Tom Dawson

Born on 27th Street on the South Side in 1923, Tom Dawson grew up in the shadow of the J&L steel mills. Following military service in World War II, he went to work in the mills, starting at the Eliza Furnace, then operated cranes in the Open Hearth Plant at Jones & Laughlin. He alternated millwork with commercial artwork after attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The realization to paint what he knew best, the steel mills, came to him in the 1970s, when he produced a series of oils depicting the open hearth department, newer electric furnaces, and the men that worked in these areas with him. His paintings speak eloquently of a crucial time in Pittsburgh’s steelmaking heritage, linking the past and the future.