Artist's Statement

The sculptures are a selection from my current work; developed from drawings that I make daily, the forms based on those I see in nature. A combination of these individual forms makes the completed sculptures.

The sculpture begins with drawings of chosen forms on sheets of mild steel, then cutting out of the drawn forms with an acetylene torch. I then grind the cut pieces, smoothing them somewhat, but not so much that they no longer resemble natural forms. Prepared pieces go together with an arc welder, assembled into the sculpture's ultimate form. There may be a bit more grinding and smoothing. The piece is then ready for several coats of primer paint, and then its final color(s).

These small pieces are sculptures in their own right, each with a presence of its own, a three-dimensional realization of the concept I had when making the original drawings. But certain of them, in addition, will serve as models, enlarged to scale for larger works, up to a scale of one inch to one foot. My sculpture in front of the Hartford Public Library, for example, at seventeen and a half feet and six tons, was enlarged from a piece such as those you see here.

David Hayes