Rivers of steel and paint: Why Pittsburgh is the USA’s next big art town 

With a mixture of awe and confusion, I peered up at the super-sized stag head. It was certainly a work of art, rough as it was in appearance, manufactured from insulated wire and found objects. A creation like this might normally be in an art museum, but I was wearing a hard hat and I was nowhere near a gallery. This monumental guerilla work was embedded between blast furnaces no. 6 and no. 7 at the Carrie Blast Furnace National Historic Landmark, just outside of Pittsburgh. In fact, the stag sculpture is now a revered part of this former mill. But how did it get here?

“In the 1990s, when this mill stood abandoned, a group of local artists snuck onto the property at night and constructed the sculpture. They used materials found around the site to piece it together and it was, technically, an act of vandalism. But now, the artists are applauded,” explained my guide Chris Fannin, a former employee who leads popular tours here today.

When active (from 1884 to 1982), the furnaces were scathingly hot and the centre of a smelting process which turned iron ore, coke and limestone into iron ingots. These were then sold to tool makers and steel manufacturers such as Andrew Carnegie. During the late 19th century, at the peak of the industrial revolution, this area – rich in water, coal and limestone – saw an almighty boom.

But eventually, Pittsburgh and the steel industry hit hard times. Between 1980 and 1983, as US metal makers began competing on the world stage, roughly 95,000 jobs were lost when industry collapsed and mills including this one closed.

A physical expression of the impact of this closure can be found on the boundary wall between the mill and the Monongahela River. Neon yellow, slate blue and fragmented fuchsia colours explode dramatically on the wall, evoking the artists’ frustration, anger and anxiety. Initially – much like the stag head – this was seen as vandalism but, over time, it began to be appreciated as the guttural art it was.

These days, graffiti and other rogue art on the site are celebrated, protected and preserved. There is even a curated graffiti arts program with walls designated for contemporary artists to make use of.

As Pittsburgh moves further from its blue collar roots – and with investment in the arts from former industrialists, plus leading institutions such as the Andy Warhol Museum and the Carnegie Museums – change is certainly obvious. The art scene is flourishing like never before.

I left the Swissvale suburbs, with its industrial past, and returned to the newly modernised city. The taxi driver spoke endlessly about the upcoming NFL game as clouds formed overhead. On exiting my ride, I sprinted towards the Allegheny River and walked briskly over the bridge, hoping to avoid incoming showers.

I arrived on the North Shore and spotted a huge work of public art next to a derelict building. The North Shore and other industrialised areas of Pittsburgh are now being revitalised. The POP (People of Pittsburgh) district is already in progress. The plan is to uplift and refurbish buildings and open spaces around the world-renowned Warhol Museum to create an artistic hub.

A component of this space, also known as POP Park, is a massive teak sculpture named Together, depicting two creatures with crosses for eyes hugging tightly. The creator of this dreamy doll-like animation is artist Brian Donnelly, professionally known as KAWS. He is famous for similar cartoon characters that adorned cereal boxes in the 1970s and is one of the lauded and internationally recognised artists the Warhol Museum is courting.

The unused office building next door to POP Park will also become a Brave Bean coffee shop, with the upstairs transformed into an educational printmaking premises. In tandem with this, POP will have an emphasis on education and encourage local talent. Nicole Dezelon, Director of Learning at the Andy Warhol Museum, let me in on the long-term goal: “We at the museum hope that with the development of local artistic talent, the next Andy Warhol won’t have to leave Pittsburgh.”

As the city recovered from the downturn of the 1980s, a new appreciation for local artists started to emerge. Former industrialists’ money started making its way into the public purse, too, and artwork began to appear citywide.

Pittsburgh’s groundbreaking son, Andy Warhol, was by now being feted as the most famous North American artist of the 20th century. Andy was born and raised in Pittsburgh and from an immigrant family hailing from Poland. His father was a labourer working long hours, but it was his mother’s innate artistic flair that most influenced him. Ultimately, he changed his name from Warhola to Warhol and moved to New York City where his artistic ambitions could flourish.

Opposite POP Park, the Warhol Museum is the largest gallery dedicated to a single artist in North America (8,200 m² over seven floors). Plastered on the outside of the museum is a work of art in honour of Andy’s mother, Julia Warhola, an incalculable influence on Andy. The whimsical mosaic piece, by local tile artist Laura Jean McLaughlin, is dominated by a bespeckled female figure surrounded by fanciful plants and animals, a reference to Julia’s extensive creative output. McLaughlin is a recipient of the Maggie Milono Memorial Award from the Carnegie Museum of Art – the same Carnegie of steel industry fame.

I strolled down Vulcan Way and stumbled upon a rather wonderful alleyway running alongside the museum, named Silver Street. This wall was covered with an avant-garde mural titled ‘Over the Rainbow’ by Miami artist Typoe. The rest of the alley was painted entirely in silver.

Silver Street is an homage to Andy Warhol’s NYC loft and studio, which was decorated entirely in argentum. These premises were known as the Factory during the 1960s when it was a centre of creativity and a hangout for up-and-coming, eventually groundbreaking artists. Nicole told me: “Andy always surrounded himself with young people. It was how he kept up with the latest trends.”

The ‘Factory’ was also a reference to Warhol’s prodigious artistic output, his colourful paintings of mediocre objects and, also, certainly to his working class and immigrant background.

Just to the north is a disturbing and wonderfully colourful ‘museum’ known as Randyland – a malay of kitsch, colour and 20th-century objects. Andy would have certainly been a fan of this quirky spot.

Heading east, one of the trendy and art-infused new places to visit is the Strip District. Twenty five years ago, the city’s docks, main train station and warehouses were on the decline. The area was eventually transformed into a vibrant hangout with funky retail hubs, florists, a duckpin bowling alley-cum-eatery named Coop de Ville, and plenty of art galleries, including the Society of Contemporary Craft. I popped into a famous Hoagie Sandwich bar at lunchtime and tried out one of Pennsylvania’s most famous exports. These large submarine sandwiches are associated with the Italian community and come with a whole variety of meat and cheese fillings. They are mind-blowingly good.

Then the work of another seminal creative lies just outside the city. Frank Lloyd Wright single-handedly changed the architectural world, particularly in the USA, as he invented open-plan living and promoted the use of natural local materials.

Fallingwater, now an UNESCO World Heritage site, is just over an hour’s drive from Pittsburgh and was originally built as a lavish mountain cabin for the Edgar Kaufmann family. The quirky cantilevered home is perched over a running stream and seems to blend seamlessly into its natural backdrop. This Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece is one of the most visited of his properties in the United States.

It’s just another reason why art lovers should make a beeline this city on the rise – a creative haven and a building block of American history.

The author’s trip was supported by Visit Pittsburgh (visitpittsburgh.com). Daily flights from London Heathrow to Pittsburgh began in March 2025 with British Airways (from £512). Marriot Springhill Suites North Shore has rooms starting from £119 per night.

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