Deep in Longmont, tucked between bike paths and wide open land, the clang of metal on metal echoes at almost any hour. The shop belonging to Colorado artist Robert Bellows can get loud seven days a week, but for many veterans, that noise has become something else entirely. It has become a path to peace.
“I have 27 steps from my home to my shop and in those 27 steps, I have to have an idea of what we are doing today,” said Bellows.
Almost every day, veterans and civilians gather in the shop to work side by side, shaping steel into enormous sculptures. Bellows said the work can be about “absolutely beautiful” and “chaotic.” But for everyone who visits, the art and conversations they have are part of the process of healing.
The project began when Bellows, a sculptor, noticed his friend Brad Gallop struggling after his time in the Air Force. He asked Gallop to show him with his body what he wanted to say to the world. Gallop stepped into a stance, part fighting pose, part embrace, and that moment sparked their idea. Together, they transformed that feeling into two towering sculptures. A fifteen-foot dragon representing life at war and a phoenix symbolizing the return home…