Inspiration for a Garden of FishI recently set up a large aquarium in my home. I remember the most enticing aspect of the whole endeavor was creating the environment within the tank that my fish would inhabit. While sipping on some coffee with fish on the brain, I was looking out over my patio and envisioned fish swimming and schooling amongst the landscape. From this came the thought to create sculptural fish and compose them in a manner that juxtapose the inherent essence of a strictly aquatic creature with a terrestrial landscape. Whereby providing these simplified and distilled clues of a simple stream-line fish form, giving them only the slightest graceful curve of the body, and organizing them in a composition that suggests the activities of movement and schooling, the eye and mind fill in the spaces in between with life, activity, and story; though they swim not in water, but on air. Material & Finishes:The fish are fabricated from three different materials: steel, stainless steel, or bronze, and are currently available in two sizes 12" and 16" long. The stakes come in a variety of lengths between 18" and 34" . The length of stake has no effect on cost. STEEL- fish are left raw and uncoated and in a short time acquire a beautiful rusted finish. YES! I am fond of rust. STAINLESS STEEL- fish come with a variety of patterns ground into their surfaces along with a subtle range of color applied by heat and/or chemical patina for a textural effect. They are then clear coated to help protect against the elements. BRONZE- fish offer the richest colors and largest range of finish possibilities. I use many of the same methods as the stainless fish, such as grinding in patterns, heat application, and chemical patinas. Because of the nature of bronze the patinas offer a great range of possibilities and rich warm colors. They too are then clear coated to help protect them from the elements. I have always had a profound desire to be creative and to hone my skills, furthering my ability to express a creative thought. The pursuit of perfecting a repertoire of skills is a significant and driving force behind why I create. I feel that perfecting ones ability to control any given medium better equips an artist to develop a creative thought into its fullest potential. I have spent the past twelve years honing such skills in my work as the co-founder of the Milwaukee based design-build firm, Flux Design.I'm currently exploring and developing a fabrication process that I believe to be uniquely my own. The process involves cold-forging via hammer and anvil, sheet metals such as steel, stainless steel, and bronze into individual forms. These forms then become the facets that collectively give shape. Piece by piece I painstakingly template, cut, hammer-form, grind, polish, and layer the individual pieces onto the overall sculpture. The process is time consuming, difficult, and the chances of "mission creep" a constant challenge. Mission creep, if you are unfamiliar with the term, means if your a little off in the beginning, you're way off at the end. However the challenges are largely what motivate me and I find the result well worth the effort.