This steelhead trout was made from 94-year-old rebar extracted from inside the San Clemente Dam cement when it was taken down last summer. Richard Schrader, master blacksmith, and I made it over the course of four days.
When I asked if I could try my hand at creating a simple fish...Richard said yes...but I had no idea what that actually would mean! While I did not get photos of the beginning of the forming of the steelhead from the rebar, there are photos from the last two days...I helped form the fish and did the tooling of the scales and the tail marks and one of the fins..and then worked with Richard in the rest of the formation as he hammered and cut metal effortlessly!..Made it look like it was as easy to manipulate as butter!
This sculpture is a precursor to a much larger piece* we will be making from rebar from the dam. See photo below. It will be installed in Carmel Valley next year. Stay tuned!
(* yet to be determined what it will be)
When I asked if I could try my hand at creating a simple fish...Richard said yes...but I had no idea what that actually would mean! While I did not get photos of the beginning of the forming of the steelhead from the rebar, there are photos from the last two days...I helped form the fish and did the tooling of the scales and the tail marks and one of the fins..and then worked with Richard in the rest of the formation as he hammered and cut metal effortlessly!..Made it look like it was as easy to manipulate as butter!
This sculpture is a precursor to a much larger piece* we will be making from rebar from the dam. See photo below. It will be installed in Carmel Valley next year. Stay tuned!
(* yet to be determined what it will be)
Finished work. Fish is set on a rusted metal piece from the San Clemente Dam.
© Paola Berthoin and Richard Schrader, 2016
See the gallery of photos to see some of the process to make the sculpture. Put your cursor over the image to activate.
© Paola Berthoin and Richard Schrader, 2016
See the gallery of photos to see some of the process to make the sculpture. Put your cursor over the image to activate.
Toni Henderson, graphic designer of the Art Dept, A Graphic Design Studio, created this fun little book and story, BIG Dam FISH Story, highlighting this one-of-a-kind collaborative creation.
Rebar and other metals collected from the San Clemente Dam Removal Project site with the help of Wayne Bounds and Evan Delay. Here are a few photos from a prototype fish Richard worked on before we began the smaller fish. This rebar, also from the dam, is a good 3/4" thick as compared to the piece used for the smaller fish which is about 1/2". Participating in this process gave me a good idea what it takes to shape steel...not easy!
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