LITTLEROCK MAN CRAFTS ECLECTIC ART FROM JUNK.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer Scavenging scavenging of anesthetic. See anesthetic scavenging. through desert dumping grounds searching for vintage tin cans tin cans put on car of newlyweds leaving ceremony. [Am. Cult.: Misc.] See : Marriage and other recyclables, Cortney Lofton doesn't see trash covered in dirt but future creations. A screen door can become a canvas, damaged car parts can be molded into monuments and tin cans made into sculpture. ``When I bring them home, I know what I'm going to make out of them,'' Lofton said. ``They have a vision in them.'' For seven years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time 34-year-old Littlerock building contractor building contractor n → contratista m/f de obras building contractor n → entrepreneur m (en bâtiment) building contractor - whose remodeling remodeling /re·mod·el·ing/ (re-mod´el-ing) reorganization or renovation of an old structure. bone remodeling and restoration work has been featured on Bob Vila's ``Home Again'' television series - has turned junk into art. ``I try to bring out the beauty of the raw material,'' Lofton said. ``Although it looks like trash to someone else, I try and bring the discarded material back to life again.'' Lofton's home and one-acre lot has become his own personal museum, filled with 60 pieces of artwork. In front is a life-size winged creature, crafted from light-gauge steel, its beak made from the lid of a 5-gallon paint can. A 6-foot-tall angel stands at the edge of the driveway. Lofton's back yard contains human figures frozen in action, a giant collage made up of found items and a 14-foot-tall figure under construction. Smaller figures hang from larger pieces. ``My house can be called a recycler's heaven,'' he said. ``It's whatever I found in the desert - a lot of years of finding things.'' Also in the back yard are four buildings constructed completely from discarded wood, metal and other material: a gazebo gazebo Lookout in the form of a turret, cupola (small, lanternlike dome), or garden house set on a height to give an extensive view. Few late-18th- and 19th-century rustic gazebos survive, but 17th-century turrets built up in an angle of the garden wall are not uncommon. , greenhouse, barn and workshop shed. A 1,100-gallon koi pond, waterfall, rose garden, sculptured rock wall, tree house and a patio made from peach tree branches complete what Lofton calls his ``Disneyland.'' ``I'm a kid at heart,'' he explained. ``I set it up as a playground. Each item complements the other.'' Lofton doesn't know how he gained his love of recycling but knows that his hobby has grown into a passion. Searching through the desert became adventures for Lofton, who has a 13-year-old daughter and a 22-year-old stepson step·son n. A spouse's son by a previous union. stepson Noun a son of one's husband or wife by an earlier relationship Noun 1. . ``It's important to explain to my kids how we should recycle,'' Lofton said. ``Driving out in the desert was part of proving a point.'' His first art show was at a local school. Lofton created a large red apple out of tin cans. Since then, Lofton has displayed some of his creations at the Divine Design Divine Design is an Canadian interior design show produced by Fusion Television which airs on W Network in Canada and HGTV in the US. It is broadcast on Thursdays, 9pm e/p and is hosted by Candice Olson, one of Canada's top designers. Show at the Pacific Design Center. He was invited along with interior decorators to participate in a fund raiser A Fund Raiser' is an organized event, attempting to collect money. The money to be collected is usually for a specific item or need. The event also can entail gimmicks or activities to promote donor interest. for Project Angel Food, which helps raise money for AIDS research. Lofton created a console made of concrete, woven metal mesh and a bronzed metal slab ,and an end table from a concrete cylinder and glass. Lofton also has displayed his work at the Good Red Road Music Festival and had his artwork featured on a musician's album cover. ``My business allows me to be creative,'' Lofton said. ``But having a license of freedom makes it even better.'' Lofton has worked in construction for 17 years, following a grandfather, uncle and brothers, and he has had his own business, Lofton Construction, for 10 years. He has specialized in restoration for nine years. ``It's been in my blood for generations,'' he said. Recognized as a well-known and respected restoration expert, Lofton's renovation projects include a 1940 art deco art deco (ärt dĕkō`; är dākō`, ärt) or art moderne (är môdĕrn`, ärt) duplex in Hollywood, a 1910 Sears Catalog home Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble houses sold through mail order by Sears Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Over 100,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. and a hilltop 1930 Greek revival home where he added an all-glass shower that gives the bather a view of the surrounding mountains. Lofton recently signed a contract with the Los Angles County Museum of Art to restore a series of cabinets and complete other maintenance projects. He is in the planning stages of converting a historical 1920s building in Los Angeles into a spiritual center for a religious group based in India. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1-2--Color) Above, Littlerock resident Cortney Lofton displays a sculpture titled ``Bird Man'' created out of scavenged material. At left, Lofton wields a welding torch to create art from discarded metal. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion