William Colburn, Sculpture - Fairhope AL

William F Colburn, Jr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and currently resides and works in Fairhope.

Following in his father's footsteps, he began welding at a very young age and over the last 15 years has successfully worked at establishing a business all his own, producing unique and creative metal sculptures. His work includes Artistic Studio Furniture, indoor and outdoor sculpture, as well as structural and accent architectural pieces.

William has exhibited in many States throughout the U.S. and continues to travel the nation, participating in art festivals primarily during the spring and summer months. Since 2000, he has won numerous arts and festival awards and gained recognition in the iron and metal art industry. William's work has also been marketed by art and home design catalogs such as Sundance and Crow's Nest Trading Company.

Each and every piece of William Colburn’s fabricated iron and steel sculpture is created by the artist in his private studio. Metal is cut using a plasma or gas fueled torch, shaped over a forge, and weld fabricated. Other projects involve individually casting molten metal using sand-cast molds of William’s own design. Brass, aluminum, and natural stones are incorporated into many of his projects.

Tools used in the process include hand held torches, a coal-fired forge, mig and tig welders, and various hand held hammers. No commercial or automated equipment is used in any phase of the creation or design process.

Frank Ledbetter, Sculpture - AL

Metal Artist Frank Ledbetter creates functional metal art using stainless steel, carbon steel and aluminum. Because his Dad always had a metal shop in the backyard, he grew up around steel fabrication and welding. After serving in the Marine Corps from 1971 to 1974, he began his own metal fabrication company in 1976. Frank has always been interested in art, but his business kept him too busy to pursue it.

In 2001, after 27 years in the business and fighting burnout, he sold out to an investor. After a year he moved from Alabama to Florida, and did miscellaneous jobs in the building trade. During this time, he bought a welding machine and started playing around and is now creating full time.

Frank has since moved back to Alabama and currently has his studio in Theodore. It gives him a lot of pleasure to see people's faces light up when they see something he has created. His passion is to work with people who have ideas for things they want and to make it happen for them.

Besides functional art, Frank has also expanded into sculptures, wall art and fun art.

To find out more about Frank and his work, please visit his web site:
http://www.artisticmetalcreations.com