”I love these things - watching them develop while they change so drastically”. Every piece evolves as he works on it, as he walks past it over and over again, and lets it talk to him as he imagines what it will become. It’s this relationship with the piece that informs what emerges. “My goal is to bring some magic into the practical world of cold hard steel. I never really plan but let the material speak to me allowing each piece to evolve into a free flow impressionistic work of art.”

He enrolled as a non-traditional student in a Bachelor of Fine Arts program with an emphasis in Wood and chose Blacksmithing as his second area of focus. It was love at first hammer blow. After two years of positive and negative impressions, he felt the program took the ‘art’ out of art school and decided to become a tradesman. Welding school was an obvious next step as it opened a whole new way to join metal together.

Currently he makes his art with whatever materials he has on hand, in garage shop space with limited tools after work and on weekends.

The thing Kevin likes most about working with metal is the freedom of the creative process it allows. “If I tack it on and don’t like it, I can break it off and start again reworking the same piece as I experience what emerges. In contrast with wood, I had to plan it all out ahead and then pretty much stick with it or waste a lot of time starting over.’

Quotes

‘It’s fun to make stuff that never existed before even if its dumb’

‘With all the people that have ever lived, no one has made this particular creature this way’

‘My sculptures keep me sane and interested in life. I hope they can do the same for others’

-‘If you don’t like metal, I’m not the guy to know’

‘Sculpting with steel is unlike any other medium. You can work it cold or hot and different methods yield different aesthetics and sets of challenges. You can shape it, pour it, add material or carve it away. It is enduring while cool and malleable when hot. Any colors that are in the pieces are achieved by using different levels of heat or patinas.’