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Welded Metal Art and Why People Like It. |
Welded Metal Art and Why People Like It.
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Twist, shape, turn, tune, and weld metal rods into a five foot alligator or, as we in Florida say - Gator. So why go to all that trouble for a reptile?
Art? Craft? Exemplary skill? All of those. But the real reason is old fashioned market demand. They're one of Joey O'Neill's biggest sellers here in Florida because there are lots of University of Florda Gators who buy them. The rest of us are used to real gators because it seems like they're everywhere swimming in anything deeper than a puddle.
Joey is a welder who found an inner artist that enjoys making natural shapes like animals, fish, suns (popular
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with the beachies) and just about anything in between. He says the only thing he really doesn't tackle is abstracts. No use for them.
Fusion is what welded metal art is all about, both artistically and literally. A conceptual eye, a sculptor's sense of proportion, and the ability to render that sense into something tangible and recognizable to us all is fused with the trade usually associated with iron workers, pipe fitters, and chopper builders (motorcycles not helicopters).
But there's plenty of science going on because a welder is deeply familiar with metallurgy, combinations of heat and varied gases, high voltage, and eye-searing sparks. Put that knowledge together with an experienced touch and you've got one of the most sought after trades anywhere in the world that something is being built.
When I asked him how he comes up with the designs to weld, Joey, who is a former Marine and also a retired SWAT team leader, says "...it's part imagination and part observation of the things around me. Sometimes I just see the way some rods and metal are laid out and it leads to a shape. Then I'll use the techniques I've learned to weld them together into something people recognize and like to look at."
There's another element, though, that attracts people to his work. It unabashadly celebrates strength, raw masculinity and natural force in a comforting non-threatening way. Yeah, I know that there is delicate, wonderously and painstakingly crafted metal art that evokes gushes of awe. Fine. But give me something that I can hang up inside or out, that I can admire from across a large room and that I can hold up and show off.
Get it? Folks like welded metal art because it represents traits all too often missing in our faddish culture - strength, conviction, and stability.
His website is www.jfowelding.com. Go there, take a look then talk to Joey about welding and art. You won't regret it.
Author: Dennis C. Kiefer, proprietor of Earworm Audio Books. www.earwormaudiobooks.com. email: info@earwormaudiobooks.com
All readers are free and encouraged to forward and publish this article.
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