As many of you are aware, I am a Direct Metal Sculptor specializing in welded metal art. I have several older pieces on my other blog at JohnsArt.org, but it’s been over a year since I posted anything new there. So, instead of posting everything I do I figured I’ll just selectively share a few things with you guys here on OMB.

Several months ago I was asked to come up with some large freestanding star sculptures which could be used as a collaborative project for the school aged kids in my home town of Frisco, TX. The design requirements were:

• There was virtually no budget.
• The sculptures needed to be weatherproof.
• They needed to be portable.

Generally speaking these three things don’t really go together, but after quite a bit of brainstorming I designed and fabricated all of the star sculptures that follow.

The project consisted of the creation of several “smaller” 7.5′ tall sculptures which each had a 48″ three dimensional steel star mounted atop a fabricated base, along with one premier 9′ tall sculpture topped by a 60″ star. (Photo above.)

Each of the smaller stars was given to a local elementary school art teacher who’s students had free reign to paint them as they saw fit.

All of the schools came up with fantastic designs that exceeded my expectations and the stars were a huge hit, initially being displayed lining the street entering the City Hall complex during an art festival, and then subsequently residing outside the Frisco City Hall for several weeks.

While on display during the art show people were asked to vote on their favorite stars and we wanted to give out trophys to commemorate the project, so I whipped up these little star shaped ones and they seemed to be a big hit.

From there, the stars began a journey around Frisco as a roaming art display, making their way to some of the schools, the Frisco ISD headquarters, and private businesses.

Meanwhile, the large star sculpture was built specifically to be a joint project between myself and Diana Moya, the president of our local Visual Arts Guild. She is an exceptionally talented painter and he did a fantastic job with the star.

When we first unveiled the sculpture at an invitation only event Mayor Mike Simpson liked it so much he told us he wanted it on display in the newly completed city hall building. As a result, it currently resides in city hall…

Tags: Art, PlasmaCAM, Sculpture, Stars, Welding

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