Help Save the Carrie Deer Restoration - Iconic Urban Art - Rankin, PA, August 16th

Help Save the Carrie Deer Restoration - Iconic Urban Art - Rankin, PA, August 16th
 
In 1997, a group of artists entered the grounds of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin and Swissvale, PA, to explore the abandoned iron mill as a potential site for their urban art. Inspired by the site, they erected a 40’ sculpture out of the remnants of the Blast Furnace Plant: The Carrie Deer, an artistic homage to natures' remarkable powers of reclamation.

Among the rusted ruins of the Carrie Furnaces stands a behemoth of a sculpture known as the Carrier Deer. Since 1997, this 40-foot tall deer head created from remnants of the former Blast Furnace Plant has played an artistic homage to the remarkable natural powers of reclamation that have taken hold of the site since its closure in the 1980s.
 
Rankin, Pennsylvania, August 7, 2014 - Help save the Carrie Deer! Join Rivers of Steel Heritage Area on August 16th for an evening of food, fun and film at the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, PA, and show your support for the restoration of one of Pittsburgh's great urban artworks and the historic site that inspired its creation: the Carrie Deer.
 
In 1997, a group of artists entered the grounds of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin and Swissvale, PA, to explore the abandoned iron mill as a potential site for their urban art. Inspired by the site, they erected a 40’ sculpture out of the remnants of the Blast Furnace Plant. Borrowing from the mill’s previous mechanical methods they created their own assembly lines and built jigs and pulley systems. Inspired by the sheer personality and history of the site, they created The Carrie Deer—an artistic homage to natures' remarkable powers of reclamation—and in the process created a monument to hard work, dedication, sense of place, and rebirth that has helped make the region what it is today.
 
For this magnificent piece of art to survive into the future, it needs to be restored and maintained. 
 
Special guest hosts for the event are actor David Conrad and WQED's filmmaker Rick Sebak who open the festivities with the VIP Reception from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. 
  
VIP reception guest activities include tours of the site dramatically lit by "sunlight transformed into electricity," live honky-tonk/classic rock of The Beagle Brothers, improvisational dance by The Pillow Project, and demonstrations of welding and metal sculpture by Industrial Arts Cooperative Metal Sculpture Workshop. Take a docent tour of the site while indulging in the great food provided by the sponsors: Superior Motors, Dorothy 6 Blast Furnace Cafe, The Brew Gentlemen and Stay Tuned Distillery.
 
Admission is $10 general admission, $125 VIP.? General Admission gates open at 8:00 PM with food and beverages. 
 
As dusk falls, a special presentation opens the Carrie Deer Restoration Kickstarter Campaign before the open-air premiere of The Carrie Deer Documentary. The documentary explores the ideas of friendship and collaboration, process and experimentation, the sense of place and history and the inspirational muse of abandoned industrial spaces, how the artists came together to create this impressive tribute and what it means to the present and future use of the Carrie Furnaces site. 
 
Go to www.RiversofSteel.com for the complete listing of activities and to buy tickets for this night-long celebration. 

Open-air screening begins at dusk. General Admission holders should bring a lawn chair.  Alcohol is strictly prohibited and the event takes place rain or shine. 
 
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