A N E M P L O Y E E A R T E x H I B I T I O N - UAW-Chrysler.com

1st-place
winner
Dennis Sabatowich
Darfur
Welded Sculpture
48” x 12” x 12”
UNIQUE Metal Sculpture RAISES AWARENESS
OF Humanitarian Crisis IN AFRICA
Whether he’s working in the metal shop at Warren Truck Assembly or in an artist’s
studio, Dennis Sabatowich elevates welding to its highest level. He uses his skills,
first learned on the production line 35 years ago, to transform metal into thoughtprovoking
art forms.
Tapping his fertile imagination, the UAW Local 140 member has impressed judges
with his welded sculptures in a variety of Detroit area art shows. Darfur, his winning
entry in the 2010-2011 Artists at Work competition, is no exception.
Mr. Sabatowich’s empathetic piece symbolizes an innocent victim of the ongoing
civil war that began in 2003 in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Several
hundred thousand civilians have died as a result of combat or starvation and
disease. Millions of others have been forced to flee their homes; many are living in
refugee camps.
“I was trying to picture what an individual would look like after weeks of wandering
in a desert, looking for help,” says Mr. Sabatowich, who has been a weld inspector
for the last 10 of his 37 years at Warren Truck Assembly.
“Your village was burned to the ground, village people are killed and the lucky ones
flee into the desert with just the clothes on their backs.”
Darfur is an example of what Mr. Sabatowich calls “found art.” He typically uses
discarded auto parts or scrap metal to create his one-of-a-kind pieces. In this case,
his raw materials included a drain culvert, muffler part, valve seal, drill bit and
fence post cap.
He worked on Darfur in the metal shop at the College for Creative Studies in
Detroit, where he has taken several welding classes through the Continuing
Education Program.
A four-time exhibitor in Artists at Work, Mr. Sabatowich captured second place in
the 2005-2006 show.
Mr. Sabatowich has two other welded sculptures in the exhibition on page 13.
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