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RON NORMAN has been creating
things out of metal since he was a young boy growing up on
Lopez Island. He
began welding
at the age of eight. His early years were often spent in
his father’s repair shop -- he and his twin brother spent
hours taking things apart and putting them back together.
As a young
man he worked in three different welding shops -- and spent
many years driving trucks and working in the timber industry.
He left Lopez for awhile, and then returned -- and opened
up his own repair and fabrication business. In between the
carburetors and transmissions, lawnmowers and car repairs --
RON
NORMAN started working with steel in a completely
new way -- and from his hands came herons and salmon, eagles
and ducks.
A few years ago RON NORMAN shut down his
mechanical repair shop -- to focus more on his art work.
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“I use an oxy-acetylene torch,
wire feed welder, grinders, pliers, hammers, and whatever else
is within reach.
Everything is cut free-hand -- and each piece is unique, and
not mass-produced.
I rarely draw things out on paper -- I just usually grab
a piece of chalk, and sketch something on the steel, and then fire
up
my torch and start cutting. Some people prefer the very clean
lines from a plasma torch -- and you can even computerize a design
with
it, and then make the very same thing over and over again.
I,
myself, love the raw, rough, and wild cutting that comes from
an acetylene
torch, it brings so much more depth, life, and some unpredictability
to the metal surfaces.”
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STEEL HERON -- Mild steel, 36in x 14in |
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SCRAP FISH -- Mild steel, 30in x 5in |
COPPER FISH -- Annealed copper, 18in x
9in |
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