Twisted steel and figurative appeal from a scrappy, self-taught sculptor
Written by Kevin Max
Breezy Anderson is a metal sculptor who turned a two-car garage in Bend into her workshop, where she began to learn the processes with “junkyard art.” She made mistakes along the way, but learned from them. Now she creates stunning works of beauty and pain sold around the world.
Her metalwork began ten years ago when a family friend gave her an old welder and she was “instantly hooked.” Now her workspace includes a crane, a forge, multiple welders and, depending on her next piece, copper, steel, brass or aluminum.
“Being a full-time sculptor hasn’t always been easy,” Anderson said. “A lot of the work would never have happened if I or others weren’t willing to try and accept the failures. The failures are where some of the largest successes come from.”
“My style is a balance of reconstruction and deconstruction, balance and imbalance. So you have a female figure where there is going to be something deconstructed about it, whether I’ve taken parts off or limbs off,” the artist said.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Anderson’s sculpture is that she does it all freehand. “I don’t use any casting or molding or anything—which is quite standardized in figurative work—I do it all freehand. I use thousands and thousands of steel rods, then I cut them to form an armature or skeleton—freehand and with my MIG (metal inert gas) welder. Then, I’ll skin the entire piece, which is very laborious.”