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Found Object Sculpture |
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Bernie Molaskey began collecting, and then welding, rusty metal found objects about 15 years ago. He continued experimenting as a self-taught artist on and off over the years until recent sculpture courses at Yavapai College reignited his passion to take his sculptures to the next level. He creates sculptures from found objects that he has dragged from dump piles and garage sales for more than a decade. His sculptures are built from parts originally associated with tractors and trucks, old tools, cement mixers and old mining items. “I like the idea of taking discarded items of little or no value and attempting to create a sculpture with meaning and value” says the sculptor. The process of creating a found object sculpture can span many years. First the objects must be collected, a rusty version of a treasure hunt. “There is no preconceived sculpture in mind when I gather objects, just the nature of the object itself with its own form and history,” he says. “These objects must speak to me with an intrinsic beauty, a beautiful patina or a real or imagined story.” Bernie enjoys finding an old garden tool or hand tool that shows the years of wear and tear from the original owner and wonders, “Can an old miner’s pick that is beautifully worn from decades of being swung to the earth contain a small amount of the dreams and spirit of that miner?” He likes to think that there has to be. And when placed into a sculpture, that miner’s pick does not only lend an ascetic element but also adds a spark of spirit to the piece. Once a sufficient number of objects have been collected they must be cleaned, sorted and left exposed to nature until a fully beautiful rusty patina is formed. Only then can the design process begin. Assembling a sculpture is always limited to the shapes of the objects used. Therefore the found objects themselves have a say in the design, and the sculptor must experiment with their shapes and patterns until a transformation takes hold. Then the sculpture becomes greater than the sum of its parts and produces within the viewer a sense of surprise, amusement and contemplation.
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