Jim Havens<\/a>, 87, began his artistic journey after retiring from a 30-year career as an iron worker with Local 55 in Toledo. From his Gibsonburg studio, he has transformed molten metal into award-winning steel sculptures that have brought recognition to his community.<\/p>\n\u201cI had a lot of really great guys who did not mind sharing and did not mind me being successful,\u201d said Havens, reflecting on how his trade work shaped his approach to sculpture.<\/p>\n
His artwork has earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious Jefferson Award for his contributions to the community. Havens founded Sculpture in the Village in Gibsonburg, an annual exhibition that continues to showcase public art.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have the support of the council, the mayor, and several other people who were interested in making Gibsonburg everything that it could be,\u201d said Havens.<\/p>\n
Among his most meaningful projects is the Sept. 11, 2016 memorial in Gibsonburg, which incorporates an antenna piece from the World Trade Center\u2019s North Tower.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I couldn\u2019t design something around that antenna, I thought, well, maybe I better go drive a truck,\u201d said Havens. \u201cBut this here piece is such an iconic piece of the North Tower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robin Ballmer, arts advocate and curator of the Perrysburg Sculpture Walk, praised Havens not only for his artwork but also for his dedication to advancing the arts in the Toledo area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just always been fascinated with him,\u201d said Ballmer. \u201cAs his age advanced, I think he\u2019s inspiring. I talk about him to other seniors that come through the tours about waking up with purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Havens\u2019 latest sculpture will be featured in the Perrysburg Sculpture Walk<\/a>, opening Aug. 31 at Woodlands Park in Perrysburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Havens, 87, began his artistic journey after retiring from a 30-year career as an iron worker with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-93228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}