INEVENTS
Rivers of Steel Festival of Combustion
Over Labor Day weekend, Pittsburghers had the chance to literally play with fire.
Rivers of Steel’s annual Festival of Combustion was held at the Carrie Furnaces on
Sept. 2. Presented by Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation, this exciting family-
friendly event highlighted all hot art making processes with booths dedicated to
glass flameworking, ceramics, molten lava, bronze casting and cast iron. Visitors
enjoyed live music, local eats, hot art and cold treats.
The Festival of Combustion was founded in 2015, shortly before the official
launch of Rivers of Steel Arts early the following year. It was inspired by similar
festivals in Eastern Europe during the early 2000s as well as larger events like
Burning Man, where heat and combustion play a key role in the event. “Rather
than duplicate the models from past events, we wanted to gear this festival toward
families and children by focusing on hands-on experiences and opportunities for
attendees to create something themselves,” says the festival’s chief curator, Chris
McGinnis. “We also wanted to highlight the location itself as an important part
of the story so we decided to dial in on art making processes that require heat and
showcase an iron pour at the center of the festival. The Carrie Furnace was originally
a commercial iron blast furnace that could produce up to 1,250 tons of iron each day
during the height of production.”
For more information, visit rosarts.org/event/festival-combustion-2017/.
Photos by Adam@Primetime
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