Tom Ballard

As an artist I have long been attracted to steel as a sculpture medium. In my college years I approached the material with an industrial technique, primarily in terms of fabrication and finish; be it paint, chrome plating or galvanizing. The sculptural shapes, however, had no direct industrial reference. Even while working with other materials such as plexiglass and fiberglass it seemed the road always came back to welded steel. It was the sixties and early seventies, such a great time for exploration.

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The joy of creating and building sculpture eventually lead to custom home design and building. From there I became an Architect with a private practice..... big sculpture. My architectural practice spanned over four decades with a few excursions into creating art along the way.

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Now retired, and fully involved in making steel sculpture again. Even as I bring a fresh sensibility to my artwork I find myself exploring some of the same issues and excitement from long ago. Throughout my career as an artist and Architect I am most drawn to the “less is more” dictum, letting shape, texture and finish play against each other. I am currently focusing on freestanding welded steel sculpture. Additionally, some of the work I will be showing consists of Corten steel wall sculpture which has a strong resemblance to abstract painting consisting of natural steel, polished and ground steel as well as rust and paint