Marcella ryan
My name is Marcella Ryan, originally from Homedale, Idaho. I have lived in Glendive since 2003. I have owned and operated Tiny tots and Mommas Too, a small sewing business specializing in baby blankets. last year I expanded from the softness of fabric to the grunginess of metal art. I take old pieces of discarded metal such as garden tools, auto parts, farm and oil field equipment, and turn them into metal sculptures. Each item is hand crafted in my garage and no two items are the same.
My desire to learn to weld came from wanting to be outside in the spring. My sewing room is in the basement and once spring weather arrives it's hard to sit inside at the sewing machine. After years of talking about making metal sculptures I decided it was time to stop talking and start doing. I first became interested in welding after watching my husband Pat build our porch railing, a swing set for our boys and a few small creations for me. the learning process started with a trip to the junk yard, after finding several interesting pieces that I had ideas for, I laid them out and asked him to teach me. After a few days and some frustrations, I finally understood what I was doing and crafted a few successful pieces.
My favorite part of the process is what I call the treasure hunt, I love digging through a pile of discarded items and having an item spark an idea. Then the work begins; finding more parts and pieces to complete the idea, cleaning up the items and putting them all together. I love seeing items I have made making people happy, whether it is a child's favorite blanket or a metal sculpture brightening someone's home and yard. Over our long winters I love looking out the window and seeing the metal flowers and creatures adding a little something to my own stark yard. When it snows i still have flowers!
Some of my inspiration comes from seeing what other artists have created while other ideas come to me when i'm treasure hunting and come across an interesting piece of metal and the idea to repurpose it begins to grow.
My goal is to continue developing my metal working skills, allowing me to produce more and larger sculptures wile maintaing a style of art that is eye catching and appealing to all.