Some guys watch football or read on their free time. Some guys shape steel into emotionally-driven works of art. Well, at least one guy does.

"I'm a car guy, and I've been a welder-fabricator pretty much all my life," said Ron Mascitti, the 67-year-old supervisor of buildings and grounds at School District 170. "When I find little scrap pieces, I kind of put them together with the thought in mind, 'What's behind that?'"

Mascitti said his love for art started before he graduate from Bloom High School in 1963, but that he also knows his work requires explanation.

"Sometimes you can look at it and not understand what it is," said the lifelong Chicago Heights resident, "but I can explain it to you."

As an artist Mascitti said he is always looking for ways to share his work.

Enter Fuse, District 170's budding program that looks for ways to bridge communication gaps between schools, parents and the community. The program, housed at Wilson School, officially started on Oct. 30.

Mascitti said, as an employee of the school district, he heard about what Fuse would be doing with parents and decided to contribute his original art to the cause.

Click on the slideshow on the right to see the pieces of art Mascitti created for Fuse and hear the explanations behind them.

What is Fuse, exactly?

Fuse was created by Fred Chaney, a motivational speaker who also founded child mentoring program 2LT (Tomorrow's Leaders Today) for the school district through his organization Purpose4Living. Chaney said he mentored students from Wilson, Lincoln and Washington schools through 2LT and already has a relationship with sime of the schools and teachers of District 170.

"Fuse is dedicated to empowering parents with "positive practical principles into their daily life," said Chaney, adding that Mascitti's art will help in that cause.

While the program is still in its infancy, Fuse has already started hosting events, including an ice cream social, sponsored in-part by Arctic Ice Cream, last Thursday. Going into 2011, the program will begin hosting parenting workshops, said Chaney.