Carolyn Latanision - Blast Furnace Air Valve, Bethlehem Steel

Watercolor painting by Carolyn Latanision.

Artist Statement: I have been painting a series of paintings memorializing our second largest steel company in the United States, Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Bethlehem PA, which built most of our major skyscrapers and bridges as well as armaments for both world wars and the Spanish American War. My family was engaged on the production side of the plant in numerous jobs and I lived within a few blocks of the blast furnaces, so it was a big part of my life growing up. I photographed many of the structures during several trips through the plant shortly after it stopped production. This painting is a blast furnace stove air valve.