THE ART OF CEMENT, METAL & STONE

Wendy Hightshoe – “Jazzy Junque”

Wendy’s fiber art is created from tiny pieces of fiber which she then uses a free motion technique that enhances the design of the piece. She draws the design idea first, then starts laying it out on the fabric. For over 40 years she has enjoyed creating her own patterns for quilts and wall hangings for family and friends. She has enjoyed making wall hangings that are unique to a person’s hobbies and life, and uses a play on words to make them personal and unique.

Wendy’s jewelry art is a new item this year which started when she created pictures from jewelry for Christmas gifts for her family. She loves the challenge of finding jewelry pieces to use for her creations and turning those pieces into pictures. Her biggest challenge was the picture she created for her nephew, of his dog “Riggz”.

Doug does electric welding on some pieces, forge welding for others. He tries to stay with the older methods of fabrication but there are places where electric welding is far more cost effective but it is still a hand process, just a little more modern. His demonstration smithy uses no electricity, just coal and hand power and he has made many tools he uses himself.

Julie Beal – Earth, Wick & Fire

Earth, Wick & Fire is a small, family-based business located in Excelsior, Minnesota. The hand-crafted stone oil candles are made out of natural slate that varies in beautiful mineral colors and textures. During the creation of each candle, the characteristics and design are controlled by the composition of the slate and the artist. 

With the use of a small rock hammer and the controlled pressure of the strike to the slate, the design simply starts with that first strike to see how it will fracture. The break inspires them to continue to move around the piece, in a fashion of interest and inspiration, allowing the slate to come alive. There are never two candles exactly alike.

Earth, Wick & Fire has created a maintenance free, low profile candle that you will enjoy for years, just add oil. The fiberglass wicks do not burn away and each copper wick holder is hand crafted by them. The reservoir holds 1 oz. of lamp oil and will burn for approximately 5 hours before putting itself out. The addition of essential oils to the reservoir will add a wonderful aroma to your space. Citronella oil may be used outdoors.

It brings them much joy in creating their candles and they hope that you will enjoy your hand-crafted candle for years to come and share them with your family and friends as a unique gift that will hold memories.

He creates one to four-wick firestone candles. Each candle comes with a wick, a glass insert, and a funnel. The candles can be filled with either lamp oil, or if you prefer, tiki oil to enjoy outside and help keep the bugs away. Each candle has its own unique character. Kevin and Deb enjoy creating the candles. “It is a true pleasure for us when we meet new people everywhere we go, and they come up and inquire about the candles and remark how beautiful they are.”

Tim Trimble

Tim enjoys creating his unique one-of-a-kind sculptures by using old automotive, motorcycle, farm equipment, and scrap metal. He enjoys the challenge of fabricating some pieces to make them easy for transporting and storing.

Tim’s creations include indoor/outdoor tables and garden decor. He enjoys adding details such as solar lights to his flowers and working headlights to the motorcycles with a lone wolf or a hog rider.

David N. DeMattia

Dave DeMattia is a Mixed Media & Metal artist. His unique style has been heavily influenced by a childhood spent in Southern California where he spent much of his time at Disneyland sketching the themed rides and animatronic characters.

Dave was very intrigued and curious watching the animatronic characters from both an engineering and artistic viewpoint. He started designing and making his own animatronic figures in his garage at a very young age.

Character and performance have always influenced his work in any medium he has worked with. When designing and making a new character, the primary focus is on making that character come to life through expressing emotion and the appearance of movement.

Creating characters with emotion and movement is a skill he’s continuously seeking to master. Viewers or buyers of Dave’s art work will have different visceral responses, whether happy, sad, delighted or scary. When he sees that response, then Dave knows he has created a meaningful character! He currently finds himself working in steel, trying to find the character and dimension in sheet metal.

All designs start the old-fashioned way, sketched with pencil and paper. Dave translates his best designs in Adobe Illustrator. This allows him to refine the designs while keeping the whimsy and immediacy of the pencil drawings.

Once Dave is satisfied with the design, he cuts out the individual pieces with a CNC plasma cutter in 4′ X 8′ sheets of 16 gauge cold rolled steel. Most sculptures are made up of over 20 individual pieces. He then welds these pieces together in unique poses.

Once satisfied with the character and movement of the welded piece, the sculpture is burnished to remove imperfections, then primed and carefully painted to further enhance the character of the piece.

Some of Dave’s character designs are playful, whimsical and light-hearted and others, well, might be considered a little sinister. Welcome to Dave’s world!