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7 posts from Metal Art

Masks from Recycled Shovel Blades: the Face of Spades Series

Totempolemasksky
click to view larger image. enlarge

The Face of Spades series can be displayed as a single mask, or hung in a series to create totem poles, to embellish fences or deck railings, or even to construct a forest of tree faces. Inspired by traditional mask designs from all over the world, each Face of Spades carving is made from 100% recycled materials— the intricate designs are hand-cut from reclaimed shovels, carving freehand without the use of templates. Since each mask is hand-cut, yours may vary slightly from the photo shown.

The Face of Spades series looks great both indoors or outdoors. In the garden they will turn a rich rust color, perfect for outdoor decoration. If you wish to preserve the mask outdoors, it's not a bad idea to spray it with WD-40 once a year or so.

 

Face of Spades: Masks, Tree Faces or Totem Pole Heads
Shovelmask01 Shovelmask02 Shovelmask03 Shovelmask04
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
Shovelmask05 Shovelmask06 Shovelmask07 Shovelmask08
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
Shovelmask09 Shovelmask10 Shovelmask11 Shovelmask12
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
Shovelmask13 Shovelmask19 Shovelmask20 Shovelmask14
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$39 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
Shovelmask22 Shovelmask23 Shovelmask24 Shovelmask25
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
Shovelmask17 Shovelmask18 Shovelmask26 Shovelmask16
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at:
1000 Markets | Etsy
All Face of Spade Designs © 2009, John T Unger

Folk Art Style Aluminum + Copper Fish Sign

Big metal fish sign
Aluminum + Copper Fish Sign, 2005
Recycled Aluminum, copper and plywood.
51" H x 96" W x 1" D
Purchase Aluminum + Copper Fish Sign for $850
($750 plus $100 S+H).

This was originally going to be a sign for the studio…  I got this far with it and decided that I liked it better as art. I made it before I had a plasma cutter, so the whole thing was done with shears and a jigsaw.

I especially like the way that the copper fin near the gills came out all ripply and dimensional. I had intended it to lay flatter, but the copper got all bent up while I was cutting it and actually looked much better that way. It's pretty common that the best features of a piece will be the mistakes… I could certainly have flattened it out the way I had intended it to be, but so often what makes art be art is seeing the benefit of an error before you correct and having the sense to leave it in.

Haitian Style Merman Recycled Steel Sculpture

merman sculpture
Haitian Style Merman, 2006
Recycled steel.
26" H x 8" W x 3.5" D
SOLD

This sculpture reminds me a lot of the graphic style used by Haitian artists who make cut steel art from 55 gallon drums. Which makes me really happy, since usually I can't even touch those cats for raw style. It's just one of those things that can't be faked.

I got lucky on this one… it was a piece of steel that was left over from some other cut out pieces I was working on, and I could kind of see the design struggling to get out. So I made a few more cuts, emphasized a few things, threw in a little bit of detail, and there it was.

Little Red Riding Hood Narrative Sculpture

little Red riding hood sculpture
Little Red Riding Hood Narrative Sculpture, 2006
Recycled steel,

8.75" H x 20.25" W x 10" D
Collaboration with Mya Smith
 
Purchase Little Red Riding Hood for $230
($200 plus $30 S+H).

Little Red Riding Hood is a narrative sculpture that my daughter Mya and I collaborated on. The drawing is hers, the cutting and welding I did. I love the way that she used the tree and the headboard to separate the story into three panels with three scenes.

This one was almost the end of the process, because I made her re-draw the woodcutter about 12 times to get more of a dynamic swing to his axe… she was really frustrated by that, but in the end we both felt the results were worth it.

little red riding hood detail little red riding hood detail little red riding hood detail
click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge

Atlas World Famous A New Sculpture

Atlas: World Famous, Cut Steel Sculpture
Atlas: World Famous, Cut Steel Sculpture

Atlas: World Famous
75" high x 48" wide x 12" deep
$2,800.00 plus shipping costs

medium 100% Recycled Steel from antique cars and factory scrap.
availability Unique piece, act quick!
price $2,800.00
S&H Item ships FedEx Freight. Shipping is NOT included in price! Please call 231.584.2710 or email me for a shipping quote.

Atlas: World Famous is my first large-scale sculpture made using the newly operational plasma cutter to create metal "collage." I'm really digging it… I have plans to do a whole series of similar work based on carnival banners, circus posters, and other pop-culture type images. This is a lot of fun for me because it's a way to go back to my roots in the folk art/pop culture vernacular where I started my art career. I love colorful sculpture and bold graphics, and I really wanted to make some big work for the yard that would be more visible as people go whizzing by on the highway at 60 mph.

The sculpture is 75" high x 48" wide x 12" deep, which means that Atlas himself is pretty much life-size. I'll try to get some pics of me next to it for scale when I have someone handy to shoot the photos. As you can see in the images below, the sculpture is two sided, with the image reversed on one side. Click on the images to enlarge.

 

World Famous Sculpture    Atlas Sculpture    Folk art metal sculpture, Atlas: World Famous

 

Below is the image this sculpture is based on. It's one of my all-time faves… I did an Atlas mosaic in glass and bottle caps a couple years ago, using the same image. The original is from the Mexican Loteria deck, a traditional game similar to Bingo. Teresa Villegas did a very cool updated version of the game which has now been published in in a handsome book. I highly recommend checking out her site devoted to the project, which provides a good deal of background on the game and images. You can also learn more by visiting this website from Boston University on the History of the Mexican Loteria Card Game.

 

El Mundo, Loteria Card

Fire-Breathing Dogzilla Sculpture

Fire-Breathing Dogzilla Sculpture
Fire-Breathing Dogzilla Cut Steel Sculpture
SOLD 100% Recycled Steel from antique cars, rivets, bottle cap. Each of these is a unique, hand-drawn sculpture.

I've always been a sucker for fire breathing acts, and somehow, it just seemed like Dogzilla needed get in on some of that action. But then, I'm also the guy who makes his cat stand and walk on two legs to get her treats and, yeah, the guy that taught his daughter fire breathing last summer. More circus flavored art is in the works, I think. I really like the way this one came out.

Get it now for only $75 plus $15 shipping!

Cut Steel Creature Sculptures

Five of the cut steel sculptures have sold already since I posted them this morning… They went to a gallery owner in Southern Michigan who had stopped by the studio last week.

If you had your heart set on one of the ones that sold, let me know and I'll be happy to try to make a similar piece. They're all hand cut from recycled material, so I won't be able to do an exact match, but I should be able to capture the same style and subject matter fairly closely.

Make sure you don't miss out on future sculpture offerings by subscribing to the blog! Drag this link into your subscriptions to stay up on the latest offerings.

 

100% Recycled Steel from antique cars. Each of these is a unique, hand-drawn sculpture. I photographed them with pennies to give a sense of scale.
Mermaid Metal Sculpture SOLD

Little Mermaid
20" H x 24" W
$60 plus $10 S+H

Based on the La Sirena loteria image.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
Blue Striped Bee Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Blue Striped Bee
13.5" H x 17" W
$60 plus $10 S+H

A fun image inspired by petroglyphs.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
Dogs Chase Tails metal sculptureSOLD

Dogs Chase Tails
9.5" H x 11" W
$40 plus $10 S+H

This dog has caught his tail…Now what? Inspired by a Keith Haring Drawing.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
Funky Alien metal sculpture SOLD

Funky Alien
15.5" H x 10" W
$45 plus $10 S+H

Everyone likes weird aliens… I just made this one up.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
Petroglyph Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

One Big Eye
15" H x 9" W
$45 plus $10 S+H

I adapted this image from my petroglyph series on luminaries.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
big fish metal sculpture SOLD

Big Fish
9" H x 30.5" W
$50 plus $10 S+H

I love drawing fish for some reason…

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
big green fish Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Big Fish
24" H x 27" W
$50 plus $10 S+H

More fun with fishes.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
little fish Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Little Fish
10" H x 16" W
$40 plus $10 S+H

Even more fishy fun.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
dogzilla Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Dogzilla
24" H x 28" W
$60 plus $10 S+H

You gotta love Dogzilla. Look out world! I think I'll have to do a firebreathing version soon…

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
Alarmist Hedgehog Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Alarmist Hedgehog
6.5" H x 13" W
$35 plus $10 S+H

Yikes! This is how I feel in the morning.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
happy creature Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Happy Little Creature
7" H x 16" W
$40 plus $10 S+H

But this little creature has obviously had his coffee and is now content.

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge
funny bird Cut Metal Sculpture SOLD

Happy, Funky Bird
12.5" H x 9" W
$35 plus $10 S+H

Dance the funky bird!

click thumbnail to view larger image. enlarge

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Mobile: 231.584.2710 (9 to 5 PST only) | Email me
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Statement + Bio | Curriculum Vitae | Bibliography

I'm best known as an artist and designer. Relaxing makes me tense, so I tend to put in a lot of hours on diverse projects.

On the way to a successful art career I've been a poet and writer, a tech geek, a print and web designer, illustrator, industrial designer, musician, teacher, actor, set designer and even a paid guru once.

It's all the same thing in the end— I wake up most days thinking about how I want to change, fix or improve some aspect of the world. And after a couple cups of coffee I get started on it.

My specialty is impossibility remediation: if it can't be done, I'm on it.

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