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Firefly, 2007 Forged and hot-worked structural steel 57" x 31" x 6" (H x W x D) "Fire has an important place in human experience and symbolism. When I looked at all the ways fire and flames are portrayed in differing cultures and media, I realized that it's a challenging subject. "As an artist-blacksmith I have a close working relationship with fire and I wanted to represent flames in my own medium. I wanted to interpret fire in hot-worked steel and show that metal can be both solid and airy. I also wanted to show my own creative humor in a straightforward way. "I used high-tech fires from an electronic torch and a gas jet furnace to cut and bend a common I-beam into an uplifting form that might suggest an opening zipper. Then I added hand forged steel flames, finishing them with an oxide patina because rust is the way steel slowly burns in air. |
