Sculptor turn scrap into metal flowers

By Jon Moffett

The crafts were part of an exercise to show the area’s steel culture.

YOUNGSTOWN — Though most Mahoning Valley steel mills have closed for good, many people still embrace the industry as an essential piece of Mahoning Valley culture.

Daniel Horne is one of those people.

Horne, 47, of Girard, embraces the area’s history with his hobby. He has been an amateur welder and sculptor for about seven years, and his preferred medium is scrap metal. By day, Horne is a children’s mental-health therapist at D&E Counseling in Youngstown.

“This is my own therapy,” he said.

Horne was contacted by the Mill Creek MetroParks about an opportunity to share his craft with executives from various foundations nationwide. The group was in the Valley late last week for a conference with the Wean Foundation, which provides funding for local nonprofits, and Horne was asked to help share some of the area’s spirit with those in attendance.

The conference took place in part at the Fellows Riverside Gardens, and Horne decided to have the executives build some steel magnolias of their own.

Small piles of scrap metal littered the back deck of the D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center. Those piles would be transformed into several large flowers to be displayed in the family gardens.

“They wanted sort of a local artistic community-development project that had to do with the area,” Horne said. “I guess when they were in Los Angeles last year, they did graffiti on a wall, so we decided to do some steel work.”

Jennifer Roller, a program director with the Wean Foundation, said about 55 executives attended the event and traveled from as far away as California and Texas.

“After dinner we have some leisure time, and to unwind, we wanted to do something that was representative of the Valley,” she said. “We didn’t want to just have entertainment, we wanted to have something that really spoke of being the Steel Valley. ... We wanted to do something that had some culture about this area and also be entertaining to our guests.”

Keith Kaiser, horticulture director for Mill Creek MetroParks, said the park district was honored to host the event and said it was a good opportunity to show what the area is doing to better itself.

“Grant-writers from foundations from around the country are here looking at what the Wean Foundation does here in our communities of Youngstown and Warren to help the grass-roots, smaller organizations get going to help better our communities,” he said.

Horne said he was happy to help out and give a brief tutorial on welding — one of Horne’s self-taught skills.

He learned the trade when his wife bought him a welding kit for his 40th birthday.

Horne said he specializes in kinetic – or moving – pieces. On display at the gardens was a 5-foot-tall chess piece. Horne said he has welded a king and queen and hopes to finish the rest of the pieces eventually.

jmoffett@vindy.com