock is in. There is a whole spectrum visible: vacant lots that have been completely reclaimed by nature, deteriorating buildings, and also well kept houses and buildings and businesses that are thriving.
The area I’m in is a commercial and light industrial area: the building was part of a Dodge dealership for decades, and was a body shop until I moved in. There are working garages on either side of me. My dad was a diesel mechanic, and growing up, hanging out in the garage was one way to spend time with my Dad. Working in a garage space now feels like something of a connection to him.
By Brianna Horan, Manager of Tourism & Visitor Experience | Image of a pysanky egg created and photographed by Lisa DiStefano-Bauer
Traditions in a Time of Social Distancing
Flowering trees, fragrant bulbs, chirping birds, and warmer weather are very real expressions of spring’s arrival, but to prevent the spread of COVID-19 our usual celebrations of the season are encouraged to be virtual this year. Even though some people have used their extra time indoors to spring clean like they’ve never spring cleaned before, health experts advise that no one who’s not already living in your home should visit to see how organized you’ve become. This also means tables at Passover Seder and Easter brunch could feel empty in coming week, and the iftars of Ramadan towards the end of the month may be more solitary breakings of fast.
With the need to be physically distant, this year’s springtime celebrations are going to be different. Dan Rather shared that he carried a potted plant around his apartment on Palm Sunday in the closest approximation to a palm frond processional that he could manage at home. The Wall Street Journal answers some new questions that may arise as loved ones share Seder via videochat, in addition to the traditional Four Questions that prompt the story of the exodus from Egypt. And – never one to be out done – Martha Stewart imagines three ways to host a virtual Easter egg hunt on Sunday.
Some of the circumstances surrounding this year’s celebrations aren’t dissimilar from those that immigrants arriving in our region would have faced. We’re separated by distance from the people we love. We’re making do with the what we have on hand. And the holidays have the potential to be a bright spot of faith in a time of stress and uncertainty. Just as embracing traditions and ethnic customs have given immigrants a steadfast sense of connection to the places and people they’ve left behind, the rituals that we repeat this year can help us feel close to people we can’t be with. Even if they have to be tweaked in the name of good health, the preparations that we make, the blessings that we pray, the recipes we follow, and the ways we celebrate remind us of the spirit of the holiday and those who we would like to be sharing it with.
If you find yourself wanting to tap into the kinds of authentic ethnic cuisine and folk crafts that have been passed down from generation to generation, below is a collection of recipes and customs with strong immigrant roots. These recipes are from a cookbook published in 1993 called Out of This Kitchen: A History of the Ethnic Groups and their Foods in the Steel Valley. They come from the kinds of kitchens where measuring cups were rarely used, but nothing was wasted. Often the home cook who submitted the recipe also included a memory or serving suggestion for a dose of extra nostalgia.
If you’re not finding a specific ingredient in your pantry right now, this list of ingredient substitutions from Joy of Baking might be helpful, and NuRoots has suggestions for reimagining the usual symbolic foods and objects that are essential for a Seder plate. And if you’d like to honor the past and support local businesses at the same time, a list of pick-up and delivery options is also included.
Rivers of Steel hopes that you and your loved ones enjoy a safe, healthy, and joyful spring holiday this year.
Jewish
Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from decades of slavery in ancient Egypt. When Pharoah refused to comply to God’s requests to free the Israelites, ten devastating plagues were delivered upon Egypt. The last of these ten plagues was to kill the firstborn of all Egyptians, but while doing so God spared the children of Israel, “passing over” their homes. This last plague broke Pharoah’s resistance, and he chased his former slaves out of his land. The Israelites left in such a hurry that the bread they baked as provisions for the journey did not have time to rise.
Today Jews celebrate Passover every year in early spring to remember that Exodus, when Jews trekked from Egypt to Mount Sinai, by abstaining from any food that contains leavening agents called chametz – like wheat, barley, rye, oats, or spelt – during the eight-day holiday. All chametz must be removed from the house, or sold to a non-Jew before Passover begins. Jews are allowed to buy back their leavened items when the holiday is over.
Central Passover are two symbolic dinners, called Seders, the first two nights of Passover. Items that are always served during these meals include matzah (flat, unleavened bread), bitter herbs, and four cups of wine or grape juice. The recitation of the Haggadah, a detailed description of the story of the Exodus from Egypt, is the focal point of every Seder, and it ensures that future generations know this integral part of Jewish heritage. A child at the table asks the traditional “Four Questions” to prompt the story from the host of the Seder.
The Out of this Kitchen cookbook includes the recipes below, which would work nicely at a Passover Seder. These recipes were submitted without attribution. If you plan to reach out to your Jewish friends and loved ones celebrating Passover, you can greet them by saying, “chag Pesach samekh” – which translates to “happy Passover holiday” in Hebrew.
Gefilte Fish, Russian Style
6 lbs. carp or pike, ground
Salt
1 lb. onions, finely chopped
3 egg yolks, beaten
3 egg whites, whipped
½ cup matzo meal
2 Tbsp. oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. carrots, thinly sliced
3 lbs. beets, thinly sliced
4 large Spanish onions, thinly sliced
Cold water to cover
Cut whole fish into 2” slices. Carefully remove flesh without breaking skin and bones. Salt the skins and bones and place in bowl while preparing filling. Grind or process the flesh to a coarse consistency, like ground meat. Mix together ground fish and onions. Add eggs (yolks and whites), matzo meal, oil and salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Wet hands with cold water. Form oval fish patties and fit them into the fish skins.
Place head and any other bones in the bottom of a deep heavy pot. Add enough carrots, beets and onions to cover bottom of pot. Lay wrapped patties on top of vegetables. Separate each patty with a sliced beet. Keep alternating vegetable layers with fish patty layers. Add cold water seasoned with salt and pepper to cover. Cover pan and bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 ½ hours covered. Cook 1 more hour without lid. Cool. Carefully remove patties and place on a platter. Garnish with cooked vegetables. Refrigerate. Serve with horseradish. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Carrot Tsimes and Knadel
Tsimes is a sweet vegetable and meat stew, and Knadel is Yiddish for matzah ball.
Tsimes
½ lb. brisket of beef
1 onion, small
1 tsp. salt
2 cups water
2 lbs. carrots, diced
½ cup sugar
Put brisket, onion and salt in water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add the carrots and the sugar. Cook until carrots are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Knadel
2 medium potatoes, grated
1 Tbsp. matzo meal
1 ½ Tbsp. chicken broth
1 Tbsp. onion, grated
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
Drain the grated potatoes. Remove excess moisture by draining thoroughly. Add rest of ingredients and spread over the top of the tsimes. Place in baking dish and bake at 350° for about 20 minutes until slightly browned. Serves 6.
Orange and Lemon Kezel
1 large orange
1 large lemon
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. matzo meal
½ cup chopped nuts, optional
Bring fruit (left whole) to a boil in water. Pour off water and refill pan with water. Bring to another boil and pour off water again. Add fresh water a third time and boil until fruit is tender. Drain. Open fruit and allow to cool. Remove seeds. Mash fruit and pulp. Set aside. Beat the eggs, sugar and matzo meal until foamy. Add fruit pulp. Add nuts, if desired. Bake 50 minutes at 325°.
German
Children have German immigrants to thank for bringing their tradition of the Easter Bunny with them to America. Their children made nests where an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws” would lay its colored eggs. The custom eventually spread across the United States, and baskets took the place of nests.
The colorful egg trees that adorn front lawns in the spring also take root in German tradition, where they’re known as an Osterbaum (Easter Tree). The German Girl in America blog has a number of suggestions for making your own fanciful eggs – either blown out, decoupaged, or colored in the Sorbian style. Be sure to check out the photo of Volker Kraft’s Osterbaum in Saalfeld, Germany – he and his family have more than 10,000 eggs on their tree.
Germans celebrate Easter for four days, starting on Maundy Thursday and ending on Easter Monday. GermanFoods.org has a collection of Easter recipes ranging from Seven Herb Soup to Brandenburg Lamb.
For Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake) on Easter Sunday afternoon, you might want to try the recipe below for Napf Kuchen, a German Coffee Cake recipe shared by Dolores Zewe of Duquesne in the cookbook Out of this Kitchen. The recipe has been in the Zewe family for more than 60 years.
Napf Kuchen | German Coffee Cake
1 ½ sticks butter or margarine
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ pint sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Chopped nuts
Raisins
Powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a Bundt, angel food or Jell-O mold pan. Mix and cream margarine or butter, sugar, eggs and beat until fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture. Fold in sour cream and vanilla. Pour half the batter in prepared pan. Mix together 2 Tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, as many chopped nuts and raisins as desired. Sprinkle over batter in pan. Pour remaining batter over all. Bake 45-50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before turning out of pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Scotch-Irish & Irish
After abstaining from meat for the 40 days of Lent, main dishes of lamb or ham were a much anticipated part of Easter dinner. These vegetable dishes from Out of this Kitchen would make nice springtime accompaniments. The homecook who submitted them is unattributed, but a cooking tip from the December 15, 1893, issue of the Homestead Local News is included:
“The water in which green peas has been boiled should not be thrown away. It has a fine flavor – the very essence of peas. A little stock added, seasoned to taste, makes an economical, delicious wholesome and appetizing soup.
Glazed Carrots with Onions
1 lb. carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces
5 onions, sliced
¼ cup butter
Brown sugar (to thicken)
Dash of lemon juice
Dash of corn starch
Dash of water
In salted water, just enough to cover the vegetables, bring to a boil for 1 minute, reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender. Drain. In another pan, combine the butter and sugar and stir. Add the lemon juice, cornstarch, water and stir. Cook over low heat until thickened. Pour over vegetables, toss and cook until golden brown. Serve warm. Serves 6 to 8.
New Peas with Fresh Mint
2 cups new peas
4 small mint leaves, shredded
Dash brown sugar
3 pats butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of water (from the reserve)
Place the peas, mint and brown sugar in boiling salted water, cover and boil until the peas are tender. Drain and save a bit of the liquid. Stir in the butter, salt and pepper, and water (if needed). Thoroughly toss. Cover and cook for about 1 more minute over low heat until the liquid steams away. Serve hot. Serves 4 to 6.
Hot Cross Buns
Another Easter tradition that comes from the British Isles: hot cross buns, yeasted sweet buns studded with raisins or currants, then marked on the top with a cross in icing or scoring. The Kitchn details how a 12th century Anglican monk first made them in honor of Good Friday. Out of this Kitchen doesn’t have a hot cross bun recipe, but Gretchen McKay’s 2013 article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It’s time for Easter breads, too,” does.
Russian
The recipes below appeared in Out of this Kitchen, and was submitted to the cookbook by Martha Ermakov of McKeesport. Paska or pashka is an Easter staple in Russian and Eastern European homes. These breads are made with a lot of eggs, making them much richer than usual sweet breads. The braids and decorations that adorn the loaves let you know it’s a special occasion.
The Hrutka cheese recipe that Ms. Ermakov submitted is meant to accompany her Peasant Easter Bread. Her Sirnaya Paska recipe makes a sweet cheese; she instructs the cook to pour the mixture into a mold. This article on Russia Beyond shows how this dish is usually molded into a squared-off pyramid intended to symbolize the tomb of Christ.
Paska | Peasant Easter Bread
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 qt. milk, divided
1 cup sugar, divided
¼ lb. butter
4 tsps. Salt
4 eggs
12 cups flour
1 cup raisins
Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup warm milk to which 1 tsp sugar has been added. Scald remaining milk and add butter, remaining sugar and salt. Pour into very large mixing bowl and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast mixture and eggs and beat well. Add flour 2 cups at a time, stirring after each addition, until batter is stiff. Add raisins and stir. Scrape dough out on floured board and knead, adding more flour if necessary, until smooth. Place in large, buttered bowl and cover. Let rise until double in bulk, about an hour or more. Punch down and divide into 4 pieces. Separate some dough to use for decoration. Place dough for loaves into 4 greased and floured pans. Form reserved dough into braids, flowers or similar decoration and place on top of rising dough. Let rise another 30 minutes. Bake in preheated 350° oven 1 hour, until golden brown.
Hrutka
13 eggs
1 qt. milk
3 tsps. Salt
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ lb. butter
Beat all ingredients except one egg and butter with electric mixer.
In saucepan, heat these ingredients and butter over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until eggs begin to form curd and separate from liquid. Line strainer with cheesecloth and pour in milk-egg mixture. Tie cheesecloth so that cheese forms ball and suspend it so that it may drip six hours. Remove cloth. Cheese should hold its shape. Beat remaining egg and brush cheese with it. Place cheese in preheated 350° oven 3 to 5 minutes to allow to dry. Slice and serve with peasant bread.
Sirnaya Paska
2 lbs. farmer’s cheese
1 lb. sweet butter, unsalted
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. Almond flavoring
3 raw egg yolks
1 ½ cups whipping cream
1 cup fruit salad, optional
1 cup raisins, golden
1 cup almonds, toasted
Put cheese through food chopper or sieve twice; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until almost white in appearance. Add flavorings and beat. Add egg yolks and continue beating. When mixture is thoroughly blended add cheese and mix well. Fold in whipped cream (whipped until firm). Fold in well-drained fruit salad, rasins and nuts. Pour into mold lined with cheese cloth and drain for at least 24 hours in refrigerator. Unmold on serving platter and decorate with dried fruit or toasted slivered almonds. Can also be served with fresh strawberries. This will freeze well.
Hungarian
There are endless versions of Paska, with different versions of this sweet bread across different countries and family traditions. The recipe below appeared in Out of this Kitchen, and was submitted by Agnes Markoff, who was raised by Hungarian immigrant parents. She notes that she serves a variety of flavorful Hungarian recipes alongside her family’s favorite Macedonian-Bulgarian dishes.
Paska with Raisins
Place in warm cup and let activate:
1 oz. yeast, crumbled
¼ cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
In large crock bowl, measure then sift:
4 ½ cups flour
Heat lukewarm in saucepan:
1 cup milk
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
Beat in 2 egg yolks and a few drops yellow food coloring. Add everything together and knead. Dough is sticky (add more milk if necessary). Cover and place in warm place until doubled in bulk. Turn onto slightly floured table and knead slightly. Cover and let set 15 minutes. Roll into large circle and brush lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle on raisins which have been plumped by boiling water for a few minutes. Roll up like jelly roll. Grease 9” or 10” round pan, 4” high. Place dough in pan and let rise for 1 hour. Brush with egg white and bake on lower rack in oven at 350° for 35 minutes. Cover loosely with foil last 10 minutes so that top does not get too dark.
African American
The Great Migration between 1916 and the 1930s saw Pittsburgh’s Black population increase 115% to 55,000 residents. Many came from Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas to seek jobs in the mills; with them they brought the cooking practices that they developed as slaves, having to make nourishing meals from food they could forage and what was cast off from the masters’ house. While working in the fields, many slaves identified the wild greens growing as being comparable to the greens from their native country. The recipes below, which appear in Out of this Kitchen, feature springtime flavors. Both were submitted by Hattie Thoms of West Mifflin.
Collard Greens
1 large hamhock
¼ lb. saltpork
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp. sugar
3-4 Tbsp. bacon grease
1 tbl. Chicken bouillon
3 lbs. collard greens
Place first 6 ingredients in a large pot with enough water to cover. Heat thoroughly and bring to a boil. While water is heating, wash greens. If greens are particularly dirty, use a small amount of dishwashing liquid and rinse thoroughly, 3 or 4 times, with clear cold water. Remove stems, roll up the greens, and cut into small pieces. You may use a variety of greens (i.e., kale, turnip or mustard greens) and mix a pound of each together. Place the greens into the pot after 30 minutes. Cook an additional hour or until greens are tender and you are able to get a fork through the hamhock. Additional water may be added throughout the cooking process if greens begin to stick. Cook down until broth is almost gone. Before serving, remove hamhock, dice and add to cooked greens. Excellent served with warm buttered cornbread.
Scalloped Pineapple
2 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ sticks butter
3 eggs
9 slices white bread, cubed
¼ cup milk
1 20-oz. can crushed pineapple
Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs and set aside. In a separate bowl, pour the milk over the cubed bread. Mix in the pineapple including the juice. Take your creamed mixture and add it to the bread mixture, stirring thoroughly. Bake at 350° for one hour in an ungreased casserole dish. Serve hot as a dessert topped with whipped cream. May also be served as a side dish to any meal.
Ukrainian
Nearly half of the Ukrainians who immigrated to America between 1877 and 1930 settled in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh was the Ukrainian center of the region, with numerous ethnic publications, hundreds of fraternal societies, and ten Ukrainian churches in the city. In Carnegie, Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2003, and to mark the occasion parishioners constructed an exhibit to pay homage to the church’s forebears and Ukrainian cultural heritage. A large part of that heritage is artistry. In fact, Saints Peter and Paul is known for the beautiful paintings of iconography that cover the ceilings and walls, painted by a lifelong parishioner Michael Kapeluck.
Easter customs remain important at the church, such as baking paska (butter and egg bread), taking baskets of traditional foods to church for blessings, and decorating pysanky – boldly colored, impossibly intricate Easter eggs. As the Learn Pysanky website explains, the name pysanky comes from the word “to write,” as a stylus (called a kistka) is used to write on the egg shell with was – a process similar to batik. Layers of dye are applied to the egg from lightest to darkest, first using the kistka to place wax on the part of the egg where you want the color to remain. At the end of the process, a candle flame is used to melt away the wax to reveal the colors that were protected underneath. Often times specific symbols are used in the designs, like pine needles to represent health, nets to represent Christ’s reference to becoming “fishers of people,” or poppies, which are a beloved Ukrainian art motif to symbolize joy and beauty.
The photos of pysanky that appear on this page were designed by South Side-based artist Lisa DiStefano-Bauer. If you’d like to see more pysanky eggs, click here to see photos of the collection of Kathi Radock, who has purchased most of them from Saints Peter and Paul Church in Carnegie and other churches around the South Side, where she lives.
Saints Peter & Paul Church offers a number of instructive workshops around the Pittsburgh area every year in the weeks leading up to Easter. Typically, the church hosts a pysanky egg sale after Easter; this year the 53rd annual sale has been rescheduled to Saturday, June 6, promising “Easter in June.” In addition to more than 1,200 pysanky for sale, the event will feature different Ukrainian folk arts and crafts, tours of the church, and Ukrainian foods from the church’s kitchen: kielbasa, pyrohy/pierogie, holupchy/stuffed cabbage, homemade Easter paska bread, and other baked goods.
If you’re finding yourself craving Ukrainian baked goods before then, this Ukrainian Nut Torte recipe from Out of this Kitchen might do the trick. The recipe was submitted without attribution, but it was noted that this treat regularly appeared in the lunch pails that workers took to their mill jobs
Ukrainian Nut Torte
12 egg yolks
½ Tbsp. vanilla
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 lb. nuts (walnuts or pecans), ground
12 egg whites
1 Tbsp. fine bread crumbs
Beat egg yolks and vanilla until thick. Gradually add sugar and beat well until thick. Stir in the ground nuts. Fold in beaten egg whites alternately with bread crumbs. Bake at 320° for 1 hour.
Icing
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
Beat well together and add:
6 Tbsp. sugar
8 Tbsp. strong coffee
½ lb. unsalted butter
Combine whole eggs and egg yolk and beat well together. Add sugar and coffee. Put in double-boiler and stir until it thickens. Water should be hot, but not boiling. Do not overcook or it will curdle. Cool. Add butter and beat until creamy and smooth. Spread between layers and on top.
Slovakian
The recipe below is a different version of Easter cheese, called Cirek. The cook who submitted it to Out of this Kitchen, Adele Vamos of Munhall, had the following remembrance to share along with the recipe:
This recipe has a rather bland but sweet taste indicative of the moderation that Christians should have in all things. My childhood memories of Cirek include the many households in Whitaker with Cirek balls hanging outside on clotheslines at Easter time. When I saw my baba’s (grandmother’s) Cirek hanging out on the line or from the spigot in the bathtub, I knew we’d be taking the Easter basket to church for the traditional blessing of the baskets on Holy Saturday.”
Cirek | Easter Cheese
1 doz. Eggs, break yolks but do not beat
1-2 tsps. Vanilla
1 qt. milk
½ cup sugar
Combine all ingredients in a white enamel pan. Cook over medium to low heat, stirring constantly, until eggs curdle and form a heavy curd. Pour mixture into a colander that is lined with several layers of cheesecloth or a cotton dish towel. Once drained pick it up, cheesecloth and all, and twist the top part of the cloth tight until you’ve formed a ball. Tightly tie the open end with string, keeping the string very close to the top of the ball. Mixture will be very hot so be careful. Hang over the sink or on a clothesline until cool. Once it is cooled and formed, remove cheesecloth, wrap and refrigerate. Serve cold, sliced or cubed, with ham and Veal Loaf (pulnina). You must have extreme patience in making this dish. It takes about one hour to heat slowly and cook.
Kolachky
There are many ways to spell it: kolachki, kolachky, rohlicky, kolaczki, kolacky, kolache, or rozky. The prefix ko- or ro- comes from an ancient language base meaning roll, horn or stem. The recipe below was submitted by Margaret Majercik, who didn’t indicate what part of the Steel Valley she hailed from.
1 cup milk, scalded
½ cup sugar
1 cup shortening (½ butter, ½ margarine)
1 small yeast
4 cups flour
4 eggs
Combine first three ingredients and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast and stir well with wooden spoon. Add flour alternately with eggs. Stir well after each addition. Let rise for 6 hours in cool place, not refrigerator. Roll out about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 3” squares and fill with favorite fillings, such as prune, cottage cheese, apricot, or canned pie fillings. Place on greased pans and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 375° until brown, about 18-20 minutes. Brush with melted butter when removed from oven. Cool slightly and ice with powdered sugar icing or just sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.
Italian
The recipe below is from Out of this Kitchen, and was submitted by Pat Sommers of Munhall. This simple soup would bring spring flavors to both Easter lunch and Passover Seder (when made with kosher ingredients).
Egg and Spinach Soup
4 cups broth
1 ½ lbs. fresh spinach, without stems
(Peas may be used instead of spinach)
4 eggs
½ cup grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
Bring broth to a boil and add spinach. Cook for 5 minutes. Beat eggs with 1 tbl. cheese. Pour into simmering soup. Simmer 1 minute. Top each serving with more cheese.
Polish
The Out of This Kitchen cookbook notes that Poles were one of the largest immigrant groups to settle in the Pittsburgh region in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and that a lot of those who came were families rather than individuals. “Not only were immigrants ready to lend a hand once you arrived in town, but they would send detailed letters to Poland chock-full of practical information for newcomers.”
The cookbook also points out that the Hyacinth is the traditional Polish Easter flower, and that Easter Monday is a holiday in Poland. “An old tradition, Smigus or Dyngus, consists of a splash of cold water waiting for them at every city corner or even a sprinkle in their old bed on Easter Monday.” The website Culture.PL explains that the day has come to be known as “Wet Monday.” The tradition likely goes back to the 14th century, but has pre-Christian origins connected to the March equinox and the coming of spring. Water is known as a symbol of life and renewal. Similar traditions can be found all around Central and Eastern Europe. Maybe you’ll start a water fight in your back yard with those you’re quarantined with?
Bialy Barszcz | White Borscht
This recipe was submitted to Out of This Kitchen by Sophie Lizik, and she notes that it is traditionally served at Easter.
2 qts. Water
1 cup diced boiled ham
½ lb. smoked kielbasa
2 tsps. Salt.
5 whole peppercorns
2 buds garlic
½ bay leaf
¾ cup sour cream
2 tsps. Sifted flour
Sour salt
Marjoram (optional)
Sliced hard-boiled eggs
Bring the water to a boil. Skin and thinly slice the kielbasa (Polish sausage). Add the ham, kielbasa, salt, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaf. Cook at a gentle boil for 30 to 40 minutes.
Using a fork, blend the sour cream and flour. Add the hot soup stock at the rate 1 tsp. at a time, stirring constantly, until you have about 2 cups of the mixture. Remove the soup stock from the heat and slowly add the sour cream and flour mixture.
If you do not have sour salt, use citric acid crystals or a concentrated citrus juice to make the soup tart to the taste. Add a pinch of marjoram, if you wish. The soup may be served over slices of hard-boiled eggs. The amount of egg is up to your taste, but a couple of slices will ordinarily suffice.
Want to learn more?
This recipe collection only scratches the surface of immigrant-inspired recipes for Easter and Passover. For even more ideas for the Seder Plate and meals throughout Passover, Chabad of Squirrel Hill has an extensive list of recipes and cooking tips listed by course. The Cinnamon and Coriander blog has a comprehensive list of traditional Easter recipes from around the world.
Local Business Options
Chabad of Squirrel Hill offered Seder-to-Go kits, as well as funds for Pesach food and expenses. It also has an online form allowing Jews to authorize a rabbi to act as their agent in the sale of chametz (any food with leavening agents) to non-Jews. Information and a Passover guide can be found by clicking here.
Jak’s Bakery is offering contact-free delivery of Bake-at-Home Banitsa, as well as classic and special Kozunak. Order online at jaksbakery.com or call 412-313-4190. Delivery dates available for both Catholic and Orthodox Easter. Jak’s Bakery specializes in Bulgarian breads and pastries, and is was opened in 2019 by Zhelyazko (Jak) Latinov, who owned and managed a bakery in his native Bulgaria for more than 18 years.
Mantsch Blue Bonnet Bakery in Homestead is taking pre-paid pick-up orders, and will have paska bread, nut rolls, poppyseed rolls, apricot rolls, and more – including cakes shaped like bunnies, lambs, eggs, and Easter baskets. Call 412-462-4957 to place an order—pre-orders end soon.
Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery in Millvale is taking pick-up orders for baguettes, macarons, pastries and more at 412-821-8533.
BreadWorks in the North Side has curbside pickup of its Old World style breads available, including special Easter Packages. Order at breadworkspgh.com or call 412-231-7555, option 2.
Carmi Soul Food in the Southside is open for takeout or delivery, promising that every bite tastes like home. Visit CarmiSoulFood.com or call 412-231-0100.
Pink Box Bakery in Squirrel Hill is offering delivery service for its Taiwanese delicacies and desserts. Visit pinkboxpgh.com or call 412-422-2138.
Café Kolache in Beaver is encouraging everyone to #KeepCalmAndKolacheOn by placing pick-up or delivery orders at cafekolache.com. Kolaches are savory or sweet, and made according to Czech tradition.
The Enrico Biscotti Co.’s bakery in the Strip District remains open with curbside pick-up, local delivery and shipping options. Order online or call 412-281-2602.
The Two Fraus Bakery in Harmony has Paska breads, chocolate-covered peanut-butter Easter eggs, hot cross buns, pretzels and more available – call 724-900-0392 or visit twofraus.com
NEXT Pittsburgh has a full list of local chocolatiers who are offering personalized baskets, candy-making kits, spring crafts, and more with pick up and delivery options.
Guide to Images
Feature image: Image of a pysanky egg created and photographed by Lisa DiStefano-Bauer, 2020.
Image 2: Passover Sedar, 1964. Baraff Family, Fernwald Road, Sq. Hill, Pittsburgh, PA; L-R: Lisa Baraff, Barry Baraff, Sarah (Diamondstone) Baraff, Louis Baraff, Ethel (Gottesman) Baraff, Fritzi (Kronish) Gottesman, Ruth Anne Baraff
Image 3: Easter in Highland Park, Sprague Family, 1957. L-R: Marilyn (Sprague) McCoy, Joyce (Sprague) Anderson, Mark Sprague
Image 4: Bowl of pysanky eggs, created and photographed by South Side-based artist, Lisa DiStefano-Bauer, 2020.
Rivers of Steel Arts is excited to launch the 2020 Mon Valley Featured Artist Series! Showcasing some of the exciting creative professionals working across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor, this weekly blog highlights multiple artists each month, from a variety of boroughs, to provide a snapshot of the region’s growing cultural vitality.
About Gwen Sadler
We kick this series off with an artist whose work is intimately connected to Rivers of Steel Arts, Gwen Sadler. An alumna of Alloy Pittsburgh and a regular contributor to Rivers of Steel’s Metal Arts program, Gwen’s creative drive and dedication to her craft shines a bright light on the community of Munhall, Pennsylvania. You can check out her artwork in the School House Studios on Ravine Street, or watch her cast molten iron with Rivers of Steel during the Festival of Combustion and other events throughout the Mon Valley Creative Corridor.
A Message from Gwen
Hello Mon valley, and beyond! I’m Gwen Sadler, some will know me as Sedlar (the og spelling of the family). For the last few years, post BFA, I have primarily been making cast metal sculpture that deals with the postindustrial landscape and the body. At the heart of my practice lies a scavenger impulse, interest in the cycles of materials through social meaning, and a love for molten metal. When I poured iron for the first time at the Carrie Furnaces little did I know how profoundly it would impact my life and artistic pursuits. I fell in love with the casting process, the region’s industrial history, the transmutation of objects and ideas through changing states of matter, and fire.
Metal work is laborious, dangerous, hard, hot work, that is not for the timid of heart. The community that flocks to the flame are some of the most loving and talented people I have known in life. Finding the friends and mentors that challenge and inspire you to keep creating is part of the artistic path. The alchemical process is both material and spiritual. I have been a part of the Rivers of Steel Metal Arts program since its infancy, about 6 years now—casting sculpture, performing, building tools of the trade, traveling the region, teaching, and learning while sharing this amazing process with people from all walks of life. It has also shown me the dedication it takes to grow a program of this scale. There is always something in the way; creativity and the ability to adapt is key.
Currently I maintain live-in studio space at the Munhall schoolhouse with three other artists. The building is over a century old and has been a place of education, worship, business, and community for the constantly evolving neighborhood. It’s a really special place to be; it’s so important that artists are able to keep access to affordable and inspiring studios as Pittsburgh continues to evolve. We have hosted exhibitions for local artists, had open studios, and are hoping to increase our community engagement, while paying some respect to the legacy of the building. And, it’s right across the river from the Carrie Furnaces, my studio away from studio… So, it’s a pretty great set up, I am very fortunate.
Hope you all are making do with hermetic life, in these upsetting and uncertain times. Uncertainty is part of any creative process; I find again and again being able to work through it is as important as the outcome. For me creating, however I can, is a means of survival…
As the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve, Rivers of Steel is committed to do our part in to help slow the spread of the virus. Therefore, the Bost Building will be closed to the public—including all visitors for meetings—for the indefinite future. Thank you.
This summer 72 educators from across the country will convene in Pittsburgh for a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop presented by Rivers of Steel and the Archives & Special Collections Department at the University of Pittsburgh. Entitled The Homestead Strike & the Growth of America as an Industrial Power, the workshop will be offered to two cohorts of 36 educators each during the weeks of July 12 – 18 and July 19 – 25, 2020.
The Battle of Homestead is considered the most famous event in American labor history. This workshop will provide educators with a comprehensive look at circumstances that led to the armed conflict and what its lasting impact has been in the United States. Participants will immerse themselves in the battle from both sides by examining primary sources related to Carnegie and Frick’s business practices, worker conditions, the direct aftermath of the battle, and what came in later years as U.S. business took stock of the relationship between management and labor.
The seven days of programming and research includes extensive discussions and lectures with visiting scholars, along with faculty and staff from the presenting organizations. Daily site visits to relevant historic landmarks and museums will help educators to explore the details and consequences of the Homestead Steel Strike, expanding their insight into these impactful events.
Notable visiting scholars include: Les Standiford, historian and author of Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America; Dr. Paul Kahan, author and a leading expert on the political, diplomatic, and economic history of the United States in the nineteenth century; Quentin Skrabec, author of Henry Clay Frick: The Life of the Perfect Capitalist and The Carnegie Boys: The Lieutenants of Andrew Carnegie That Changed America; along with notable locals Steffi Domike, Tammy Hepps, Barbara Jones, Ken Kobus, Charlie McCollester, Ted Muller, and Joel Woller. Visit the workshop website for more details on these distinguished scholars, along with descriptions of the presenting Rivers of Steel and University of Pittsburgh staff.
Teachers, librarians, museum educators, and the like are encouraged to apply here before March 1, 2020. Selected participants will receive a $1,200 stipend to assist with travel expenses. Successful applicants will be notified of their selection on Friday, March 27, 2020, and they will have until April 3, 2020 to accept or decline the offer.
For inquiries and application submissions please contact:
Kathryn Miller Haines
Associate Director
Center for American Music
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh PA 15260
412-624-4100
kmill@pitt.edu
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About Curtis Reaves
About Curtis Reaves
A Message from Katy
Nature’s Way of Reclaiming a Built Environment
We originally looked at ways to make the northern end the eastern portion a parking lot and create a trail through the treed meadow to the ore yard. In July of 2010, Rick Darke found us. Rick Darke is a renowned landscape design consultant, author, lecturer, and photographer who specializes in urban parks and community places that celebrate the resiliency of the landscape. He had seen the site while he was taking a helicopter survey ride with people from the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden and Fallingwater. He asked his one of companions on the trip, Ann Talarek, if she could arrange a visit. He contacted us and I brought them into the site for a tour. We spent time walking around discussing the future of the site, how do want to use now? How to use it in the future?
An Opportunity to Explore: City Nature Challenge
A Message from Lindsey
About Carin Mincemoyer
Traditions in a Time of Social Distancing
Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from decades of slavery in ancient Egypt. When Pharoah refused to comply to God’s requests to free the Israelites, ten devastating plagues were delivered upon Egypt. The last of these ten plagues was to kill the firstborn of all Egyptians, but while doing so God spared the children of Israel, “passing over” their homes. This last plague broke Pharoah’s resistance, and he chased his former slaves out of his land. The Israelites left in such a hurry that the bread they baked as provisions for the journey did not have time to rise.
Children have German immigrants to thank for bringing their 
About Gwen Sadler
