Your Artist... Gabe Stevens

Gabe has always had a vast imagination for designing, creating and building. In his early years, a natural mechanical mind came to him. From fixing lawn mowers to vehicles, he was always tinkering with engines and loved cars. Once at Burlington, IA High School, shop/weld/art classes became his favorite. As it soon became apparent, he had a rare talent for welding, better yet artist welding. 

Working with stainless for 20+ years in the Fabrication side of the food and drug industry has given very valuable exposure and knowledge of this type of material. This welding career developed his interest in stainless steel , which eventually led to side projects and art being made of this material. In 1998, he started out in a garage with a few others fabricating small jobs here and there. Today, the garage has grown into a world wide company  known now as Fusion Tech.  Gabe quickly turned into a Lead man on the road and back at the shop. Becoming a highly certified welder in pipe and structural codes. Currently he is their Quality Assurance Manager and enjoys teaching and sharing his fab exposure.  Gaining a multitude of experience and project management, he began experimenting with sculpting metal. In 2011, he was asked if he felt comfortable designing a memorial piece in the passing of Fusion Techs founders,  Father. This was a special ask for him, as he worked along side their dad and knew the family well. After making the piece, it inspired him to start designing 3-D metal art sculptures. 

A few years into designing and sculpting he met a man named Drew Bott at a Monument Builders Trade-show in Indianapolis, IN. Drew managed a family owned Monument Company, Bott Monument in Riverton, WY.  Bott Monuments' goal is to make sure they memorialize each loved one in a very unique, personalized manner. After seeing some of Gabe's work, Drew found it as a business opportunity to leverage his talent. He wanted "families to smile and want to visit the cemetery and not avoid it." His idea to make this work was to individually incorporate a sculpture uniquely to that person, community or business. Whether that be as simple as an apple, a flower, balloons or as large as a 6' semi. A vast majority of Gabe's work has been acquired through Bott Monument.  Together, Drew & Gabe were featured in "Worlds Greatest" a few years ago. The video clip is featured below in our Reviews section.  Today,  they still partner and more importantly enjoy a great friendship. 

Pride and craftsmanship would be the first two words that come to mind when describing his work ethic.  Before ever beginning a project he will study the subject for quite sometime beforehand learning body shape, anatomy and posture. He's learned that by sketching or clay sculpting and measuring to get accurate size proportions saves a tremendous amount of time on the back end.   His willingness to spend countless hours critiquing until satisfied has resulted in these magnificent sculptures. As he continues to learn more techniques his talent and true passion expands deeper into the world of stainless art.