By:
Joe
Allred
of Hot Springs Village, AR
Joe Allred is fascinated by small, ordinary objects that have profound importance. With the gigantic clasp pin “Miner 35,” he expands a small object – a five-inch clasp pin – up to Brobdingnagian magnitude to amplify the importance that a tiny object can have in the lives of people. In this case it is a memento of his father’s hard and dangerous work supporting his family after being mustered out of the service at the end of World War II. Says Allred: “Frequently, a simple shape will catch in my thoughts, like the image of a five-inch clasp pin, then the image will rise and recede from my consciousness until it finally stays there, and I must begin working with it in physical form.”
Medium: Painted steel