Bins of scrap metal become artistic statements

LANSING - His sculpture was complete. ScrapFest was officially underway.

And Terry Clarke was clearly enjoying the chance to see what other artists had fashioned from their loads of scrap metal.

"A lot of people used brake parts to gi their pieces some mass at the bottom, just like we did," said Clarke, of St. Johns. "There's some blacksmithing, some welding, some cutting involved. You have to bring all of those elements together. This was an interesting challenge."

Clarke's inaugural entry, "Generations," represents his 43-year friendship with Kurtis Smith and Bruce Watkins - two of his partners in the project - and their ever-growing base of family and friends.

Among the 15 other entries are a colorful metal rendering of a koi, a towering silver heron complete with mechanical wings, a mosquito drawing oil from a well, an artistic-but-functional barbecue grill and a windmill with blades shaped like aspen leaves. Clarke was impressed by the artists' creativity, vision and execution.

"Oh, man, this is a hoot," he said. "This is great fun."

Teams had one hour to pick out up to 500 pounds of scrap from Friedland Industries, which donates the metal, and two weeks to make an art piece from it.

"Whatever you get, you get," Clarke said. "You've got to live with it."

Now in its eighth year, Old Town ScrapFest is spread out along Turner Street for the first time this year.

The festival runs until 10 p.m. Friday and reopens at noon on Saturday. Winners will be announced at 5 p.m. Saturday, and the sculptures will be auctioned off beginning at 7:45 p.m. Half of the proceeds will go to the artists and the other half to the Old Town Commercial Association.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.