Campbell River Sculptor Gary Irwin
Stainless Steel Sculpture - Burl Mirrors - Kitchen Art - Garden Art
Unique Sculptured Metal & Wood Furniture
Gary, a steel boat builder, metal fabricator, machinist, wood worker and cabinet maker has been honing his skills for 35 years. After serving 4 years in the U.S.N. he moved to Victoria in 1981 to build steel offshore sailboats.
In the early 1990’s Gary settled in Campbell River continuing to build and repair boats, but also applying his skills to the creation of furniture and beautifully finished kitchen '‘art" from oak, yew wood, maple and birds eye maple.
This year he has taken his talents and skills to a new level, into the world of sculpting stainless steel. For the most part, he uses very basic welding techniques to create sculptures that are completely hand carved from solid stainless; there are no castings, no moulds, no computer operated machines.
The majority of the carving is done while under a welding helmet using a method called "air arc" (high amps, high pressure air) and then of course, are the many hours of grinding and polishing. In some pieces he uses wood as a contrasting medium, a way of presenting a metal sculpture to tell a story representative of the Pacific northwest. The unusual and unique wood he chooses are rare finds of red and yellow cedar, birds eye maple, yew wood, roots and burls salvaged from the forests of Vancouver Island, B.C.