I am Bob Lyall, a metal artist, formally trained as a journeyman sheet metal worker. I would like to introduce you to my metal artwork and give you a little background of how I
got to where I am today.
With the skill set of a journeyman sheet metal worker and the right tools, I am able to create practically anything. My passion is in the creation of artwork. I have been doing
artwork for most of my life, but I pursued the artwork, as a full time career, beginning in the middle 1980's when I had to travel to do sheet metal work. With a young family, the decision was made
to pursue the arts, so I would travel with my family, rather than away from my family; that is the primary reason I do Iowa art.
All of my work is created from recycled metal. This concept of recycled artwork allows my metal artwork to be much more affordable and the recycled materials have character that
is not available in new metal.
A noteworthy recycled item is the "Capitol Copper Collection." These are items created from over 100 year old copper that was once part of the roof covering the State Capitol of
Iowa in Des Moines. The opportunity to get large sheets of copper with such a wonderful coloring, was irresistible. Later the history of the metal became significant in the marketing of the artwork.
I have pins, barrettes and earrings created from this material. The State of Iowa, apple and shamrock pins are all created using a die to cut the metal, therefore each of the shapes are consistent.
The hearts and trees are all free form, therefore each are unique. The Capitol Copper is truly Iowa art!
My garden art is also very popular items in my recycled artwork collection. I like to specialize in metal hearts, metal stars and metal cats. Each piece may be on a long rod for
the garden, or on a short rod (mounted in stone), in which case the piece becomes an interior item for the table. For example the metal cat on a long rod would be an outside piece of garden art,
whereas the same metal cat on a short rod mounted in stone could be either a interior or exterior item.
Here is
a series of my garden art pieces that I created for a local charity. The largest person is over six foot and the smallest character is three foot tall. I enjoy sharing my humor with the
community.
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