John T Unger Artist's Portfolio

Face of Spades Masks from Recycled Shovel Blades

click to view larger image.

The Face of Spades series can be displayed as a single mask, or hung in a series to create totem poles, to embellish fences or deck railings, or even to construct a forest of tree faces. Inspired by traditional mask designs from all over the world, each Face of Spades carving is made from 100% recycled materials— the intricate designs are hand-cut from reclaimed shovels, carving freehand without the use of templates. Since each mask is hand-cut, yours may vary slightly from the photo shown. The Face of Spades series looks great both indoors or outdoors. In the garden they will turn a rich rust color, perfect for outdoor decoration. If you wish to preserve the mask outdoors, it's not a bad idea to spray it with WD-40 once a year or so.

 

Face of Spades: Masks, Tree Faces or Totem Pole Heads
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$39 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy	$59 plus S+H. Buy at: 1000 Markets | Etsy
All Face of Spade Designs © 2009, John T Unger

Mosaic Bear for the American Red Cross

Free Spirit, Mosaic Bear 2005 Ceramic tile over fiberglass. Exact dimensions unknown: Your basic life-size bear Private Collection

Free Spirit was created for the 2005 fundraiser Great Northern Hunt for Bearable Art organized by The American Red Cross of Northern Lower Michigan. An anonymous donor sponsored one of the bears and specifically requested that I mosaic it. I couldn't get anyone to spill the beans as to  this mystery benefactor's identity, but I'd like to thank them here for picking up the tab on my entry to the outdoor art project.  The life-size fiberglass bears are based on a sculpture by Glen McCune commissioned by the Red Cross as a follow-up to their 2003 Fish-In, which featured over 50 outdoor fish sculptures and raised more than $300,000 for local Red Cross services. If you're curious how long it takes to cover such a large sculpture in tile, you can follow along with the more or less daily blog posts I posted while working on the project: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, Day Seven, Day Nine + Ten, Day Eleven + Twelve, The Auction! As shown below, my bear was chosen to greet everyone as they first came in to the auction tent.

 

Tags: art, mosaic, fish, whale, glass mosaic, tropical fish, fishing

Little Red Riding Hood Narrative Sculpture

Little Red Riding Hood Narrative Sculpture, 2006 Recycled steel, 8.75" H x 20.25" W x 10" D Collaboration with Mya Smith
Purchase Little Red Riding Hood for $230 ($200 plus $30 S+H).
Little Red Riding Hood is a narrative sculpture that my daughter Mya and I collaborated on. The drawing is hers, the cutting and welding I did. I love the way that she used the tree and the headboard to separate the story into three panels with three scenes. This one was almost the end of the process, because I made her re-draw the woodcutter about 12 times to get more of a dynamic swing to his axe… she was really frustrated by that, but in the end we both felt the results were worth it.
click thumbnail to view larger image.

 

Tags: art, folkart, comics, metal, fairytale, narrative, sculpture

3 Billy Goats Gruff Narrative Sculpture

3 Billy Goats Gruff Narrative Sculpture, 2006 Recycled steel 11.5" H x 18" W x 6.25" D Collaboration with Mya Smith Custom Order Item

Three Billy Goats Gruff was the first drawing my daughter Mya did for our collaborative series of narrative sculptures. Although I was totally blown away by the 3 Little Pigs sculpture, the Billygoats piece is probably my favorite. It's the one I kept for myself. I'm impressed with the way she used negative space in the drawing, and by the way the bridge is used as a framing element for the story… In all the narrative works we did together, she was able to find ways to make the scenery frame the story panels without resorting to artificially dividing the scenes. Her drawing of Little Red Riding Hood was probably the best example of this.

 

Tags: art, folkart, comics, metal, fairytale, narrative, sculpture

Sad Bunny Sculpture

Sad Bunny, 2006 Recycled steel, 17.5" H x 18" W x 6" D Collaboration with Mya Smith
Purchase Sad Bunny for $180 ($150 plus $30 S+H).
Sad Bunny is a collaboration I did with my daughter Mya, one of many sculptures we did this summer using her drawings and my welding and cutting chops. If you click on the lefthand thumbnail below you'll see what I think is the coolest feature of this piece: the bunny's shadow has a totally different expression on his face… an angry, evil expression. Of course, you have to get the angle of the light just right to reproduce it, but I think it's kind of a cool hidden allegory. Most of the mean people I've met in life were hurt themselves at some point (I mean, true enough to be trite, right?). But having the sad bunny's shadow take on an evil persona is awesome. I should really build a lightbox around it that forces the shadow to the correct angle, but I like the piece as it stands. The steel is recycled plate from the scrapyard, and the plants are bits left over from cutting out the flames on the Pot-deFeu recycled grills.
click thumbnail to view larger image.

 

Tags: art, folkart, comics, metal, fairytale, narrative, sculpture

The 3 Little Pigs: A Story in Steel

3 Little Pigs Story in Steel, 2006 Recycled steel, 14" H x 26" W x 6" D Collaboration with Mya Smith Buy it at Checkered House Gallery
My daughter Mya is interested in making comics and she's pretty amazing at it…draws and writes very well. So when she came out this summer, I thought it would be cool to collaborate on some narrative steel sculptures together. She picked the stories, and  decided how to lay out the image so that it would carry a narrative without words. I did the cutting and welding and offered a wee bit of editorial assistance in the few places where I thought the image or flow of the story could be stronger. Even though we worked pretty closely together on these, I think Mya could have done them alone if she wasn't a little bit afraid of the sparks in the shop. The house is made from an old refrigerator drawer and the rest is recycled steel plate. The wind from the wolf's mouth is copper plated welding rod. The plants are scrap left over from cutting out the flames on the Pot-deFeu recycled grills. This piece sold to Checkered House Gallery the minute Tess saw it. But that's okay… you can buy it from the gallery if you hurry. I don't expect it will last too long.
click thumbnail to view larger image.

 

Tags: art, folkart, comics, metal, fairytale, narrative, sculpture

Collaborative Steel Sculptures

Sea Rider, 2006 Recycled steel 13" H x 17" W x 8" Collaboration with Mya Smith		Purchase   for $70 ($50 plus $20 S+H).
These sculptures are all done from drawings by my daughter Mya… she did most of the steel cutting herself on these, with a bit of help. She's not a big fan of the sparks. I do like the way she draws though! click thumbnails to view larger image.
		Gargoyle Recycled steel 14" H x 8" W x 3" Purchase   for $110 ($90 plus $20 S+H).
	Dragon Recycled steel 15" H x 7.5" W x 3.25" Private Collection
		Coyote Recycled steel 10" H x 9" W x 1.25" Purchase   for $45 ($30 plus $15 S+H).
	Seahorse Recycled steel 17" H x 6.25" W x 4.5" Purchase   for $50 ($30 plus $20 S+H).
		Unicorn Recycled steel 9" H x 9" W x 1.25" Purchase   for $45 ($30 plus $15 S+H).

 

Tags: art, folkart, comics, metal, fairytale, fantasy, sculpture

Recycled Metal Critters made from Cars

Fire-Breathing Dogzilla, 2006 Recycled steelfrom antique cars, rivets, bottle cap. 26" H x 33" W Custom Order Item
I've always been a sucker for fire breathing acts, and somehow, it just seemed like Dogzilla needed get in on some of that action. But then, I'm also the guy who makes his cat stand and walk on two legs to get her treats and, yeah, the guy that taught his daughter fire breathing last summer. More circus flavored art is in the works, I think. I really like the way this one came out. The work below are various examples of small wall hanging sculpture in recycled steel. I photographed them with pennies to give a sense of scale. click thumbnail to view larger image.
Little Mermaid 20" H x 24" W Custom Order Item
Blue Striped Bee 13.5" H x 17" W Custom Order Item
Dogs Chase Tails 9.5" H x 11" W Custom Order Item
Funky Alien 15.5" H x 10" W Custom Order Item
One Big Eye 15" H x 9" W Custom Order Item
Big Fish 9" H x 30.5" W Custom Order Item
Big Fish 24" H x 27" W Custom Order Item
Little Fish 10" H x 16" W Custom Order Item
Dogzilla 24" H x 28" W Custom Order Item
Alarmist Hedgehog 6.5" H x 13" W Custom Order Item
Happy Little Creature 7" H x 16" W Custom Order Item
Happy, Funky Bird 12.5" H x 9" W Custom Order Item
Seahorse dimensions unknown Custom Order Item
Mad Cat dimensions unknown Custom Order Item

 

Tags: art, sculpture, recycled, metal, garden, home, steel, funky, fun

Big Metal Fish Sign

Aluminum + Copper Fish Sign, 2005 Recycled Aluminum, copper and plywood. 51" H x 96" W x 1" D
Purchase Aluminum + Copper Fish Sign for $850 ($750 plus $100 S+H).
This was originally going to be a sign for the studio…  I got this far with it and decided that I liked it better as art. I made it before I had a plasma cutter, so the whole thing was done with shears and a jigsaw. I especially like the way that the copper fin near the gills came out all ripply and dimensional. I had intended it to lay flatter, but the copper got all bent up while I was cutting it and actually looked much better that way. It's pretty common that the best features of a piece will be the mistakes… I could certainly have flattened it out the way I had intended it to be, but so often what makes art be art is seeing the benefit of an error before you correct and having the sense to leave it in.

 

Tags: art, folkart, garden, metal, outdoor, self taught, fish, trout, sign

Haitian Style Merman Sculpture

Haitian Style Merman, 2006 Recycled steel. 26" H x 8" W x 3.5" D
Purchase Haitian Style Merman Sculpture  for $90 ($70 plus $20 S+H).
This sculpture reminds me a lot of the graphic style used by Haitian artists who make cut steel art from 55 gallon drums. Which makes me really happy, since usually I can't even touch those cats for raw style. It's just one of those things that can't be faked. I got lucky on this one… it was a piece of steel that was left over from some other cut out pieces I was working on, and I could kind of see the design struggling to get out. So I made a few more cuts, emphasized a few things, threw in a little bit of detail, and there it was.

 

Tags: art, folkart, garden, metal, outdoor, self taught