For The Love of Metal

By Joe Hale Haden

The struggle between being an artist and an engineer is a dance of disciplines which I enjoy. Rules, rules, rules, and then... My art plays with breaking the rules; it can be a paradox and my sense of humor can usually be found in some manner when viewing the work. It takes knowing how to make a strong design then pushing it to defy the rules. My proudest moments in art would have to be when the ideas in my head play out and I can physically create or reproduce the idea successfully.

A few years ago, after injuring my leg and needing to learn to walk again, I had the time to hang out with my friend Mik Miano who taught me how to “cold bend” metal. This started a new journey for me and began my love for metal; it just felt right. I feel metal picked me, and it just took me a while to get on board.

Finding ideas for my artwork is simple: My imagination has full power of attorney when it comes to an endless supply of great and outlandish projects. I’m only limited by time and money usually, and that is why I love found objects. They are free and give me constant inspiration; by working with found objects, there aren’t many rules, so this allows me to break rules in a harmonious way. Some of my work has a lot of contradiction, but somehow it works out for a beautiful piece of art to emerge from that contradiction. I don’t have enough time on this planet to produce all of the ideas I have in my head, and I’m OK with that... It gives me the opportunity to keep coming back for more.