John Lienert: 1924 - 1974 John Lienert was a fireman, ironworker, husband, father and artist. Lienert’s work has been viewed by very few people outside of his immediate family since his death in 1974. Lienert began sketching in pencil and charcoal in the 1950s, progressing to water colors and oils. In the 1960s he began sculpting. He started with plaster, then wood, stone and finally metal. In 1966, John Lienert was a Pittsburgh firefighter, stationed on the fireboat, the “Scully.” The “Scully was docked at the bottom of Fourth Street on Pittsburgh’s Southside. To pass the time between fire calls and maintenance duties, he set up a workbench on the dock to do his sculpting. A June 2, 1966 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article and photo shows him sculpting plaster busts on the shore of the Monongahela River. He was also featured on the “Eleanor Shano” show on local television. Art was Lienert’s passion. Largely self taught, he did take some classes at then Carnegie Tech and the Arts and Crafts Center in Shadyside. He worked in many media and used family members as subjects for some of his work. He displayed at the 3 Rivers Arts Festival at a time when you had to be judged and approved to enter. John used only hand tools in his sculpting, mostly hammer, chisels and knives, never resorting to power tools, until he began welding and brazing his metal sculptures. Family legend is that he scavenged floating logs from the river for some of his busts. His brass figures ranged from small animals to a life size interpretation of Don Quixote John Lienert grew up in Pittsburgh’s Southside and spent his adult life there and in Mount Oliver and Beechview. He was a World War II veteran, having served in Europe. He did scenery design and performed in St. Michael’s Passion Play. He was an avid gardener and loved roses. Lienert was never interested in selling his art, preferring to give a few select pieces to family and friends, keeping most of it. He did have a one man showing at Ye Olde Art Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. That was in December of 1973. Unfortunately John Lienert passed away at the young age of forty-nine in April of 1974. Since that time no one outside of his immediate family and friends has viewed any of his work. For the first time in thirty-four years Lienert’s paintings and sculptures will be displayed at the Bellevue Art Crawl on May 24. The third floor of the old G C Murphy building will be transformed into an art gallery. John Lienert’s daughter, Shari McGill has a plaque in her Bellevue home that she feels speaks of her father. The author is believed to be Robert Stevenson. THAT MAN IS A SUCCESS who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.

A longish technical note: This is from a test roll I shot in a Hasselblad flexbody I recently purchased. The film is Kodak 400CN which is a black and white film meant to be processed in C-41 chemicals. I processed it in T-Max developer, scanned it as a colour negative and then reworked and desaturated it in Lightroom. Film: Kodak 400CN Developer:T-Max 1-4, 24 degrees, 13 mins. Ilfostop/Ilford Rapid Fixer/Sunlight Dishsoap