• In this Issue >
  • Features
    • From the President
    • 258 years of trade unionism
    • Beware of the man behind the screen
    • Artists at Work
    • Capturing the essence of her subject
    • Giving new personality to old metal scraps
    • Honorable mentions
  • Union Front
    • What’s in the SAP?
    • Closing loopholes
    • Auto Dealership
    • Michigan workers vote ‘yes’
    • Workers get a first contract
    • UAW wins big settlement
    • Organizing Roundup
  • Departments
    • From the Readers
    • World of Work
    • UAW 101
    • Safer Work
    • Still Solid
    • Skilled Trades
    • Workers' Words
    • Phipps' Tips
    • Green Corner
    • Solidarity Index / Past Issues

Photo: SANDI LOPEZ

A Spring Walk, welded sculpture by Dennis Sabatowich

Dennis Sabatowich

Giving new personality to old metal scraps

Dennis Sabatowich’s first metal sculptures were small enough to fit into his hands. As his skills developed, his pieces grew larger. These days his works hardly fit into anything smaller than the back of his Jeep.

“I guess I’ll know it’s time to stop when they don’t fit into my Jeep anymore,” said Sabatowich, a weld inspector at Warren (Mich.) Truck Assembly, who won second place in the 2005-2006 Artists at Work contest.

His winning entry, “A Spring Walk,” is a whimsical metal sculpture that weighs about 150 pounds and began as old semi-truck leaf springs. Sabatowich sandblasted the metal springs, stripped away the silver-gray coloring and added a golden bronze patina.

The result, he said, looks a lot like three people walking.

“I really like to make my art sort of whimsical,” said Sabatowich, a UAW Local 140 member for 32 years. “These things just take on their own personality.”

His lifelong interest in crafts was a way to unwind after the workday. He learned how to weld on the production line at Warren Truck and enjoyed it so much he later took classes at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

His works have been part of the Artists at Work exhibit several times and on two previous occasions earned him honorable mentions.

Many of the materials he uses are metal scraps that he picks up on his regular walks or bike rides around Detroit, he said. Sometimes he knows right away what can emerge from the various shapes he finds.

“Other times I just put them in a box and later on take one out and look at it and give it more thought,” he said.

Sandra Davis

In other words

Mighty Mo, metal engraving “Art is about creating a new way to look at things. It can also be the inspiration for a new way of doing a job. It expands your capacity to reach beyond yourself.” Stanford Giles, Local 1166, Millwright, Kokomo (Ind.) Casting

“When you see my work, what you can see is my passion for the African culture.” Phillip Hill Sr., Local 212, toolmaker, jig & fixture, Mt. Elliott Tool and Die, Detroit Ashanti –The Symbol, mixed media

Untitled II, textile “It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. If you start it and it doesn’t work, you just keep trying and trying and trying.” April Shipp, Local 412, Stockroom coordinator DaimlerChrysler Technology Center, Auburn Hills, Mich.