Gallery of Work
Cow Bike Rack
The cows are my eleventh piece and were completed on June 8th 2012, – one week before I graduated from the 8th grade. This was my most complex work to-date because of the need for the cows to be painted. (My normal “junkyard metal” medium would have been dangerous and dirty for cyclists to brush up against.) It was also complex because I had to build it in my studio, de-construct it, and then re-construct it at the site.
Here are photos of the process: start to finish… First, I photographed some local cows. Then I used a projector to trace the forms on some 6′ by 6′ sheets of eighth inch steel. I had to use my plasma cutter to carefully cut out the silhouettes. I had one chance to get it right! Preparing the metal for painting – grind off the sharp edges, polishing and priming – took a long time. Finally, we painted. The fabrication to that point took about 35 hours.
I had the sculpture temporarily put together in my studio and then we had to de-construct it in order to move it to its final site at the library. You might notice the the ground the cows are on is very uneven, yet the sculpture follows the contours so no one will trip and it can be mowed around easily. The final installation took about 6 hours in total.