Remembering SLO metal artist Allen Root. ‘He left every place better’
Allen Root was a Renaissance man.
He was equally at home in the worlds of blue collar welder, conceptual artist, the bureaucracy of city planning, non-profit volunteer and free-spirited Mardi Gras King.
SLO County Arts announced his death on Sept. 18 after a decade-long battle with cancer.
He was a metal sculptor who launched his business in the mid-1970s.
San Luis Obispo has benches that he designed and built, originally downtown and now in Emerson Park.
Root also helped other artists complete their vision by helping install their work or facilitating getting their art work to the finish line.
He assisted the city of San Luis Obispo to preserve its public art inventory and worked on the Architectural Review Commission, Live Oak Music Festival and was King of Mardi Gras in 2004.
In a world noted for conflict, he was a force for constructive engagement.
Stories over the years include designing and building metal fencing panels in the shape of mountains for the Desert Willow Golf Course, in Palm Desert.
He helped install the Elizabeth MacQueen sculpture of Chinese railroad workers, “Iron Road Pioneers” at Amtrak station. It had taken the artist 10 years to overcome the hurdles that come with an ambitious piece, and Allen supported artists via specific acts and other more general efforts like supporting Art After Dark.
In his last year, he generously shared his thoughts with The Tribune, which was working on a state of medicine in SLO County. He shared his thoughts on navigating the medical system with a terminal diagnosis and how to make the most of his remaining days.
The SLO County Arts webpage concluded their remembrance with this thought:
“Beyond his professional achievements, Allen was humble, generous, and always helping others to laugh and see the bright side of life. He left every place better than he found it. Allen will be profoundly missed and we will carry him in our hearts forever.”
A posting on Alan Root’s Facebook page announced a celebration of life will be held at the SLO Botanical gardens on Saturday, Oct. 25, from noon to 3 p.m.
Early in his career, the Telegram-Tribune published this story. Linnea Waltz wrote it Feb. 4, 1982.
Welders wizards with iron
A pair of welding torch wizards in Grover City create custom metal work which appears as ornamental wrought iron fences, staircases and decorations; custom truck racks and beds; and signs and other commercial items for businesses.
“We’re starting next week on interior work for a restaurant in Monterey,” said Allen Root, general partner in The Metal Works.
“It (the restaurant) will have very large wrought iron chandeliers, steel stage coaches in the handrailing and a big one in the business sign, and the cashier’s cage will be a replica of an old turn-of-the-century bank teller’s cage.”
The Metal Works business is a partnership. Root is the general partner; Victor Rouse, a limited partner. “Then there is a silent partner,” Root said.
Root and Rouse are active in the business. Customers’ ideas are worked out on paper by Root, and his drawings given to Rouse to interpret into metal.
“I’m a worker,” Rouse said, “not a diplomat. Allen does all of that, the book work and some of the welding. I like making ornamental iron things.
“The hard work attracts me to welding. There’s nothing easy about it. There is some skill involved, for you have to make the arc and heliarc do what you want it to do.
“Allen essentially does a lot of the artwork on paper and makes a drawing so I know what to do. We don’t need to talk much. We work together very well.”
He said he “ran into Allen” by accident.
“I’ve been welding since I was 14,” Rouse said. “I worked at Diablo two years until my job was finished. I was collecting ‘unemployment’ when a teacher told my sister about a welding shop in Grover City.
“I did a little welding for Allen and got the job. I came in as a working hand, and now am a partner.”
Root opened the business Oct. 3, 1976, after doing mostly structural welding work.
He said he was “sweeping out” in a San Luis Obispo welding shop about eight years ago and gradually learned the trade. He had taken welding classes in high school and junior college and did some maintenance work on a Nevada City ranch.
“Then I met the guys who were doing D. W. Grover’s the first time, and one of them wanted me to get involved in a welding shop. So we put it together and opened the shop,” he said.
Root said The Metal Works has done a variety of jobs.
“We built a trolley car for Disneyland, did the frames for Craig Vetter’s Mystery Ship motorcycles, did the municipal stairway for the Pismo Beach pier, built a lot of commercial stairways - about 200 of them in San Luis Obispo alone - and a lot of custom work.”
“But we’re actively looking at expanding our market of architectural products,” Root said. “That’s the field we both enjoy the most.”
