[soft rhythmic music]
For many, finding inspiration can be a bit of a puzzle.
[pulley rattling]
[junk clinking]
- David Groenjes: My past job, when I was at work,
I was always thinking about what I wanted to do,
but when I got home,
I didn't have enough energy to be inspired.
And so, now I wake up with energy every day,
and I get to go put it to use immediately.
- Angela: But if you look long and hard enough...
[junk pieces clanking]
- David: And I'll dump pieces out all over the floor.
- Angela: Things start fitting into place.
[gentle, rhythmic music]
- There's a lot of times it just doesn't fit,
and you'll take a piece, and then, you'll find where it fits.
And I'll get pieces here and there,
and then, I kind of fill it in, in the middle.
[sparks crackling]
- Angela: It's that puzzle-solving mentality
that artist David Groenjes uses to spark his creations.
[drill whirring]
- David: And I mainly do wildlife art.
I like pieces that have neat curves and shapes,
an organic feel to 'em. [sparks crackling]
- Angela: He's created hundreds upon hundreds
of metal sculptures.
[gentle music]
Every piece wields its own special bond,
making it difficult to pick a favorite.
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- Gosh, you know, every time I make one,
a lot of times I make one, I say it's my favorite,
but then I make another one,
and then the next one's my favorite, so...
[laughing softly]
[gentle, rhythmic music]
- Angela: Although David struggles to pick a favorite,
he does prefer sculpting one subject over others.
- I like doing insects.
And so, I'll see a really cool insect or a bee.
Sometimes, it's just based on things my kids have seen,
and sometimes it's just,
I don't know where it comes from, you know?
And I love making spiders.
And I knew that I needed something
that was gonna be different
from anything I've ever done before.
So, I remember the movie, "The Wild, Wild West,"
and there was this big steampunk monster spider thing
they were riding around in.
And so, I wanted to make something
that kinda reminded me of that.
And that's where that came from.
[gentle, rhythmic music]
[sanding]
- Angela: David prides himself on using materials
that normally would either rust away
or live forever in a scrap pile.
- Everything I use is, for the most part,
cast iron, mild steel, or stainless steel.
And I try to use as much recycled
or reclaimed material as possible.
So, I'd say about 90% to 95% of my materials
is waste product from some
either old pieces of equipment, old car parts, tractor parts,
or industrial waste from factories.
I've got a horse that I named Oliver
because there's a great big hunk of iron on it
that's part of an Oliver plow
that's probably over a hundred years old.
And it's just really cool to have the history behind it.
I love the fact that I can take material
that would just get thrown in the garbage
or rot away in a field.
You know, some of it gets recycled,
but I can take it and give it new life.
[gentle, rhythmic music]
- Angela: With most puzzles,
you don't see the full picture
until everything is pieced together.
[gentle, rhythmic music]
David, however, likes to leave a few pieces missing,
giving others the opportunity
to complete the puzzle themselves.
- David: I like to take things where your mind
has to kind of put the rest of it together.
Taking pieces that have a texture
that could look like a feather or look like fur.
Or maybe making a sculpture
that has a lot of negative space
where half the sculpture
you're looking through to the background
and the rest of it is material.
And letting your mind kind of fill in the pieces.
[junk pieces rattling]
- Angela: If life is a puzzle,
for David, art is a large piece of his.
He needed some help solving it at first.
But once he did,
everything else just seemed to, well, fit.
- When I decided I was gonna do this,
I had a lot of positive encouragement
from my friends and family.
The biggest obstacle that I had to overcome
was holding myself back.
[drill whirring]
My life was great, but I know I'd be missing something.
You know, what I've gained, the things I'm learning,
it allows me to think outside the box a lot.
I think that constant activity of thinking
things like that helps me.
Everyone along the way really encouraged me
to do what I wanted to do, and I'm very grateful for that.
[gentle, rhythmic music]