Artist Statement

Scrap metal has a special appeal to me…it’s been discarded from its original purpose, and then I give it new life.  This metal could have a unique shape or surface, or be a plain as a piece of sheet metal.  When I see it, I don’t think about what it is, but what it might become.

My process usually starts with the metal.  I look at its shape and form, texture and color, and feel its weight in my hand, and its surface on my fingertips.  All of this sparks my creativity and plays into the design.  The life it has led shows in the rust and wear, and all this has its own organic beautify before I even begin.

Some of the ways I integrate my design is by laying small bits of punched metal onto hefty pieces of steel, creating a composition with multiple remnants, or by combining large graceful curved steel pieces an unexpected way.  Sometimes it is a simple as conceptualizing a tree or flower on a piece of steel that seems to beg for an organic form.

Design and creation continues as I start to weld and add heat. I’m always mesmerized by this transformation.  Strong metal starts to give, and then turns quickly into a molten pool.  Then just as quickly it's hard and strong again.  But the metal has changed … melded with another shape, or transformed by the texture of the added welds.  I build up the welds to simulate the surface of bark, or an abstract pattern, each created as much by its texture as it is by its shape.

The metal, for me, is key for telling my story in my art.  The rustic metal has traveled and served a purpose, and now is transformed into something else; something just as purposeful as its original function.  The shape, holes, and texture add visual and tactile elements that are vital to the whole story. When I combine this with both organic and iridescent hues, it sends the metal, and me, on a new, artistic journey.