September 2010:   Triceratops Family

The Triceratops Family was my second work. There are four babies and a mother. These beauties were inspired by the old metal bed headboards that we found in the junkyard.  We had just enough to put two together for each animal. They were originally used in the wards at the Vermont State Mental Institution.  (Boy those beds must have been tiny).  On that same trip to the junk yard, we found numerous lids from 55 gallon drums, which I used for the characteristic Triceratops armor around the neck. This was also a great “teaching opportunity” from my mom, because there was so much cutting to be done with the torch on all that neck armor. I LOVED it!

The family still lives in our back yard guarding the front of my welding studio.  In the summer of 2011 our house and garden were part of a large garden show in northern Vermont. That day 410 people passed by all the sculptures in our garden (there are 28 in all) that both my mother and I have made.