Metal Sculptures and Fine Art

by Benjamin Leo Britton Ó

I was born November 9, 1949 to Ruth Farol Varns Britton and Howard Glenn Britton from Marion, Iowa where I grew up. My parents have both passed away. My mother collected and sold antiques and managed numerous estate sales. My father was a tool & dye maker with Collins Radio, now Collins Rockwell Avionics in Cedar Rapids and was also a licensed electrician. I have one older sister, Ferol, who lives in Waseca, Minnesota, with her husband.

Being an artist was never really a question, it was more of an answer, what with 2 artistic grandmothers, my mother, and an aunt & uncle who were artists, it was not out of the ordinary in our family to express oneself artistically or to be encouraged to do so. Since my family has had a history of artists, I’ve always wanted to be one. When my friends were using finger paint, I got to use Grumbaucker oil paints and good German and French paintbrushes. They made mud pies, I just looked at it as earth sculptures; it is just a matter of perspective. The thanks going to my mother who was brave enough to let me use her paints and brushes. For a number of years, I endeavored to become a photo-realist oil painter.

Although I have a broad based vocational background; it has all led up to where I’m at with my art today. I have put into play being a sign painter, toolmaker, welder, ironworker, mechanic, electrician, carpenter and horticulturist. The list goes on.

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I became serious about doing metal sculptures in 1992.   My  sculptures have included: dinosaurs, dragons, turtles, pigs, mushrooms, trees of various forms, plant stands, bird feeders, arbors & trellises, and a couple of spring loaded rocks. These works are primarily derived from worn out farm equipment and scrap iron. Most anyone who looks in the junk iron barrel at an implement dealer sees just broken worn out tractor parts and dull tillage equipment. I view it as an endless source of raw materials. I enjoy solid realism with a sense of humor. An eagle, which I completed in 1995, sits on top of Hickory Park Restaurant in Ames. My first dinosaur now resides in Colorado. My pig entry, ‘Link" in the 1998 World Pork Expo in Des Moines won the "People’s Choice Award" and I have received Best of Show and Best 3D at the Valley Junction Art Show in West Des Moines. I was featured on Iowa Public Televisions "Living in Iowa" in 1996.  The November 1999 issue of ‘The Furrow’ magazine included an article about my sculptures written by Rex Gogerty.  I was one of six Iowa artists  selected in February of 2006 to produce bike rack sculptures as part of the 2006 East Village Rack ‘n’ Roll Project and was awarded $2,000 for the sculpture.  After all these years, I finally have something bolted to the side walk downtown.  A few rather large sculptures I have made are at home in our rock garden including a cross made of I beams which is 14’ tall and 7’ wide, a prism star that is 7 foot from tip to tip, a curved arch walkway, a gazebo and a bridge.  I would like to branch off into mixed media in sculpture rather than just steel and iron, incorporating pottery, tile, rock, wood, glass, brass, copper and bronze combined or in any or all  mixtures that I am still trying to figure out.  In keeping with the do it yourself way of thinking, I made my own tile and rock saw and now I am putting together a motorized kick wheel for pottery made out of Dutch corn Sheller wheel's and assorted combine and planter parts with an electric motor from a furnace...what fun!  I would be open to consider any commissions including Public Art projects.

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