The Art of Scrap

Stuart Padnos has an alter ego. Most know him as the senior executive vice president of Louis Padnos Iron & Metal. Co. (Holland, Mich.). But he's also a sculptor.

For the last three years, Padnos has been designing abstract sculptures and installing them at the company's Holland and Grand Rapids, Mich., scrap plants. He uses only scrap materials, and his imagination is limited only by what scrap he finds.

Padnos, an art collector, was motivated to create these works by more than just artistic inspiration. The main Padnos plant is bisected by a highway, the major commuter route from Holland's main bedroom community. The company voluntary landscaped the grounds adjacent to the road, for which it won an award from the city's beautification committee. But Stuart Padnos thought the area needed a little something extra.

Nine sculptures later, the roadside has become an outdoor gallery. Commuters have written to Padnos, saying, "You've made our drive to and from work so much more pleasant." Tour buses stop occasionally to examine the pieces. The works of art, some of which weigh more than 12 tons, help erase the stigma that a scrap operation is unsightly and show that a scrap plant can be a positive neighbor in a community.

Padnos sees the art as a legacy to the community, his company, and his grandchildren. "The sculptures have accomplished exactly what we wanted to do," Stuart concludes, "and at the same time I'm having a lot of fun."

Central Metals Co. (Atlanta) also pursued the contest route in its "Art of Recycling” competition and exhibit, launched in recognition of Earth Day. "We had done it before successfully," says Alan Cohen, one of the company's three directors, "and we saw it as something meaningful to do on Earth Day and something helpful to the community.”

More than 30 sculpture students from Georgia universities participated, with cash prizes going to the top three winners. The works were exhibited for several weeks at the Trinity Gallery in downtown Atlanta, and all sales went to the artists with no gallery commission taken. The competition was so successful that Central Metals hopes to hold another one this year.

Central Metals is also known for its company mascot, a tin man sculpture named Mr. Scrappy, who stands like a sentinel near the company's scrap scale. Cohen created Mr. Scrappy in the early 1960s and, since then, the sculpture has had its 15 minutes of fame, drawing national coverage on several occasions.

Opportunity knocked for Wisconsin artist Don Stolley at a St. Patrick's Day party two years ago. He happened to talk with art patrons Sheldon and Helaine Lasky of Sadoff Iron & Metal Co. (Fond du Lac, Wis.) about his artistic yearning to wander through a scrap plant and photograph some interesting materials. Helaine said, "We are scrap" and Stolley's wish was granted.

The Laskys commissioned Stolley and fellow artist Gerry Erickson to create sculptures and photographs using scrap as the raw material and subject. The artists were intrigued by the textures, colors, and shapes of turnings, punchings, bales, and other scrap. "It's so much fun to just scrounge around a scrap plant," says Stolley, who runs a commercial photography business. He began the project by photographing scrap in still4ife arrangements in his studio. The Laskys liked the photos and encouraged him to turn the arrangements into sculptures.

The artworks, which so far include six sculptures and seven photographs, are exhibited in the company's newly remodeled offices. Erickson, who photographs scrap at the Sadoff plant, explains, "I wanted to show some of the beauty you can find in a pile of scrap."

The artists praise the Laskys for supporting them and giving them "a chance to be artistic with a commercial job," Erickson says. "They just turned me loose and said, 'Shoot Whatever you want.' That was heaven." The Laskys maintain an open-ended arrangement with the artists, allowing them to take scrap for their artworks m exchange for getting first dibs on each piece. "It's a nice working relationship," Stolley concludes. "It's been fun for us, and I think it’s been fun for them."

Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) (Dallas) knows that scrap can be beautiful, especially when transformed by artists. That's why the company has sponsored a "Scrap Can Be Beautiful" sculpture contest for the last 12 years.

CMC invites students from the Dallas Arts Magnet High School to select scrap from one of its plants, restricting them only to what they can carry away. The artworks they create are then displayed at CMC's annual meeting, where three winners are chosen in two categories--floor pieces and table pieces. In 1990, approximately 17 students created 39 artworks. First place gets $200, second wins $150, and third receives $100. The winning six pieces are exhibited in the CMC headquarters for a year, after which the pieces are returned to the artists.

CMC also offers to buy all nonwinning pieces that the students wish to sell. The company donates these works to The 500 Inc., a Dallas philanthropic organization that holds an annual auction to support the local arts. CMC then matches the auction price of each piece. "The program goes communitywide," says contest founder and CMC public relations director Bob Davis.

The program not only shows CMC to be a good corporate citizen, but it provides recognition and financial support to art students. Alex Burton, a local radio personality and contest judge, says, "If it weren't for Commercial Metals, there would be no metal sculpting program at the Arts Magnet High School.”

CMC has assisted the school in other ways too. For instance, as the sculpting program became more popular, students had trouble finding time on the school's welding equipment. So CMC bought the school a new $2,000 shielded gas welder and other fabrication equipment to commemorate the contest's 10th anniversary.

"Commercial Metals ought to get a prize for its involvement in and encouragement of art education in Dallas," Burton says.

In many subtle ways, the company already has.

Markovits & Fox (San Jose, Calif.) provides scrap materials to some of the most creative individuals in the world-kids.

Working with the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, the company provides small metal scrap such as aluminum computer discs, keys, and wire to the museum’s Doodad Dump Exhibit. Using glue guns, kids assemble the metal scrap and other industrial discards into “doodad art” that they can take home. The exhibit's aim is to give kids an art experience with many different materials and to make them aware that scrap objects can have second useful lives through artful recycling. "It's the most popular exhibit at the museum, says Mary Simon, exhibit developer. "The metal pieces add a lot to the exhibit."

Markovits & Fox does not receive any publicity for its efforts, but the company enjoys helping the community and supporting the museum, says Vice President Larry Fox. The appreciation of the children and the museum staff is reward enough, he says.

"Isis," a 30-ton sculpture by internationally known artist Mark di Suvero, is perhaps one of the best-known pieces of scrap art.

The artwork was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS), one of the predecessor organizations of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. The sculpture was a gift from ISIS to the United States.

The piece, which is sited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), incorporates the bow of the SS Westgate, 1-beams, and a submarine buoy. It measures 42 feet high, 32 feet wide, and 64 feet long. The work had to be transported in pieces from the artist's studio in Petaluma, Calif., and was assembled over a period of eight days, using a 90-ton and a 25-ton crane, in July 1978. Two more days of sand blasting and priming were required before the sculpture could be finished with 32 gallons of paint in the fall of that year.

After installation of the piece, ISIS's leaders stated: "We want our gift to be a timeless work of art, just as the raw material from which it is created becomes timeless through recycling."•

Scrap processors are encouraging artists to use scrap materials in their creations, making scrap more than a recycling resource--it’s art!