Mid-Week # 6: Wired Wednesday - Episode IV: The Metal Menace

Time to get wired! I can't say that it was my intention, but this week all of the wire art turns out to be aquatically themed.  

As I do with drawings, I will frequently ask for suggestions on what I should make with the wire. This is one such suggestion.  The college group from church were gathered at my house for a Bible study, and being a multitasking machine by my very nature, I asked my friend Michael F. to give me an idea of what to make during our discussion.  He comes up with the idea of a shark.  Cut to an hour or so later and this little fellow has come swimming into existence.  I tried to keep the wire following the contour of the shark to give it the naturally streamlined look that sharks have.  This is a fairly unique sculpture for me, not only because of the speed at which he was made, but also due to my inclusion of something other than wire into the design.  I found that there was almost no way to create teeth that looked right on a scale that matched the shark's body (8.5 inches from nose to tail fin) so I found a picture hanger in a junk drawer and wired it in there. It worked very well as you can see. It's most visible in the first picture.

Next is another offspring of my days working at the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs hockey games.  In my down time I got to know a lot of the fans and made a variety of wire sculptures. One Mudbugs fan asked if I took custom requests or sold any of my creations.  Up to that point I had taken requests but had never sold any of them, so I told him that I'd be willing to give it a try (depending on what he wanted me to make).  Considering that he was wearing doctor style scrubs that were a crawfish print (crayfish for those not from the southern U.S.) and a "hat" made from rubber crawfish that were tied together, I had a good idea of what he was going to ask for.  I wasn't wrong.  So here's my mudbug. I made three of these 9.5 inch long crustaceans (two for him, one to keep) between that night and the next. My fingertips were a little sore from all that wire bending, but I got the job done and he and I were both very satisfied with the results.

 Finally is a bird.  Okay it's not a bird, but that is what it started out as.  It sounds a little weird (even to me) but for whatever reason, that wire just didn't want to be a bird.  After two or three false starts, I decided to just stop thinking and start bending wire. This fish is what emerged.  It's about 10-11 inches long and 4.5 inches tall and fairly simple in design, but I'm almost ready to call it finished. You might notice that unlike most fish, it doesn't have eyes. That is, in fact, by design. At some point I intend to add some transparent colored stones where its eyes should be. The problem is I just haven't found the right stones to use.  I haven't looked actively in a couple of years now, but think I may begin the search again soon. If ever I happen upon those fish eyes, I will attach them and post pictures of the (finally) finished project. Until then, it remains a blind cave fish.  I guess it can keep the cave chicken company.

Hope you're enjoying Wired Wednesdays. I've got some more ready for you next week. Stop back by Sunday for some more drawings.  Hoping you all have an amazing second half of the week.  As usual, send any questions, suggestions, thoughts either by way of the comments section or by email to heymisterh@yahoo.com. Also, don't forget to support your local artists of all kinds (visual, musical, performance, etc). While the arts are like the artists' lifeblood, what we do, we do for you.

Stay creative,
AH!