Iron Man Artistry

Art is so large it filled the entire bay door

Why is it that sometimes the local treasures closest to home are overlooked as we travel to other places to admire their sites?  Such is true of my neglect to pause long enough to visit the Ironman Studios Metal Art Gallery fourteen miles from our home!

How many times have we gone into Macksville to pick up our mail since Brian Williamson's gallery was opened?  Several times a week at least.  How many times have we pulled in to pump gas at the station across the street from his gallery?  Countless times.

A display in his gallery

If others in our region have failed to visit Williamson's gallery as we had done until recently, I hope this blog alerts you to what you have missed.

Brian Williamson is a craftsman who respects both of the skills that he brings to two very different yet similar things.  He learned a lot about working with metal in his auto repair shop, and he still takes that craft very seriously when someone brings him a car that looks beyond repair.

The fact that his gallery is in what was once a filling station may trick you into overlooking that an artist is at work there.  Although he has landscaped the exterior beautifully and the gallery where his work is displayed offers a professional background for his artistry, cars and trucks rumble by without realizing they have passed an art studio.  

My husband and I knew what it was, but until we happened

Detail reveals the silverware utilized

to pass by when one of the bay doors of the former filling station shop was open and we saw the magnificent metal artistry of Williamson did we pull in to visit his studio.  Parked in front of the gallery was a severely damaged car that awaited the artist/auto repairman.

When I asked him if I might interview him and take some photographs for my blog, thinking he might enjoy a little publicity for his art, he graciously stopped his work, but he also admitted that he had about as much work as he could do to keep up with orders!  That is a wonderful problem for an artist to have.

Study the pictures of his artistic creations closely.  He uses old blades and silverware in his designs.  I asked if he used chemicals to bring out the colors in his metal works, and he said, "No, I use fire."

Enjoy the colors and light of the metal

He told me some of the places where he had shipped his art to other states, so he is clearly not an unknown, struggling artist.  But if you are a local, or someone who happens to be passing through Macksville, Kansas, don't be as neglectful as I was.  Stop in to see the amazing metal sculptures of Brian Williamson at 133 E. Broadway, Macksville, Kansas 67557.

As I write this blog, I cannot help but recall how Isaac Werner carefully saved materials to be used in new ways and with his own creative gifts designed, invented, and improved so many things that are described in his journal.  

Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.