1986
An Open Hearth Furnace’s tap hole was eight inches wide by four inches high. The six-foot shaft was packed with dolomite and banked upwards through the furnace’s three-foot–thick brick wall. When steel was ready to be born, an explosive rocket called a jet tapper was shoved into the channel and detonated. After the jet tapper’s nozzle nicked an opening into the furnace, the steel chewed its way out.
A fine orange-yellow thread trickled, then flowed, then filled the spout. Steel kicked and shot off radiant sprays as three hundred fifty tons of blinding yellow-white liquid stampeded into the ladle.
In that bucket-shaped vessel, the steel rose as bright as the sun, thrusting swords of light into the vast and dark teeming aisle. Fireworks erupted. Signal bells and gongs hooted and shrieked.
Four Shop’s canyon-like walls gleamed while the crane hoisted the ladle and nursed that sloshing, volcanic brew toward the ingot moulds.
Background
Steel Genesis is about a collection of enormous sheds that used fire, air and water to turn rocks into lakes of molten metal as bright as the sun. That world was in Pittsburgh, the city once called, “The Steel Capital of The World.”
James Patton once called Pittsburgh, “Hell with the lid off.” These photo-essays present the evolution of three miles along the Monongahela River, reminding that genesis is both universal and personal. The process is ongoing.
Essentially, Steel Genesis is about metal and mettle, honoring all who take what nature provides and create something extraordinary, who make steel from water, fire, earth and air.
Exhibitions
Hundreds of images, artifacts, interviews and stories document the evolution of this place over a 25-year period. The work is available in two forms:
On The Making of Steel Genesis, Sandra Gould Ford
This exhibition was created by MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow LaToya Ruby Frazier. Photography of Pittsburgh and Sandra Gould Ford’s life during the summer of 2017 illustrates and embraces the archival images and artifacts.
LINK TO ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS
For information and to arrange an exhibition, contact: _______________
Steel Genesis, Sandra Gould Ford
This exhibition contains images, artifacts and stories from Sandra Gould Ford’s and can include selections from LaToya Ruby Frazier’s photo-documentary.
LINK TO ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS
For information and to arrange an exhibition, contact: _______________
