UAW Box

I attended an auction that was an estate for a gentleman who had been an insurance salesman. One of the lots was three boxes of all the rewards and plaques that he had won during his career. I didn’t know what I would use them for, but I bought them.

The majority were rectangle mahogany recognition rewards.  They sat for a number of years in the shop collecting dust. Finally, one day I pulled all the brass tags off and firing up the plainer and began to clean them up. They have been used for many projects including this box.

I am a proud UAW member, the fourth generation in my family. My great-grandfather was one of the sit-down strikers in Flint, Michigan that forced General Motors to recognize the union. My youngest daughter has taken a job with General Motors and so she became the fifth generation.

I had the medallion from the fiftieth anniversary of the UAW and had saved it to do something with.

One day inspired to use the medallion, I made the box as a gift to her.

Disclaimer: I consider myself an artist. Words and wood are my mediums. I ‘create’ items in wood to express myself. I do not consider it a hobby. I do not make jigs and pump out hundreds of ‘craft’ items. I picture something in my mind and I ‘create’ it. It is a part of me.

“Woodworking is a fine art defined as “a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic and intellectual purposes.” We see beautiful artwork in woodworking all the time, and thus, it can be considered fine art.” (https://woodworkerlodge.com/)

Roy Richard
May 2023