Ryan Schmidt While Ryan Schmidt chooses to work in stainless steel because of its “everlasting qualities” and the “wow factor” created with a mirror finish, it is his faith that inspires his pieces. Ascension, which is Schmidt’s first ArtPrize entry, refers to the passage Christ made to heaven following the resurrection, and the three pieces that make up the artwork represent the mind, body, and spirit of those who are reaching toward heaven in worship and expectation of Christ’s return. “I try to tie in a spiritual meaning to all of my work,” he explained. Ascension, which was originally created for a centennial celebration for Beverly Hills, Calif., was moved to the Grand Rapids Public Museum for Art- Prize — Fig. 1. The 141⁄2-ft-tall, 7-ftwide sculpture weighs about 1000 lb, with the base several thousand more in order to keep the artwork stable in case of high winds. Showing it at Art- Prize represented a sizeable investment on Schmidt’s part since it was trucked from California and required the services of a crane at both ends of the trip to load and unload it. Art has intrigued Schmidt since he first became interested in origami at age five. He then moved on to painting and “taking as many art classes as I could in college.” He began working with cast aluminum, then bronze, and finally transitioned to stainless. Stainless steel also worked well for water features related to his father’s custom remodeling, landscaping, and playground business. “Most of my pieces are near water, reflect water, or have water shooting out of it,” Schmidt said. It was from his father that Schmidt began learning to weld. He fabricated Ascension over a 21⁄2- week period. He traced the design onto 5-ft pieces of 316L stainless steel using an overhead projector and a marker, then cut the material with a 13-A grinder with a 6-in. cut-off wheel, taking care during cutting and welding to wear the proper protective gear because of fumes. Schmidt said he has used a plasma arc cutting machine on stainless, but found he had less cleanup with the cut-off wheel and that he could cut for longer periods of time. He welds using a water-cooled gas tungsten arc (GTA) torch, using the Fig. 1 — Ryan Schmidt stands with his ArtPrize Seven entry, Ascension, outside of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. scratch start technique and no filler metal. The only help he had was in lifting the stainless steels sheets and for polishing. While he often polishes smaller art pieces himself, Ascension’s size required outside help. “It would have taken six months to do it myself,” he explained. “It took a nine-man crew 13 hours to polish it up. The first company didn’t do the best job of it, so I had a second company do it again.” Although he waited tables for about ten years to supplement his income, Schmidt now works on his art full time. After spending a number of years in California, he has returned to his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., and is selling his artwork through agents and galleries around the world. You can learn more about Schmidt at soulartinc.com. MARCH 2016 / WELDING JOURNAL 37
Welding Journal | March 2016
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