Octupus, Haiti Recycled Metal Art, Ocean Wall Art, Fair Trade, 23\" x 23\"

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Octupus, Haiti Recycled Metal Art, Ocean Wall Art, Fair Trade, 23\" x 23\":
$69.00

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Octopus Wall Art Haiti

By Kenedy Belony

23\" x 23\"

These wonderful sculptures are handmade from 55 gallon oil drumsin Haiti. Each piece is handcrafted starting with a drawnpattern on the metal. Chisels and a large hammer are used to cut and mold thedesigns, then the artistsmoothsout thesteel\'s rough edges. When the highlyintricate sculpture is complete, the artist signs his nameboldly with a small chisel. Thesteel drums vary from brown to grey to black. As such, colors will vary oneach, unique piece. Thank you for supporting our artists. Each purchase makes ahuge difference in the quality of their lives.

Care for your Sculpture

Haitian steel drum sculpture (fer découpé) is fabulous bothindoors and out. However, the question always arises about how to care for itwhen it is exposed to the elements. I have had pieces outside in my garden for12 years and they continue to look great. Most contemporary steel pieces havebeen coated with a varnish, generally a glossy varnish. If you install a pieceoutdoors in an exposed area, it will not remain glossy. It will take on aninteresting flat patina over time. However, it will eventually develop rust.Rust is not ugly, but it will corrode the piece. To prevent that all you haveto do is thoroughly spray it with WD40. Don’t wipe it off. Just leave it andreinstall the piece. You will have to re-spray from time to time, but normallynot more than once a year. WD40 works on all steel drum sculpture, regardlessof age. If you have an indoor steel drum piece that becomes scratched fromhandling or whatever, all you have to do is lightly spray it with a clearvarnish made for metal, either a glossy or a matte varnish, depending on thelook you want. The scratches disappear immediately. However, do not varnishover rust. If you want to remove rust, sand it off with a fine piece ofsandpaper, brush the residue off the metal, and then apply the varnish

History of Haitian Metal Art

DeWitt Peters, patron of Haitian arts, was intrigued in the1950s by the iron crosses protruding from many above-ground tombs. Petersdiscovered the blacksmith, the soon to be renowned Haitian artist GeorgesLiautaud, and so began Haitian metal art. The raw material was iron, and, soon,the steel oil drum. The center of this activity of Haitian arts is the villageof Croix-des-Bouquets, where the clang clang of metal on metal, the chiselsbanging out the sculptures is a constant music. The pattern is drawn on themetal and chisels and dies and a large hammer are used to cut and mold thedesigns. The artist smoothes out the steel’s rough edges, beats out the convexand the concave shapes, and when the highly intricate sculpture is completedand thoroughly satisfactory to the artist, he signs his name boldly with asmall chisel. A uniquely Haitian form of artwork, it is an art of multiplemeanings and the Haitian artists’ imaginations are spectacularly fertile.

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Octupus, Haiti Recycled Metal Art, Ocean Wall Art, Fair Trade, 23\" x 23\":
$69.00