Additive Assembly of Identical Components

Some of my pieces are built by connecting a series of duplicate parts to form a whole. I often receive odd materials from friends and family; neighbors leave resources on our front porch. These are apt challenges to my creativity. I used discarded aluminum playground rings as the vertebrae for a large snake. I also used copper rings to fabricate a rain chain. Several centipedes assembled using this method were sold to a woman with an affinity for these multi-limbed creatures. One included 20 large drapery rings and the other a series of tie racks laid end to end. The photo example I will include with this post was built with blocks from a miniature masonry toy set my sister-in-law was giving away. This Frankenstein like figurine is connected with 22 gauge jewelry wire. A ruler has been provided to facilitate an appreciation of the scale of the "bricks" in its composition.

Found Objects

Many of my pieces include found objects within other media. However, some are almost entirely made up of these seemingly random parts of the man-made world. The example I will use to illustrate this genre of my work is an angel which was made primarily of wood parts. The elements included dowels. part of a banister, pins and pieces from a Carrom game, a cross and Star of David, "hand" drink stirrers, a 1950's nut tray, Christmas ornaments and a music rest from a piano. It was sold on the same day it was put on display in a neighborhood bakery.

 Archangel Gabriel

Brass Assemblage

Using discarded parts, I assemble brass figurines, flowers and members of the animal kingdom. The parts are from locks: doors, lamp parts, vintage kitchenware, antique plumbing and gasline fixtures. These are mechanically fastened with brass nuts, bolts and washers using a liquid which "locks" the connections. While it takes a degree of imagination to arrange the disparate components, the sheer variety of shapes of objects from these trades lends itself to this endeavor. Laying out scores of pieces, I visualize myself as a master chef with limitless ingredients available.

Assassin Bug

Man Stopping Traffic

Art as Therapy

Art is both expressive and projective. It enables us to convey echoes of our inner selves, with potentially enlightening results. For three decades, I have used drawings with clients of all ages. An example is a sketch of a house, a tree and a person made by the individual and then interpreted by a clinician. My brother Mike, a school psychologist, aided me in honing the use of this diagnostic tool. Art can also be transformative. About twenty years ago, my friend and colleague Laura showed me how to use oven-baked clay to make sculptures with therapy groups. Self-portraits are hand built by the members as a process of  healing and empowerment. I will post the sculpture I made of myself during one of the sessions we conducted with teens.

Stef

Fun Car-top Sculptures

For the amusement of myself, friends and the general public,  I create animal sculptures to mount on the roof of my car. The "skin" or "scales" of these pieces have included media as diverse as gutter screen, jute, wire and used hard-drives. The works are surprisingly sturdy and are fastened securely enough for interstate highway driving. A medium-sized moose  which I will cover in a future post was delivered to Cleveland from our home in Ann Arbor in this manner. Below are a polar bear and a gorilla (which currently reside in and on top of the garage).

'Something out of Anything'

I take great pride in re-purposing discarded metal parts, wire, etc. to make sculptures. 
One of the greatest compliments I have ever received about my art was from an indigent man downtown who "nailed" this. Observing me fashioning a triceratops made from aluminum kitchen and gutter parts, the man waved and approached me. He said- " Tell me if I've got this right- you can make something out of anything". I responded, "Exactly" and he ran away smiling. This piece is also illustrative of the process in which I fit parts into a form in some of my sculptures. Below is the Triceratops (commissioned by a barista) at about the stage when the man mentioned saw it.

Triceratops in process

"Single Line" Sculptures

I refer to pieces which are the outline of the object form as single line sculptures.My inspiration for this style was Calder's Circus. Large or small, these are similar to a sketch in drawing and are imagined in the same manner. While ferrous metals can be  tool-bent with little or no damage; copper and brass are gouged by steel tools. Hand bending is required to prevent imperfections which can even be dangerous to the touch. Often  smaller works fashioned this way are done in minutes.  Gravity necessitates that the larger forms have planning to accommodate weight distribution, such as the body on the legs of an animal. Below are three representative examples: the dinosaur is steel, the dragon is copper band and the squirrel is very thick copper wire. These reflect the challenges of hand-building in this style and the striking effect which can be achieved.

Half a T-Rex

European Dragon

Squirrel with Nut