Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_10.03.08 - Index

14B | BRENTWOODPRESS.COM FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 3, 2008
The metal master
by Samie Hartley
Staff Writer
“Look out. He bites,” says artist Sam
Gill to a woman as she admires his metal
pelican sculpture “This Fish Is Mine.”
The 75-pound piece, featuring a pelican
with wings outstretched as it devours
a fi sh on the beach, was just one of many
on display at Gill’s show held at Gooseberry
Fool in downtown Brentwood on
Sept. 22.
It took Gill more than two years to
complete the sculpture that incorporates
handmade feathers made one at a time.
“I don’t have to put my name on that
one anymore,” said Gill. “My DNA is all
over that thing from moving it back and
forth over the years.”
Gill smiles at this accomplishment
and then moves on to look at his other
work as he refl ects on his artistic passions.
He stops by a painting resting on the
fl oor. At fi rst glance it’s just a painting of
tree branches, but when you look closer,
you see the disguised form of a woman
gracefully lifting the leaves. Gill got the
idea for the painting after looking at photos
he had taken during a nature walk.
“I carry a camera like a gun,” Gill
said. “I see something interesting and I
shoot it.” His images later become paintings
or sculptures such as the “Old Oak
Tree,” a miniature version of a massive
tree.
Sometimes he leaves
the photography as it is. He
points to a picture of a frog
peeking its head out of the water.
“She looked right up at
me, and I couldn’t resist,”
he said of the picture
he took along Empire
Road in Oakley.
Gill was born
on an Oakley
farm in 1941. After
years laboring
on the land, he
became a blacksmith,
and his talents
for working
metal evolved into
an art form. His
fi rst work of art
was an accident. He
was randomly burning
holes into a piece
of stainless steel when
he became intrigued by the designs and
colors made by the melted metal. He was
29 years old.
Now, at 67 years young, Gill continues
to work with metal, pushing the
limits as far as they’ll go. “Metal can be
like clay if you know how to use it,” said
Gill. “I’m always looking for a challenge.
If you challenge me, I’ll make it.”
His latest example of a challenge
is a copper, steel and bronze sculpture
of a dragon he named Golanth. “They
told me I couldn’t make a dragon, so I
went out and did it. It only took me three
weeks,” said Gill of the detailed design
that is precise down to the red eyes, scales
and talons.
His latest fascination is stained glass.
He won’t do windows, but he will create
an abstract sculpture of metal and glass.
His fi rst experiment with the art form is
titled “A Boat or a Butterfl y,” since people
see different things when they look at
it.
Gill is not a waster. He uses scrap
pieces of glass to create other works. He
took leftover glass pieces and shuffl ed
them around on a painted canvas until
see Metal page 22B
Photo by Samie Hartley
Sam Gill tries to steal a fi sh away from his metal sculpture “This Fish Is Mine.” The sculpture
took Gill two and a half years to complete. Every feather was handmade one at a time.