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Artist Sharon Lockhart reflects on the presence of the individual in the context of industrial labor through film, photography, and printed matter. For Lunch Break (2008), she spent a year at a naval shipbuilding plant in Maine, and the exhibition — now on view — examines the workers’ activities during their time off from production. SFMOMA is also distributing Lockhart’s newspaper, The Lunch Break Times, which relates stories about labor and lunch breaks. Every Wednesday, at NOON, we’re posting one of the articles here.………………………….

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A TOAST TO GARY D. GILPATRICK ~ ~

Bath Iron Works worker Gary D. Gilpatrick passed away on June 1, 2011, in Togus, Maine. He was 65.

Gary was born on December 12, 1945, in Gardiner, Maine. He was one of the sons of the late Kenneth and Eleanor Gilpatrick. He has three daughters: Michele Horne of Penacook, New Hampshire; Bridgette Moody of Litchfield, Maine; and Tanya Poissonnier, of Augusta, Maine. He is also survived by several grandchildren.

Gary worked at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, for over 38 years as a pipe insulator. He was a member of the American Legion Post 132 in Richmond, Maine, and he also enjoyed coin collecting.

Sharon Lockhart, Gary Gilpatrick, Insulator, 2008 © Sharon Lockhart

Gary was one of the BIW workers who collaborated with Sharon Lockhart on the Lunch Break project. Sharon was smitten by the black lunch box he brought to work every day. Adorned with a sticker representing every ship he’s help build at BIW, the lunch box documents his entire career at the shipyard. Sharon’s “portrait” of Gary consists of three photographs of the lunch box. In one, you can see a copy of the Times Record, a Maine newspaper Gary liked to read during his lunch break. After his death, Gary kindly left his lunch box to Sharon. We miss you, Gary.