MARIE WATT

For over a decade, Marie Watt has been working with steel I beams, drawn to their interwoven history with generations of Haudenosaunee ironworkers, known as “Skywalkers,” who built many of the iconic landmarks in the Manhattan skyline and other urban infrastructure. In preparing for this exhibition, Watt undertook extensive research into the history and contemporary processes of steel and glass production in the Pittsburgh region. As one of the most recycled materials in the world, steel carries the legacy of past generations forward into the present and future similar to how Watt works with blankets as sites of ongoing stories and symbols of our connectedness.

Watt’s interdisciplinary practice explores the intersection of history, community, and storytelling as a catalyst for connection, and the artist is known for assembling materials drawn from community-led workshops. For this new body of work, Watt partnered with the Pittsburgh Poetry Collective and Carnegie Museum of Art’s educators in engaging workshops that inspired a list of words in response to Western Pennsylvania’s industrial history and present-day concerns. Visitors will experience the culmination of Watt’s process in the sculptures that carry various words collected during the artist’s engagement with many creative communities in Pittsburgh.