Mock-up of public art commission to be installed in October 2025.

The sculptural forms trace the path of the Monongahela River flowing north from Morgantown, West Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Steel as a material choice in this project connects to the history of steel production in the Monongahela River Valley. The river forms standing vertically together suggest a forest or network of veins. I'm interested in the similarities between trees, rivers, and the human body, each being organized into systems that are efficiently and continually moving water. Proximity to water was not only necessary for the transport of the raw materials supporting the steel industry; water itself, in extremely large volumes, is also necessary for the production of steel. It is estimated that at their peak many of the Pittsburgh mills pumped as much as 17,000 gallons of water per minute from the Monongahela River, approximately 34,000 gallons of water were needed per ton of steel produced. By the 1930's the Monongahela was a dead body of water. The heated water released untreated back into the river raised the average temperature to 98 degrees and contributed to the river's extremely low PH balance.

Steve Rossi

Steve Rossi