Expressive Wildlife Portraits are Captured in Elegant Scrap Metal Sculptures by Leah Jeffery

All images shared with permission © Leah Jeffery. Photographs by Katie Jeffery

When it comes to scrap metal, Hogansville, Georgia-based artist Leah Jeffery has honed an instinct for transforming old bike parts, cutlery, and offcuts into a captivating menagerie of expressive animals. During her senior year of high school, she began exploring different trades, and after signing up for a welding class, discovered a natural skill with metalworking. She became interested in re-using discarded materials, and her first project was a great horned owl, which spurred an ongoing series portraying an array of wildlife.

Now working as Bruised Reed Studio, her practice centers around the proverbial turning of trash into treasure. “There is something about taking what was discarded and giving it new life,” she says. “I use any scrap metal I can find—mostly old bicycle parts and flatware, or people will give me their random metal junk.” Each sculpture is one-of-a-kind, formed from in a wide variety of textures, densities, and patinas to expressively capture an eagle’s intense gaze, a butterfly’s wings, or a sloth’s lazy grin.

You can follow Bruised Reed Studio on Instagram, and find more work on her website.

 

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Get Lost in the Endlessly Marbled Patterns of Nervous System’s New Psychedelic Puzzles

All images © Nervous System

Trippy zigzagged patterns grace a new set of infinity puzzles from Nervous System (previously). Part of the Catskills-based studio’s growing line of endlessly tiling designs, this series pieces together rippled lines and spirals produced through a digital simulation of paper marbling by engineer Amanda Ghassaei. There are three sizes, the largest of which is composed of more than 350 laser-cut pieces, and different iterations in warm and cool tones. As with all of Nervous System’s jigsaws, these designs embed a range of whimsy pieces, this time depicting the silhouettes of flora and fauna.

Shop the new collection on the studio’s site, and check out the video below to see the psychedelic tiling experience in action.

 

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Through a 1,600-Pound Sculpture of Moving Chains, Artist Charles Gaines Confronts the Enduring Legacy of American Slavery

All images by Timothy Schenk, courtesy of Creative Time, shared with permission

Eight years after artist Charles Gaines began work on “Moving Chains,” the monumental public work now stands at Outlook Hill on Governors Island. Evocative of a ship hull, the enormous kinetic sculpture features nine rows of steel chains that roll atop a structure made of Sapele, a wood native to Africa, with eight moving at the pace of the harbor’s currents and the other at that of a boat.

The 110-foot, 1,600-pound work is Gaines’ first public art commission and a sharp critique of systemic issues inherent within the American economy. Located next to the harbor that was an essential waterway in the transatlantic slave trade, “Moving Chains” exposes the nation’s capitalistic impulses and inextricable foundation in the heinous practice. “I wanted the piece to address that… in order to produce this kind of economy, they had to legitimate slavery,” Gaines says in an interview. “It becomes a real emblem of what I call the fatal flaw that exists at the foundation of American democracy.”

Specifically, the artist focuses on the Supreme Court’s landmark Dred Scott ruling that prohibits anyone of African descent from becoming a U.S. citizen. Although reversed with the 14th amendment, that decision has spawned myriad effects that continue to plague American society today. “It shows the history of slavery and Manifest Destiny and colonialism and imperialism as an interlinking narrative,” Gaines told Artnet. “In education, they’ve been separated, but the U.S. economy was built on slavery. Manifest Destiny legalized the taking of land from other people.”

Commissioned by Creative Time and Governors Island Arts, “Moving Chains” is one part of Gaines’ ongoing The American Manifest project and is on view through June 2023 in New York before it travels to Cincinnati. You can find more of the artist’s work on Hauser & Wirth and Instagram.

 

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Unseen Cosmic Forces Inspire Otherworldly Photographs of Magnets and Metallic Particles

All images © Zac Henderson, shared with permission

A fascination with nature, science, and the vast mysteries of the cosmos has inspired Alabama-based photographer Zac Henderson’s series Dark Matter III, part of an ongoing project that transforms magnets and metallic grains into spectral and unearthly forms. As its name suggests, the works are inspired by dark matter, a form of matter thought to be abundant in the universe, integral to its structure and evolution, and yet difficult to detect. Henderson describes it as “what keeps galaxies glued together,” and he’s influenced by the interaction of unseen forces on the world around us.

Dark Matter II explores the nuances of physical power and challenges perceptions of size and depth, creating otherworldly forms that can be interpreted in enormous galactic proportions or at a microscopic scale. “I like for there to be a reward for looking closely at the work,” Henderson says. Around forty photos taken at different focal points are layered into one composite, giving each image immense clarity with emphasis on detail and texture.

You can find more of Henderson’s work on his website and Instagram.

 

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Drips of Colored Paper Accentuate the Intricate Details of Joey Bates’ Layered Bouquets

All images by Jean-Baptiste Beranger, © Joey Bates, shared with permission

In Joey Bates’ sprawling floral sculptures, what appear as dried splashes of paint are actually meticulously cut segments of colored paper. The American artist, who is currently based in Dals Långed, Sweden, layers petals, leaves, and fronds into elaborate three-dimensional bouquets brimming with textured detail. Although most works primarily utilize white or black paper, Bates infuses spots of Yves Klein blue, fiery reds and yellows, and gold to accentuate a single bloom or pocket of foliage.

Currently, the artist is finishing a series of sculptures that will be available in November from Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, in addition to a few commissions and personal projects. You can follow his work on Instagram. (via Beautiful Bizarre)

 

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Portable and Precise, Horizon’s ‘Swiss Army Knife of Sketch Tools’ Combines an Array of Functions into One Ruler

To render a perfect circle or measure precise angles, designers and artists rely on a slew of tools to compose accurate sketches and diagrams, but with so many different devices, one drawback is portability. Dubbed the “Swiss Army knife of sketch tools” in a new Kickstarter campaign, the team at Horizon has created a new double-sided ruler that combines functions like an imperial and metric compass, protractor, T-square, circle stencils, and four straightedges in inches, centimeters, pixels, and picas—all packed into a laser-cut, stainless steel tool the size of a credit card. They have also incorporated the Helvetica typeface, which rose to popularity in the mid-20th century for its clarity, to make the measurements even easier to read.

You can find more of Horizon’s designs on Instagram.

 

All images © Horizon

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Organic Features and Textures Cloak Carol Long’s Sculptures in Natural Embellishments

All images © Carol Long, shared with permission

Melding the decadence of Art Nouveau and the whimsy of Alice in Wonderland, artist Carol Long (previously) transforms humble clay vessels with an array of small spheres, curled handles, and densely laid stripes. Her ornamental works begin with simple, wheel-thrown shapes that are pushed, bent, and warped into swelling forms evocative of organic material or more representational subject matter like a deer or mushroom. Long then uses slip trailing and an elaborate glazing process to add a staggering amount of embellishment to the amorphous sculptures, mimicking the patterns, textures, and colors found throughout the natural world.

The Kansas-based artist will be presenting at Clay Con West this January, and you can follow her latest works and news about available pieces on Instagram.

 

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