The industrialization of Southwestern Pennsylvania meant more than commerce. The region's culture had to first evolve to accept the concept that entrepreneurs could legitimately seek unlimited wealth and later adapt to the idea of servitude to patriarchal corporations.

Francis Komperda's oil painting, "Portrait of Mike Kessel" (c. 1938-40), is part of the "Born of Fire" multimedia exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. Click photo for larger image. 'Born of Fire' Where: Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg. When: Preview and reception 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Exhibit runs Sunday through Sept. 3. Tickets: Free; 724-837-1500. Preview and reception 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Exhibit runs Sunday through Sept. 3.

To this day, much of what we are as Pittsburghers, good and bad, is rooted in those notions -- many of us are no more than a generation or two out of the mills.

That's a lot of cultural anthropology to swallow, particularly when it's explained through the abstract imagery of art. But that's the goal of an ambitious, multidiscipline exhibition conceived by the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.

"Born of Fire" attempts to tell the human story of industrialization through period paintings, a catalog book of the collection, songs about the region, a documentary film, historical analysis, a steelworkers' picnic and a road tour, still under construction, that organizers hope will take perceptions of Pittsburgh's industrialization across America and around the world.

Like the wildfire industrial expansion that came to define Pittsburgh, "Born of Fire" started as a spark and grew exponentially.

"We have a large permanent collection of paintings, 'Valley of Work: Scenes of Industry,' " said Amy Baldonieri, the Westmoreland's director of development and finance. "It's about 140 paintings in all, relating to the steel and coal and glass industries in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania. 'Born of Fire' began several years ago as an exploration of ways to use the collection to increase earned income while forwarding the museum's mission of educating the public about the region's steel heritage."

First came a search for funding to compile a catalog documenting the permanent collection. At about the same time, a local folk group, The NewLanders, approached the West-moreland about marketing its first CD, a collection of old songs written about the region's heritage.

"In a meeting somebody said, 'Wouldn't it have been great if they had put one of our paintings on the CD cover?' " said Baldonieri. "Then it was, well, why don't we commission them to do an album? And if we're going to have an album about the collection, why not exhibit more than just the 50 or 60 paintings that we had on view?"

The NewLanders, from left, Gerard Rohlf, Doug Wilkin, Art Gazdik and Paula Purnell, will perform Saturday at the Westmoreland Museum. Click photo for larger image.

At the same time, Massachusetts filmmaker Bill Mosher was taping a segment about the museum for the PBS TV series "Visionaries," hosted by Sam Waterston. Mosher wanted to do a documentary film about Pittsburgh told through the paintings of the permanent collection. Baldonieri tied the expanding exhibit to a line of "Born of Fire" merchandise, from T-shirts to a box set including the CD, the documentary film and the catalog. And since they were showcasing the lives of steelworkers, why not invite former steelworkers to the opening? And why stop there? Why not take the whole project on a tour of industrial cities of the world?

Each time the Westmoreland threw another brick into the hopper, more foundation money and donations were collected to pay for it. The result is an expansive multimedia exhibition that attempts to chronicle through art the cultural costs and benefits of our region's "valley of work."

The Valley of Work: Scenes of Industry. On exhibit for the first time, the complete collection of more than 140 paintings, photographs and works on paper, 1900 to the present, documents Pittsburgh's industrial past. Many of the works are 100 years old or more, but local contemporary artists represented in the collection include Ron Donoughe, Mark Perrott, Clyde Hare, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Cynthia Cooley, Pam Bryan and Raymond L. DeFazio. After the exhibit closes in September, it will travel through 2009 to museums in other industrial towns. The first overseas show will be in Oberhausen, Germany, in February.

"Born of Fire: The Valley of Work." A catalog book documenting the permanent collection was written by Westmoreland curator Barbara L. Jones, with analysis by Edward Muller of the University of Pittsburgh and Joel Tarr of Carnegie Mellon University.

"Born of Fire: Songs of Steel and Industry." Pittsburgh folk group The NewLanders researches old songs about the region and gives them new life through contemporary interpretations that range from acoustic to electric. The group, named for the marketeers whom William Penn sent to Europe to recruit Colonists for his new Pennsylvania, debuts its CD with a release party, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, at the Westmoreland museum.

"We wanted to tell the human story of steel in art and music," says the band's Paula Purnell. "Researching these songs, I've found a much deeper respect for industrial culture than I had before. Growing up here, the steel mills were big stinky places that smelled like rotten eggs. But the experience of researching the songs and connecting to other people who worked on the trains and in the mines and on the barges and in the mills has transcended my childish visions of what it all represented."

"Born of Fire: How Pittsburgh Built a Nation." The 60-minute documentary film by award-winning producer Bill Mosher includes paintings from the permanent collection, period photos, analysis by historians and the music of The NewLanders. It premieres at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Greensburg Middle School, across the street from the museum.

"It's not a traditional historical documentary, not a chronicle of events," says Mosher. "It's about how the steel industry impacted on American culture, as seen through the eyes of art. A decision was made by the American public that defines who we are even today: We had to accept that an individual could have unlimited wealth and make decisions about the lives of other people. It's a belief that Americans didn't have before the late 1800s, that any kind of progress is good as long as it leads to more jobs in greater convenience. Initially, artists thought the Industrial Revolution was ugly, but later a new group of artists found astounding beauty in the industrial process."

Born of Fire: A Steelworkers Picnic. Starting at 6:30 p.m., includes free ethnic food, a cash bar and "Bessie the Bessemer," a larger-than-life inflatable public artwork on loan from The Sprout Fund and Pittsburgh Roars. It's on Park Street, Greensburg, between Greensburg Salem Middle School and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.