I see artistic potential in almost everything around me.

I have a very definite aesthetic and I grab up scrap material or discard it accordingly. I have used nearly every treasure I've dragged home, even if I had no clue what it would become at the time I found it.

Some designs hit me out of the blue, especially in dreams. I sketched one on a coffee cup at a red light that later became a wall sculpture for a Montessori school. That cup remains on a shelf in my shop today as a reminder of the marvel of the creative process.

I come from a long line of accomplished artists. I was prodigiously creative as a child but didn't understand art as a discipline. My artistic journey began a decade ago when I discovered silver smithing. I moved on to welding courses as soon as I realized the potential for larger scale works, supersized art! When I am captivated by a design a on a piece of fabric or a pattern haphazardly in my daily life, I obsess, laying awake at night, until I can begin work to make it my own.

My favorite part of the process is the idea, the brainstorm. The actual labor is loud and dirty...but metal work is what drew me to art and opened unimagined doors. The opportunity to breathe new life into once abandoned metal brings joy and a sense of awe into my life. I especially love to weld. The spark is mesmerizing and the opportunities are endless.

I am in my element.

Marieke Heatwole