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Welded Steel Sculpture

Welding is almost indispensable for most sculptors. I used the torch mostly because I started with it. I could make armatures, create one-hundred percent of a sheet metal sculpture and if necessary get a little help here and there with the electric welding. But now, my advise is to have the equipment for all kinds of welding - and the knowledge and ability. I could not have made the "box" at the bottom of Texas Flower so I drew plans and had it made. The same with the four corner parts of the Martin Luther. I made a full size plywood model, had a fabricating company make four steel plate copies which were connected, and correctly spaced with pipe. I then created the panels and formed the top with sixteen guage steel.

When making the Lacrosse Players, I was faced with a complicated arrangement of parts. I could easily raise an arm, bend an elbow or shift a figure with little problem.

The whole (huge) Bicentennial Monument was made using an oxygen-acetylene welding torch. But that sculpture and the (1968) Family were made out of sheet bronze. I used electrical copper wire for my filler rod, with no need for a flux.

Sculptures like my Self Portrait, Small Boy, Woman Waiting and Turkey were brazed over with bronze rod and flux. So, you see, a lot can be done with fairly simple equipment.

The Visionary (1999)

Welded "Cor-Ten" Steel sculpture with nickel-plated apple
9' Tall
Galesville, WI

Eagle Sculpture II (1997)

Stainless steel
Wingspan 20'
Veterans' Memorial Field, University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Woman Waiting (1971-92)

Steel and braised bronze
Part "found-objects", part contrived form
"Life Size" figure
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, La Crosse, WI

Eagle Sculpture Landmark (1987)

Welded "Cor-Ten" and stainless steel sculpture
Wingspan 20', Total height 38'
Riverside Park, La Crosse, WI

Head of Sculptor (1985)

Welded wire, brazed with bronze
"Life Size"
Owned by Sculptor

Small Boy (1983)

Welded steel coated with bronze by braising
Height including base 5'9"
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, La Crosse, WI

Turkey (1981)

Welded Steel sculpture enriched with braised bronze
"Life-Size"
Private collection, Seguin, TX

The Lacrosse Players (1981)

Welded "Cor-Ten" steel
"Life-size" Figures
La Crosse, WI
Note: This has now been replaced by a full size bronze casting. A second copy is in Epinal, France.