john t. unger studio

Fire Imps Recycled Steel Sculpture

2009-10-12T14:39:41-04:00

Playful, Colorful Sculpture for the Home

I love the way that the shapes and colors of the Fire Imps interact in a group— like a coral reef, a modern dance troupe, a forest of fall leaves, a party or festival.

Fire Imp Sculptures available exclusively through Kickstarter.com. Reserve yours today!

I'm in love. I've been working a new series of sculptures that are the most playful, energetic and touchable work I've done in years. I'm so into the Fire Imps that I've decided to do 600 of them, divided into six series of 100 each in different colors.

Part of what makes the Fire Imps fun is the freeze frame of pattern, rhythm, lyricality and syncopation that gives them a musical feel… combined in groups, they resemble a musical score as much as a group of dancers. The shadows they cast are also a part of the piece, doubling or distorting the form, mirroring the sculpture on the wall.

Fire Imp Sculptures Make Playful Groups


View Gallery of group Fire Imp arrangements on Flickr

Each Fire Imp is a one of a kind sculpture that will never be repeated. Although their bright colors and cheerful look could fool you, they are made from 100% recycled steel. The bases come from a local factory that cuts LOTS of holes into thick steel and scraps the circles left over. The body of the sculptures are scraps left over from cutting my Great Bowl O' Fire firebowls. They're the spaces between the flames.

For a long time, I've been trying to figure out the best way to work with the cool scraps left over from cutting the Great Bowl O Fire… I've tried a few different approaches: layered panels, small sculptures, steel trees. I was happy with those, but they weren't quite it. There were two characteristics that made the scraps difficult to work with: first, they're cut from a bowl, so there's a compound curve that often posed a problem in joining them. Second, each has a long flat section where the lip of the bowl was that didn't match the organic curves on the rest of the piece. Finally I realized that if I removed the flat edge, and re-cut the scraps, I could attach the pieces to small bases and create some very fun and interesting table top sculptures. And it's become an addiction.

I plan to do six limited edition series of the Fire Imps: 100 in natural steel, and 100 each in Red, Yellow, Orange, White and Black. All are signed and numbered on the base and once I've completed the edition of 100, no more will be made in that color. I will be completing the series in small batches and uploading the new work to Flickr as I go. You can see all of the Fire Imp Sculptures completed so far by visiting this page on Flickr. Sizes vary, but most of the Fire Imps are 10 to 12 inches tall. Dimensions of each will be noted on their Flickr page.

The Fire Imp Sculptures are available exclusively through Kickstarter.com. You can reserve a particular number from a series by commenting on it's page on Flickr after making your pledge.

The Natural Steel series is nearly complete already and I've done the first five of each color series. The remaining color series will be finished by the end of November and sent out for powder coating as soon as the project reaches it's funding goal on Kickstarter.

Fire Imp Sculptures Series I through VI

View Natural Steel Series I	View White Series II	View Black Series III

View Red Series IV	View Orange Series V	View Yellow Series VI

1000 Markets: Great Online Sales Platform for Artists

2009-06-01T20:55:18-04:00

When I first discovered 1000markets.com I was totally blown away by their design and implementation of an online arts marketplace… 1KM is beautiful, functional and focused. Of all the sites I've tried for selling my work online, 1000 Markets has the simplest, fastest and most powerful user interface. I love it.

I also love the fact that as good as it is, when I made a few suggestions to CEO Matt Trifiro, he saw the value of the ideas and was able to implement them nearly instantly on the system. This led to a great friendship and also to a consulting gig on a secret project which I am very excited about. I honestly believe that the project we're working on has the potential to be world-changing. It's kind of what I've considered my personal holy grail in web development and I'm confident that this is the crew best suited to finally make it happen.

If you're looking for a place to sell art (or other goods, in some cases) online I totally recommend checking 1000 Markets out. I had planned to write a really detailed review and overview, but since Asley Pahl has beaten me to it, I'll refer you to her post: Thinking about selling on 1000 Markets?. Ashley did a great job of providing a detailed description of what you need to know and how to set up your store, including screenshots.

If you want to check out what I've listed on 1000 Markets, you can view my store here.

Bottle Cap Art Tutorial: How I Craft my Bottle Cap Mosaics

2009-05-10T15:02:08-04:00

Every few weeks I get an email asking me about how my Bottle Cap Mosaics are created… people want to know what they're made of, how the caps are attached, where I get the caps for the mosaics and so on. I've created the video below to answer most of those questions.

Probably the most frequent question is "do you drink all that beer yourself?" Well, no. If I did, I'd never get anything done so I hire professionals (ie: I get most of them from bars and quite a few from friends who save them for me).

How to install a gas burner in my firebowls

2009-02-05T00:49:37-05:00

One of the phone calls I get a lot is from people who want to know how the gas burners are installed in my firebowls. I've finally taken the time to sit down and draw a diagram that shows how the stainless steel burners connect to the firebowl.

It's really quite simple, as you can see in the drawing. The burner just threads down onto 1/2" gas pipe and you're done. Use some pipe dope (and make sure that it's rated for gas) to make sure you get a good tight fit with no leaks.

Can you tell by the drawing that I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator by drawing owner guide artwork for Ford? If you would like to print the instructions, you can download a PDF file by clicking this link: Download firepit-gas-burner-installation-instructions.pdf

High School Paper on Recycled Art

2009-01-21T14:56:55-05:00

I get quite a few emails from high school kids who are writing about recycled artwork for a class assignment and want to ask me some questions about my work. Recently, I got the following message through Etsy:

Our 14 year old is a performer and, to work around his travel schedule, he's in an online high school program this year for 9th grade. He's currently taking an art class and was given a project wherein he has to write about an artist who uses recycled materials. After searching online, he came across your web page, your "green" incentives and your bottlecap fish and decided you would be the perfect artist to write about. I think he'd be tickled if he could ask you some questions directly, although he's read almost every blog he can find about you (that sounds a little creepy, sorry!!) Would you be interested in visiting via email with him about your art and recycling? I know he has some specific questions he's been pondering.

Although I missed the opportunity to chat with Hayden before he wrote his paper, he did an amazing job on it and was kind enough to send me a copy to read. The quality of writing is amazing for a 9th-grader! Better, in fact, than some of the pieces I've seen from professional journalists. Below is a video of one of his performances.

I asked Hayden if I could share his work here on the blog and he graciously agreed:

Turning Trash into Beauty
by Hayden Stark

Would you hang trash on your living room wall? Artists who use recycled materials as their media most certainly would. John T. Unger of Michigan supports himself and his family by creating art out of discarded junk. Some of the items he uses in his art are recycled steel, metal from old automobiles, recycled glass, and bottle caps. “This is the best way I know to minimize my impact on natural resources, climate and the environment,” says Unger, (John T. Unger website).

Of all the pieces Unger displays on his website, I was most intrigued by his rendition of fish created with bottle caps, recycled metal from automobiles, primed wood, recycled household items and nails. However, Unger does not randomly throw in a bunch of bottle caps and call it good. Unger spends his time, strategically sorting out and placing each bottle cap by color, size, shape and brand. Once sorted out, Unger washes, dries, punches and partially crimps each bottle cap and then finally nails it into an overlapping pattern. This overlapping pattern resembles the scales of a fish and brings each fish to life as the metal from the bottle caps glisten when exposed to light. “When you look at one or two caps from any brand, they're generally not all that impressive. But when you group hundreds of them together and let them catch the sunlight, they truly glow,” (Unger, John T., Bottle Cap Mosaic Fish). As well as bottle caps, Unger also uses recycled metal from old automobiles to use as the fish’s fins and tailfins and with a humorous wit, Unger also uses household items as the fish’s tailfin! In furthering my first question, I ask again with more vigor: Would you hang a thousand bottle caps, an old car hood and a common rake on your living room wall?

I certainly would! The bottle cap fish intrigued me most of all of Unger’s artwork. The way that he uses the bottle caps and positions each one precisely makes the fish unique. And using a rake or a dust pan for some of the fish’s tails was hilarious and really caught my attention. I have never seen someone be so creative before!

I would say that John T. Unger has captured a unique media that really resembles fish scales. His unique patterns and the fact that he groups colors of bottle caps, makes a whimsical and fun piece of artwork. I think in history, his art will pass the test of time. The quality of his work will uphold many years. Because he uses a media that we still use today, bottle caps, I would say that his art is timeless. If, some day, we stop using bottles and therefore stop using bottle caps, the value of his art might go up because his media would be in high demand.

I believe John T. Unger produces art both for enjoyment, and to be a responsible citizen. The bottle cap fishes he creates are fun. But some of his artwork is useful. He also makes firepits out of recycled metal. And some of his best artistic ideas are not yet realized. He has plans to build an art studio out of recycled freighter crates. In today’s world of green initiatives, it seems to me that many artists are ahead of the rest of the world. Many artists have been using recycled materials in their artwork for many years. Maybe that is because trash is cheap and artists don’t have a lot of money to spend on making artwork. Or maybe that’s because an artist can see “art” in “trash.” I would definitely hang his trash on my walls!

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment

2008-09-12T23:31:03-04:00

This is one of the coolest videos I've ever found on the web. Who knew sticky notes could be so beautiful?

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Mosaic Commission for LimeLight Lodge, Aspen Colorado

2008-08-30T15:39:57-04:00

I just finished up seven mosaic trout for the swimming pool at the LimeLight Lodge in Aspen, Colorado. They came out great. Most of the glass is Sicis Iridium, the same iridescent glass I used for the Alden Bank sign a few years back. I love using it for fish mosaics because it makes them shimmer as the light shifts just like a real fish. What excites me about this project is that the mosaics will be installed on the bottom of a swimming pool… so I think the light will do really interesting things as it goes through the water.

Below is a slideshow of the mosaics pulled from my Flickr account. I've posted print quality images to flickr if you'd like to see these mosaics in greater detail.

Change to third floor window layout

2008-07-31T17:31:06-04:00

Greg's post on the Baltazar residence by public over at materialicious caused me to re-think the way we had the windows laid out for the third floor… I like the new design much better. The transom windows at the top will open to allow a breeze, while the more solid panes below will be static. One of my favorite parts of the house design is that I plan to use a thin paper curtain for the glass wall facing the highway and project movies on it with my epson dvd projector. When people drive by during movies hour, they should be able to see a pretty clear image of whaever Hollywood action film I'm checking out that night— so, I'm kinda hoping it will look like cars are flying through the living room on fire, or bridges are blowing up, or gunfights or martial arts are going on in the house. Heh.

Rumfire wedding photos

2008-07-31T17:18:22-04:00

Rumfire wedding photobabe, originally uploaded by Kanaka's Paradise Life.

The Great Bowl O Fire makes a great backdrop for wedding photos at RumFire.

Firebowl and cuisine still life

2008-07-31T17:17:07-04:00

IMG_0146, originally uploaded by beccacantpark.