My life is full of wondrous moments with so many things I want to create. I love molding different metals into shapes and textures that give the illusion of softness or hardness, manifesting the emotion and expression of my subject; sometimes showing all and sometimes allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks. I work in steel, aluminum, stainless steel and barbed wire. My work ranges in size, subject and style, from large-scale sculptures for landmarks and school mascots to smaller pieces for home, garden and personal adornment. 

I share my vision by teaching others to give their ideas physical form. The students I work with learn to bring their ideas to fruition by developing their own concept for a sculpture, which I then help them to fabricate. My latest project involves collaborating with school students to help them build their mascots. My book, Creating Realistic Works with Barbed Wire, is a comprehensive tutorial that shares my personal techniques with this unique medium. The book has been sold all over the world and is available on my website. Images of my work can also be seen at http://www.sculptures-by-bjh.com.

My work can be seen throughout Boise, Idaho, surrounding communities, and in private collections worldwide. Among the 20 life-size pieces in the Treasure Valley are a large medallion mounted on the side of a Boise church, an aluminum blue heron perched in Caldwell’s Indian Creek, a calf resisting the show ring for Centennial Park in Meridian and a mule deer doe with two fawns at Boise’s Ann Morrison Park (the latter was installed for the park’s 50th anniversary). My latest work is a campfire sculpture, installed in June, 2010 at YWCA Horse Thief Reservoir Campgrounds in Cascade, Idaho. Also in 2010, I was co-awarded the Caldwell Fine Arts Excellence in Fine Arts Award with Bob Gerdes, another local artist. This is the first time in the 48 years of this association's existence that the award was given to a metal sculptor. Beyond creating sculptures for public entities and corporate clients, I offer lessons and workshops to the public at large.

Describe a transformative process that has occurred in your own practice as an artist or in a past residency as a teaching artist.
I have been a full time working artist for 30 years. Although I’ve been a full-time working artist for 30 years, my experience in this past year has been particularly transformative. My ability to do everything I used to do has diminished; my role as an artist has changed from an active participant to a guiding hand. This has pointed me in a different direction, in my most exciting direction, teaching my craft to others. This has been a positive challenge since so much of the process was second nature when I did it myself. Students question the order of steps, or why a certain section of a sculpture has to be hit in a certain way to achieve the right effect. I have to give more explicit instructions with techniques of fabrication. By explaining the “why” of the process, I often find that I learn just as much as the students do.

When have you been able to recognize learning taking place?
I know that learning is taking place when I observe the light in my students’ eyes as they begin to comprehend what I am teaching. Students will begin to understand and even direct the process, telling me how a specific section of a work in progress will need to be shaped in order to look correct. I see students’ pride in creating something that will last for years.

What excites your imagination and in turn how does your work excite imagination for your audience?
My students excite my imagination. In the past, many pieces of my work have been commissioned sculptures of school mascots. Now, I am more excited about helping students to create their own mascot sculptures. The first time I helped students to create a mascot, it was a real joy to hear them say, “We need to find a place it can be seen and that it will not get hurt.” It was wonderful hearing the pride they took in their work.           

What characteristics mark a successful collaboration for you?
To have a completed sculpture that everyone got to work on and that everyone is happy with.

How do you foster creativity, both in your own work and as a teaching artist?
I foster creativity with the idea that everyone has something to contribute – I believe that everyone is creative. The theory is to get students to “see” the subject and the way each shape goes together. The main goal is to have a finished sculpture that is the best it can be. This means that everyone has had a role in its creation. The work is improved by having multiple perspectives – one student may see something that others might miss, and once corrected, the sculpture becomes better.  I encourage everyone to speak out with their ideas, but with “no egos to get in the way.” I serve as a mediator of ideas, making sure everyone is heard, but if I know the idea does not work then I explain why not.

List three key understandings of your discipline.
1. Sculpture has been part of humanity’s history from the beginning. Three-dimensional forms were created as functional tools or for ornamentation.                       
2. Seeing the various shapes that make up the subject matter and determining how adjacent shapes make up a cohesive piece. Example: The shape of the belly area on a horse is one side of the shoulder shape and one side of the flank shape. 
3. By assembling these shapes they make up, for instance, a horse. Whatever a mascot is, the creative process works the same way.

List three outcomes of the three key understandings.
1. Students will recognize and be able to discuss the cultural significance of creating a school mascot.
2. The ability to see different shapes and how they relate to one another to create a whole.
3. The creation of an end product, putting shapes together and fabricating a recognizable form with purpose and meaning, namely, school pride.

List some subject areas outside of the fine arts that relate to your potential residency work.
Math, Agriculture, Social Studies, History

References

Ivak B. Cooper
Welding Instructor
Certified Welding Inspector
Caldwell High School
3401 S. Indiana St.
Caldwell, ID 83605
(208) 455-3304 ex 303
Fax  (208) 455-3256

Jan D. Bledsoe,
M.O.T.,Ed/Sp Psychology, Parent                         
380 Pioneer Rd.
Horseshoe Bend, Idaho 83629
(208) 484-1718
getngomom@gmail.com

Joseph Schueler
Unit Director Meridian Boise and Girls Club
(208) 888-5392 
joey.schueler@bgclubidaho.org/p>

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