Detailed metal sculpture added to Wasilla museum collection

WASILLA—“Looking for Color,” a metal sculpture recently purchased by the Dorothy Page Museum, is a monument to the growing art career of its maker, Big Lake group J & R Metal Arts.

Jeremy and Rachell Winslow started the business around four years ago, after Jeremy learned how to weld at his job at Arctic Insulation. Since October of last year Jeremy decided to make metal sculpting his full-time job, a venture supported in large part by his wife and family.

Jeremy is an inspired, energetic welder, but he was born color-blind. That’s where his wife plays an integral part to the group’s success. On top of her expertise in beading, Rachell also helps with the sculptures by adding color herself or guiding her husband on hue intensities.

Looking for Color may be a slightly ironic title in that context, but the name truly characterizes the complexity of the piece. Not only does it describe the scene of the sculpture, an man panning for gold in an Alaska river, but it also illustrates the passion that the Winslows bring to their work. The whole sculpture is bathed in rich sepia, and the water of the river glistens through a full rainbow of colors. Rachell Winslow contributed the latter effect, while helping Jeremy reach the perfect color for the former.

“If I’m holding the torch, and I’m running it, she’ll start screaming at me ‘that’s enough, that’s enough’,” Jeremy laughed.

In addition to the beautiful tones in the Looking for Color, the sculpture boasts an incredible amount of detail. The Winslows used small nails to make the spruce tree appear scraggly, added real gold from Hatcher Pass to the man’s pan and sluice box, and furnished the log cabin with a number of intricate sculptures. On the ground and roofs of the buildings there appears to be a rich mixture of grass and moss, an impression made by the use of metal shavings. Jeremy is especially proud of the log cabin in the center of the piece.

“I had to actually cut all the notches like you would on a real cabin to get them to fit,” he said. “220 hours went into that piece.”

That attention to detail, specifically the theme of gold mining, was the main reason for the piece’s addition to the Dorothy Page Museum. By using gold from Hatcher Pass and illustrating a classic Alaska scene, the Winslows made the perfect sculpture to compliment the museum’s exhibit on gold mining.

Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle recognized how fitting the piece was when he presented J & R Metal Arts with a certificate of appreciation and officially accepted the work July 8.

“Mr. Winslow’s addition to our museum highlights Wasilla’s connection to Hatcher Pass Gold Mining and the role Wasilla’s played in the development of the Valley,” Mayor Cottle said.

The Winslows say that most of their work is inspired by Jeremy’s childhood exposure to John Wayne movies and old Westerns. Those pieces that emulate a wild sense of life are reflections of days spent watching Bonanza and Gunsmoke, according to Jeremy.

Though the museum purchased Looking for Color this month, the Winslows actually welded the piece for the Alaska State Fair in 2013. The sculpture won first place and division grand champion that year in metal work. In fact, J & R Metal Arts has been dominant at the fair ever since Jeremy entered his first piece, a stagecoach, in 2012.

For this year’s edition of the fair, Jeremy hopes to submit two sculptures to the metal works category. Most recently the pair have been working on an almost full-size bear head, with real life fur made by metal shavings.

“When I’m 50 I hope to be somewhere with this,” Jeremy said.

“He will, I know he will,” Rachell said.

To find out more about J & R Metal Arts, call 775-7677 or email rwbeads@mtaonline.net

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com.