greetings from VT

[mark g]

Hi All,

I have been operating for 11 years as Mark Goodenough Metalworks in southern NH and VT. I was a Taxidermist in Arizona in the 80's and an industrial sheet metal worker for a number of years before and after that. I always thought the two trades could compliment each other to make some interesting artforms. I now make naturalistic, fabricated sheetmetal sculptures using metalshaping tools and techniques. www.markgoodenough.com

[seanhwilliams]

Nice sculpture!

I wouldn't expect any less from a Vermonter! I'm from Montpelier, myself.. would be great to see some progress photos on how you bang out those forms.

[JAZ]

Hi mark g.
Nice work! There is no indication of scale. If these are larger works, are you perhaps using an English wheel? Or if they are small, maybe you are using a shot bag for hammering concavities and various forming heads for the convex shapes? I made a copper bowl once from sheet copper using this method. It's magical to make something hemispherical from flat metal.
The curves are very fluid, which is appropriate for your subject matter. It is interesting that on some you have left the rod armature showing, a nice touch. The one thing that I wonder about is the bases on a couple. The heron's feet seem too mechanical for the naturalistic way you rendered the rest of the bird. And on the ones that are meant to look like rocks, couldn't you skip the trim band, just leaving the rock-like shape?
Your site shows them well.
What metal are they? They are graceful. Gee, I didn't know there were pelicans in Vermont!
Your method of making an armature, then sheathing it with planar metal is similar to the work of SculptorSam, who is a member here, though his are purely abstract, bigger and made of steel.
JAZ
JAZ

[mark g]

JAZ,

The works are life-sized, so in the case of a standing heron, about 48" tall. I do use an english wheel. I have a variety of air hammers for shaping and planishing, and a nibbler repurposed for shaping. Still, much of the work is done by hand. I work in sheet steel, copper, aluminum and bronze in gauges rarely exceeding 16ga. The work on the site is mostly 20ga steel.

seanhwilliams,
I'd be glad to post some process images and descriptions when I know how.

Thanks for the comments.

Mark

[JAZ]

Hi Mark. To post images to a post, click on "go Advanced" at the bottom. Then scroll down to "Manage attachments" to find where you've stored them on your computer. It's not necessary to make a special folder for them.
I hope that helps.
JAZ