Abstracts

 

Certain pieces of salvaged steel seem to call to each other to form fun and interesting abstract shapes. Often a message or theme emerges as with “Family Walk”, while others like “My Broken Heart” or “Hanging Red Tank” just emerge as engaging forms.  All of them are one of a kind pieces

My Broken Heart is named this because it appears to me to be a heart that has been pulled apart at the top. I have had it described as two snakes, so it just proves that we all see from different places.  I sometimes hesitate to name my pieces because of that.

It is made with two lengths of  bulldozer tracks. The sprocket wheel bases are what the track runs on.

“Eye Can Win” (Tic-Tac-Toe) is a fun interactive sculpture with three pipe cylinders which can be easily turned to align X’s and O’s or eyes.

The title is a play on words referencing the game of tic-tac-toe which you or I can win, but which most often ends with neither of us winning; and the concept of an “eye can” which is easily explained by asking the question… “Have you ever seen an I can’t?”

Each time a cylinder is rotated a winner is revealed by a row of X’s or O’s, while on the reverse side a different alignment of eyes reminds us that we can succeed.

Then there is the added bonus of a delightful screeching sound of metal against metal whenever one of the pipes is turned.

Hanging Red Tank was made from an old truck air tank that had lain in the dirt until one side had severely rusted, while the part not against the ground still had the original red paint intact. The change in texture and color as you go around the piece is wonderful. I cut it apart and reattached the parts using pieces of tire chain. Hanging allows it to sway gently in the breeze conveying a mood of tranquility.

There are seven Wind Socks in all. These three hang from a tree by my driveway and respond to the slightest wind. The tops are industrial strainers that the light plays with as they sway back and forth. The streamers are feeder chain from a chicken house. I did see them really move and indicate wind direction in the last hurricane.

Family Walk is one of those pieces that comes to life as it is constructed. As with many of my works, I simply started welding together the salvaged pieces until the final form emerged. I had no intention of making a statement, but it spoke so clearly to me that I was moved to name it so that others could catch a glimpse of what I saw.

It is built of leaf spring u-bolts off of large trucks, welded end to end. The base is the bottom part of a large commercial sign.