This weekend I got to check out the Tempe Festival of the Arts for a few hours. I've been attending it regularly for as long as I've lived in Phoenix, but during most of those I was following other people around. This is only the second time I've really been able to appreciate the art.
In particular, I had an eye out for the metalworkers there. There were quite a few artists who worked in the same style I always see at these sorts of shows- Kokopelli figures and native-influenced designs, little quail and lizard figures on poles for your garden, and so on.
There were a few artists whose work I really liked, however. The picture accompanying this article is one of them. I was hoping to get a feel for the kind of metal sculpture I wanted to do and I think this man's work is the closest I saw to the aesthetic i have in mind. I like the found-art feel to his work, the use of natural textures, and the way that it's not ashamed to be industrial.