County of sculpture: Carroll County
Location: of sculpture: Barnes St., & Art Center Circle, Central Arts Center, Carrollton
Artist:
Plaque Text:
"Flying Pig Tree"
Created by Joel Johnston
Funding provided by the Alice H. Richards Foundation
a component fund of the Community Foundation of West Georgia
Each pig is a small tank with bolts for legs, nuts for eyes and a spring tail...not sure what the flat parts are that make the ears and tongue.
"Hello everyone! This article not only introduces another local creative reuse artist, but also our new board president for SCRAP Bin – Joel Johnston. Joel is a metal artist who welds and bolts both old and new metal pieces together to create new sculptures, chairs and vessels. His metal of choice is steel. As Joel puts it:
'“I like the look of rusted metal and I also like the silvery shine of bare metal. I’ll paint things that I’ve made for a pop of color. The silver chair (at the bottom of this post) was made from metal rod that I got from the SCRAP Bin. I sometimes get paint and other materials there, like the forks that I use for the wings of the flying pigs. I like to reuse things, maybe I’m cheap or maybe I just don’t like to see things go to waste.”
"Born in Eerie, Pennsylvania, Joel’s fascination with art began during his educational years in high school and college. His skills of grinding, melting, mixing and welding metal were learned as an undergrad. Several years later, during a slow day at work Joel created a small sculpture using scrap square tube steel. A trade was made with a jeweler friend and a new direction began in his life. Finding large amounts of cast off scrap around the neighborhoods of Atlanta, Joel started collecting an assortment of steel and, with a new mig welding machine, sculptures were created out of the bits and pieces.
"Starting small with whimsical wall sculptures depicting faces, animals, and abstracts, he moved on to large freestanding sculptures using recycled steel that he found or that was given to him. Today he creates sculptures ranging from tiny dogs weighing a few pounds, to wacky wall faces, to a full size steel horse, and some flamingos that invaded his garage studio.
"A habit (looking down at the ground while walking) from his college days always provides new material for sculpture and sometimes the unexpected, like Saab hubcaps. After finding that these hubcaps were a perfect basis for clocks, Joel started visiting junkyards in search of them to make new clocks and a second line of work was born. He uses new made in the USA clock movements for the hubcap clocks and after a nice clean and polish, it’s ready to go into your kitchen, office, den, game room, garage, or wherever." ~ Ideas From the Scrap Bin