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Don Rambadt ~ “I have been interested in art since I was a child, but it wasn't until I stuck two pieces of metal together in a college sculpture course that I truly found my voice. "I have been fortunate to be able to combine my lifelong curiosity towards the natural world with a creative path that allows me to explore my own vision of what’s interesting and beautiful.  By continuing to push my own boundaries artistically, I hope to ensure that the journey never

Don Rambadt ~ “I have been interested in art since I was a child, but it wasn't until I stuck two pieces of metal together in a college sculpture course that I truly found my voice.

"I have been fortunate to be able to combine my lifelong curiosity towards the natural world with a creative path that allows me to explore my own vision of what’s interesting and beautiful.  By continuing to push my own boundaries artistically, I hope to ensure that the journey never ends."

Education:

BFA - University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - 1995

Major ExhibItions:

Birds in Art- Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI

Western Visions – National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, WY

Die Amerikanst Liason - Chemnitz Germany

Southeastern Wildlife Expo - Charleston, SC

The Waterfowl Festival - Easton, MD

Sculpture in the Park - Loveland, CO

Installations:

Sky Play – National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, WY

Aspen Gateway - National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, WY

The Process:

The vast majority of my sculptures are one-of-a-kind, meaning each one is an original design and there are no patterns or templates involved in their construction.  I will occasionally revisit a concept if I felt it was successful but would like to try and improve on the design.  Even in this scenario, each sculpture is still unique and I don't attempt to "copy" something I've done before, only make it better if I can.

I generally start a piece by coming up with an idea of what species of bird or animal I'd like to work with, the story I'd like to tell, and what I want the overall feel of the sculpture to be. Then I get right to work with the welder.  I rarely do a preliminary sketch as I've found over the years that I'm much more effective at working out a design directly in metal than on paper. This allows me to see the piece in three dimensions right from the beginning and gives me a great deal of freedom to change things if I find my initial design wasn't as strong as I thought it would be.

As for materials, I use whichever metal I feel is going to be best suited to the project I have in mind.  I use a great deal of silicon bronze in my work as it affords the broadest range of finishing options, and is a time honored and durable sculpture material.  It's also relatively easy to weld and finish, which gives me a lot more freedom in designing  “on the fly", as changes and corrections are readily made.  For welding bronze I use my TIG welder for its precision and ability to add subtle textures if I want to include them.  I also use a lot of sterling silver for smaller works, which I silver solder (oxy/acetylene) and occasionally TIG, as well as stainless steel which I also TIG weld.  Steel and other metals are used when I add colors that I can't achieve using bronze, such as natural rust or bright yellows from brass.

The actual construction of the artwork takes a delicate touch but is a fairly uncomplicated process.  I cut my shapes with a shears (either hand or bench mounted depending on the thickness), then bend them with either my hands or pliers and some of the fixed bending jigs I've made for my welding table.  I then smooth the cut edges with a sander and begin welding the pieces in place.  I use either my gloved hand or a pair of needle nosed pliers to hold the piece in place as I tack weld, then add more weld once I know I have the piece where I want it.  I don't cut all the pieces out at once, as I never quite know what direction the sculpture will take as I'm working on it. 

The majority of the composition generally falls into place fairly quickly with relatively fast and spontaneous work, then I slow things down for refinement and spend several days (or weeks, or even months) fine tuning the subtleties and editing the piece.  For me the challenge is to leave out any information that doesn't need to be there, without leaving out anything that does, and to do this without overworking the piece in the process.

Once I have everything in place and structurally sound I use grinders and sanders, hand files, carbide burrs, and bits of sandpaper to finish off the welds and refine my forms.  The sculpture is then sandblasted and chemical patinas are applied to achieve the coloration of the finished work.