A new art display has popped up at the Great Bend Public Library, showcasing handcrafted, metal art by retired carpenter Bill Schwartz.
The sculptures are pieced together via welding and made up of scrap metal to create each unique piece. Every piece that Schwartz has made is up for sale.
Schwartz scavenges the metal used in his pieces from various automotive parts and farm equipment, among other sources for the scrap metal. He approaches different businesses with scrap to inquire about attaining more metal for his many art pieces. From here, begins his process of brainstorming and then building his sculptures.
Schwartz begins each piece by studying the scrap metal he collects, letting the shapes lead the way in artistic inspiration. “It surprises you when you take some stuff apart because it gives you better ideas,” he said.
Those ideas are brought to life in the form of vehicles, robots, insects, pop culture items, etc. All of these make up Schwartz’s varied brazing portfolio. And some of his favorite pieces from this portfolio took the longest for him to build.
A locomotive sculpture, one of his favorites, took him over 60 hours to craft. A cement truck took 40 to 50 hours and was one of the most challenging pieces that he’s done.
Since December, when Schwartz picked up the hobby, he has crafted dozens of these metal sculptures.
“I always kind of wanted to tinker myself. My daughter bought me a flux welder before Christmas,” he said. “So, I made Christmas presents starting out, and then I started into this stuff here. Scrap metal.”
When talking about what sparked his interest in brazing, Schwartz said, “My dad, he’s always been a carpenter and an automobile guy and did his own things. He was a brazer. He could braze things together like you wouldn’t believe, but the ideas come out.”
It’s from here that the spark of interest for brazing that Schwartz had grew into a roaring fire.
“I always wanted to weld, but I didn’t know anything about the flux welders, the MIG welders, or anything like that. So, I just took it upon myself to learn it,” Schwartz said on his growing passion for brazing. “With my woodworking, that’s an art, too, but I just wanted to get into something different.”
Schwartz has gone a far distance on his artistic journey since December. And it looks like he’ll be going much further as he continues to explore the brazing medium of sculptures, and he is looking to share that exploration with many others as well. All of the sculptures that he’s done so far are available for anyone to purchase.
“I’d rather have somebody looking at it, than just being all set up in my office,” Schwartz said on wanting the art pieces to find a good home.
To purchase a sculpture, contact Bill Schwartz at 620-617-1674.
