Sculptures
The Bonsai
48” long, 18” wide (at the top), 36” día roots.
This started off when I found the center wooden piece in the wood bins at the University of Alberta where I’m taking my BFA. I liked the flow of it, and thought it would look good with a few bonsai in it, and it “grew” from there. There is about 40 hours of welding in the tree (pipe) to get the bark affect.
Bronze Casting
This July (2025) I took a bronze casting course at the Red Deer Polytechnic. It was a great deal of work crammed into 2 weeks. This will definitely give me some skills to use in my sculpture in the future! For my project, I decided to do a engineering plaque in memory of my navy service. This plaque can be found in the engine room of commonwealth navy ship in the world.
I’m really looking forward to going back next summer to do some bronze castings. This gives me about 11 months to come up with some sculptures in clay or plasticine.
Blacksmith’s Leg Vice (pole vice)
Stand. Wood and steel, 48” high, 20” diameter.
Total weight about 200lbs.
With getting into blacksmithing, I needed a stand for a leg vice. The purpose of a leg or pole vice is to transfer the force from the hammer blows down to the floor. This prevents damage to the table the vice is mounted too. I was once told just because it’s a tool, doesn’t mean it has to be an ugly tool! The figure carved into the front of the vice is the Norse God Oden. The top of this I designed to hold things I will be working on, and the ring is for hammers, because a black smith can never had too many hammers!
The Blacksmith
Recycled metal.
7’ tall, 40” across the shoulders.
I created this to go along with the leg vice. This was the first opportunity I had to be let loose in the welding shop in the sculpture studio.
