WAYNE TWP. — Turning horseshoes into art is unusual, but the artist behind the custom pieces is rare indeed.
Rene L. Baldwin is a welder, confident and comfortable, in a field dominated by men. According to the American Welding Society, only 5.8 percent of working welders are women.
Her successful career as a welder and her creative talents enable Baldwin to produce original works of art turning horseshoes into everything from flowers to furniture and from wine racks to whimsical pieces.
Baldwin's husband, Jamie Schuller, is a farrier, a blacksmith who specializes in shoeing horses, so she has many horseshoes to reclaim. For an outdoor couch for local contractor John DeAngelo, she created the stunning piece totally from new horseshoes.
When a man asked her to make a yard flower for his wife, Baldwin turned horseshoes into a unique bloom. One of her most popular items is the word "Love" created by bending the horseshoes into the letters.
To work with reclaimed horseshoes, Baldwin first cleans the shoe and then creates the object by heating, bending and welding.
"I love welding. I have the equipment, the knowledge, and lots of horseshoes and I enjoy creating custom pieces. It’s a gift. It just comes naturally to me," Baldwin said.
Baldwin's husband suggested she make a saddle from horseshoes as a lawn ornament and it become a work of art. For Christmas, Baldwin made Jamie an ornamental bit for his horse with his initials on it.
Raised on a dairy farm in Waterford, Pa, near Erie, Baldwin feels she came to welding naturally.
"When I graduated from high school I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I didn't want to go in debt for an education. I was always interested in art and I was always tinkering with something, so I knew I wanted a hands-on job," Baldwin said.
After learning welding at a trade school, Baldwin honed her skills at the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Troy, Ohio, where she was the only female student.
When Baldwin got a job as a welder at a boilermaker factory in Erie she was one of two women out of 300 employees. She enjoyed the work and planned to retire from the job, but after 13 years the plant closed. Baldwin, due to her skill level, was one of the last workers to be let go.
She traded her Boilermaker Union card for an Electric Union card and got a job that required her to travel Chicago, to Erie and points in between, sometimes being gone for months at a time.
When Baldwin met her husband — Jamie from Ellwood City — at horse shows, her life changed. The couple married and tried a long distance relationship, but it didn't work so Baldwin quit her job and moved to Wayne Township.
"Before I met my husband I couldn't understand how any woman would leave her career for a man. Love is the reason, and I wouldn't change it," Baldwin said.
During the winter Baldwin cannot weld because her shop is not enclosed and ventilation is required to weld indoors.
"Jamie and I both have labor intensive jobs and we love it. He travels through Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York and can be gone all day but we talk on the phone three or four times a day," Baldwin said.
When she can't weld Baldwin keeps busy as a competitive rifle shooter, winning a number of awards, and she pieces quilts and hand quilts them.
"I'm not a people person. I'm OK one-on-one or with a couple people. The things I do — welding, shooting and quilting — are all solitary, and I'm comfortable with that," Baldwin said.
Baldwin's work is for sale in the gift shop at the Hoyt Center for the Arts in New Castle and Standing Chimney in New Galilee. Creating custom pieces is Baldwin's specialty. You can contact Baldwin on Facebook or at renelbaldwin@gmail.com.