Sculptures that move, both kinetically and emotionally

Artist and metal sculptor Don Redman has spent 42 years creating large metal sculptures that foster movement in some way.

Don Redman of Santa Fe, N.M., strives to work big, push boundaries, fabricate sculptures with longevity, and, most importantly, create something that resonates with the masses.

Artistic expression came naturally to Redman. For as long as he can remember, the Houston native has been making, drawing, sculpting, and creating. But the welding, well, that came from his father, Don Redman Sr., a long-time welder in the shipbuilding industry.

As he became more accomplished in his craft, he made the transition to working with metal in his late teens, which led to earning several commission projects. A little less confident in the welding and metalworking world, he routinely hired his father as a fabricator and learned the nuances of welding and metalworking from him.

“He’s the kind of guy who can really weld anything. There was no one else better that I could have worked with,” Redman explained.

Forty years later he’s been able to successfully meld both worlds – metal fabrication and art—to create art that honors, inspires, and challenges its audience.

Movement Matters

After trying the college route, Redman decided he was better off apprenticing with veteran metal sculptors who were renowned and accomplished in their craft than traditional classroom learning. It was through those interactions that he learned what kind of sculptor he wanted to be and what kind he didn’t want to be.

Redman believes that art should be experienced and enjoyed by everyone, which is why he enjoys fabricating large sculptures for public viewing.  He also believes sculpture should incorporate movement.

“In the ‘70s and ‘80s there weren’t many people working in kinetics, or moving art. A lot of the people I worked with made static objects, where the viewer had to walk around the object to see it. I thought, ‘Hey, we live in the 21st century. We should make art that literally pushes those boundaries of what we think sculpture is.’”

He spent several years designing and fabricating metal sculptures that moved with the wind until he made the transition to creating movement with sunlight. Through strategic-cut shapes in the metal, like a stencil, and smart positioning, he makes pieces that can create shapes through those stencil-like cuts or through shadows—both always changing based on the sun’s intensity and the time of day.

A great example of this is his sculpture “Sun Mask,” which sits outside of the Rio Rancho, N.M., City Hall building (see Figure 1). The challenge was to transform a reflection pool, which would overflow onto the sidewalk and create dangerous walking conditions for pedestrians during the winter, into an aesthetically pleasing and pedestrian-friendly monument.

Figure 1
“Sun Mask” works with sunlight to create the illusion of movement through shadows.

“I took all of the water out and poured this reflection pool with concrete and put a parabolic on it, meaning the water will shed off of the concrete. I bought 1- by 1-inch mosaic glass. The safety glass on the building was the same color, which I thought was cool."

Using COR-TEN steel, he fabricated fan-like shapes with stencil cuts throughout. He arranged the pieces on the surface of the reflection pool in an east-west orientation. He laid the foundation of the pool with 1-in. emerald green mosaic glass, matching the color of the building’s windows.

“When the sun comes up over the building, it throws light through these stencils, which refract in the glass. What happens is those stencils create two-dimensional kinetic imagery underneath the piece throughout the day, and it’s never the same. Every day it’s different; every month it’s different because of the position of the sun.”

Every Sculpture Has a Story

From concept to design, fabrication to installation, every sculpture has a story. And for Redman, inspiration comes from all angles. A particularly memorable sculpture is “Willow,” which was inspired by a friend’s 92-year-old aunt, whom he had met in Canyon Lake, Texas. Her spirit immediately made an impression on Redman, and when she found out what he did for a living, the woman asked him to make something for her.

“She was larger than life. She was a flapper in her youth and a trendsetter. Even though I met her in the late stages of her life, she was still this dynamo,” Redman explained.

When she passed away, Redman was contacted by her daughter. He agreed to fabricate and install a sculpture in her honor at the senior residential community in St. Louis where she lived.

The concept was an abstract of the female form using COR-TEN steel that was forged with a 50-ton trip hammer.

“During the forging processes we were getting the metal so hot that it was melting my facemask off as I stood 6 feet away. As you drive up to this man’s forge while the hammer is in operation, your whole car will shake. We had eight guys trying to hold this piece of steel and stick it in the oven. Then we had to pull it out of this oven when it was molten hot and send it into the 50-ton trip hammer, which would beat it on one side and then we’d flip it over so it could beat the other side.”

The end result stands 16 ft. high in the middle of the 100- by 20-ft. reflection pool (see Figure 2). After the fact, Redman learned that “Willow” was the largest forging in New Mexico since 1942.

“Artists are supposed to push boundaries, and my training taught me to push those boundaries and push the envelope to create something that had never been done before.”

Don Redman, 505-660-7368, http://donredman.com

Figure 2
“Willow,” inspired by a feisty 92-year-old woman, was forged out of COR-TEN steel.