Fire Imps Recycled Steel Sculpture

Playful, Colorful Sculpture for the Home

I love the way that the shapes and colors of the Fire Imps interact in a group— like a coral reef, a modern dance troupe, a forest of fall leaves, a party or festival. Fire Imp Sculptures available exclusively through Kickstarter.com. Reserve yours today!

 

I'm in love. I've been working a new series of sculptures that are the most playful, energetic and touchable work I've done in years. I'm so into the Fire Imps that I've decided to do 600 of them, divided into six series of 100 each in different colors.

Part of what makes the Fire Imps fun is the freeze frame of pattern, rhythm, lyricality and syncopation that gives them a musical feel… combined in groups, they resemble a musical score as much as a group of dancers. The shadows they cast are also a part of the piece, doubling or distorting the form, mirroring the sculpture on the wall.

 

Fire Imp Sculptures Make Playful Groups
View Gallery of group Fire Imp arrangements on Flickr

 

Each Fire Imp is a one of a kind sculpture that will never be repeated. Although their bright colors and cheerful look could fool you, they are made from 100% recycled steel. The bases come from a local factory that cuts LOTS of holes into thick steel and scraps the circles left over. The body of the sculptures are scraps left over from cutting my Great Bowl O' Fire firebowls. They're the spaces between the flames.

For a long time, I've been trying to figure out the best way to work with the cool scraps left over from cutting the Great Bowl O Fire… I've tried a few different approaches: layered panels, small sculptures, steel trees. I was happy with those, but they weren't quite it. There were two characteristics that made the scraps difficult to work with: first, they're cut from a bowl, so there's a compound curve that often posed a problem in joining them. Second, each has a long flat section where the lip of the bowl was that didn't match the organic curves on the rest of the piece. Finally I realized that if I removed the flat edge, and re-cut the scraps, I could attach the pieces to small bases and create some very fun and interesting table top sculptures. And it's become an addiction.

I plan to do six limited edition series of the Fire Imps: 100 in natural steel, and 100 each in Red, Yellow, Orange, White and Black. All are signed and numbered on the base and once I've completed the edition of 100, no more will be made in that color. I will be completing the series in small batches and uploading the new work to Flickr as I go. You can see all of the Fire Imp Sculptures completed so far by visiting this page on Flickr. Sizes vary, but most of the Fire Imps are 10 to 12 inches tall. Dimensions of each will be noted on their Flickr page.

The Fire Imp Sculptures are available exclusively through Kickstarter.com. You can reserve a particular number from a series by commenting on it's page on Flickr after making your pledge.

The Natural Steel series is nearly complete already and I've done the first five of each color series. The remaining color series will be finished by the end of November and sent out for powder coating as soon as the project reaches it's funding goal on Kickstarter.

Fire Imp Sculptures Series I through VI
View Natural Steel Series I	View White Series II	View Black Series III
View Red Series IV	View Orange Series V	View Yellow Series VI