A Labor of Love

 

In 2019 the vision of a place to make art was stuck in the mind of Steve Kowats. Steve had recently retired from a 45 year career as a metal fabricator and teacher. He had always dabbled in creating art and was now ready to jump in to his metal sculpting with both feet. Now to find the space to bring a vision into reality. The beautiful small mountain community of Carson, Washington is a place that Steve had passed through many times on his way to adventures in the Cascade mountains. There is only one four way stop in Carson and on the southeast corner of that stop sits a building that was built as an automobile dealership in 1930. This is the spot, this town, this building in this beautiful setting. Steve spent three years restoring this iconic structure and it suited his personal need perfectly. But the vision was coming in to focus more clearly and there was space in this building that the original vision had not seen. A perfect space to display not only Steve’s artwork but the work of other artist with visions of their own. The Carson Art Garage has come fully in to focus and Steve works in his kovachmetalsmith studio within the garage and artists from the surrounding area display their work in a unique and beautiful space. Sometimes a vision is not completely in focus until you are standing within it.