Graceful, beautiful shapes and the curving lines found in nature thrill me. They always have. If you stop to think about it, man has always copied and utilized nature’s shapes to make tools – to make life’s chores easier. As I seek out or run into pieces of old iron and steel that I can work with, I’m still attracted to the lines that generations before us have borrowed from nature. Pieces that, when they were formed, had curves of beauty as well as strength built or cast into them.

Many of these pieces that I run across have an interesting history, I am sure. Many were hand-forged by a blacksmith. Most involved some form of toil; they were built to lessen the toil of the day. As I remove the rust or scale, my thoughts wander. I wonder how some pieces were used. What man, woman, or child couldn’t wait until the sun went down so they could put this piece away for the night? As I form a bird or some other creature from my imagination, I hope I am preserving history in a unique way.

Mostly, though, I am having fun creating. Creating what I hope is as pleasing to other eyes as they are to mine. Knowing that my work has attracted people that want these pieces in their home, workplace, or gardens, to view with joy, is a pleasure to me.

Wayne Brown grew up as an Army brat. He has spent time in Okinawa, in Annapolis, MD, and on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Wayne moved to the St. Lawrence Valley in 1980, and then moved to the Hudson Valley in 1990. Now, he resides in the St. Lawrence Valley once more, but visits family in the Hudson Valley and winters in Florida whenever he can.