'The stars that I make': Q&A with Wasilla metal artist Taylor Buxton

WASILLA — Vibrance Metal Art owner Taylor Buxton participated in a question and answer interview to discuss his craft,and finding solace with colorful and positive vibrations in his life that reflects through his artwork.

Q: How long have you been making art?

“About 25 years.”

Q: Has it primarily been metal metal art? Is there anything else on the side you like to do?

“You know, I do a lot of different mediums. I do glass, but not too much of that, stained glass. I’ve worked with sculptures and things; believe it or not, plastic and things. But mostly metal is my main focus and has been for a long time.”

Q: How did that come about?

“Basically, I was just beginning College, dead broke and it was a couple days before Christmas; and I didn’t have any gifts to give,” he said with a laugh. “I looked around the shop I was working in and they’ve got metal and some other things lying around. I started grinding on them and zapping them together with a welder and one thing led to another; and I had a pretty viable product that I was able to give to my folks that first year. When I gave it to them, they just loved it.”

Q: How did it turn into a business?

“It was something that I just did on the side for about 20 years I never thought much of; and just here recently, about four years ago, I did some projects for some people I was general contracting for. They really urged me to take it to the next level and start doing events and try to make a living of it.”

Q: What’s that been like for you?

“It’s been a struggle like a lot of things, lots of ups and downs… but even with COVID and everything that’s going on, I’m finally making a living out of it, which is pretty amazing. I’m really fortunate. I love what I do... It’s just a really liberating and awesome feeling.”

Q: What’s your process look like?

“I found this Stick Figure [reggae band] radio station on Pandora… It’s all positive vibes, all positive music. There isn’t a single lyric in that guy’s music that’s negative. It’s all about where you can be and what you’re doing and just seeing the brighter side of things. That’s what I listen to almost exclusively when I do my art; and I only listen to it when I do my art so I don’t get burnt out on it. It’s like a treat, so to speak… That really creates a certain kind of energy. For some reason that really creates a lot of vibrant colors in my art, and I think that’s what people are really drawn to.”

Q: What’s driving you to get in your workshop and create something every day?

“My main focus isn’t to make a lot of money doing this. It’s to make a lot of people happy... to put a sparkle in somebody’s eye every morning. That’s where it’s at. If I can do that working out my house, right on man. It’s really rewarding on a lot of levels… It’s a way of speaking to the people without speaking at all… that’s my favorite part of creating.”

Q: Prior to that fateful Christmas, did you have any prior experience with metal art?

“I’m totally self taught. I took welding classes in High School; and I’ve been involved in a lot different things, from building houses to industrial oil field work… All of that kinda helped poured me into taking art to a different level… Basically I learned from screwing things up bad. You can’t be afraid to do that. You learn every time.”

Q: Do you mostly work on commissions?

“No. It’s kind of that I just do what I want to,” he said with a laugh. “I do a lot of markets like the vintage home show that was just last weekend. There’s a lot of different shows that have just popped up over the years at different venues and whatnot. I just started doing those and bringing whatever I had made. Pretty quickly you find what people like and what people don’t. I basically just try to cater my product to things that reflect my home, the best parts of it, you know Alaska… I started getting better at auroras… I’m gonna be honest. That’s about half of my work, night scenes… It seems to be what people like, and it triggers memories… The stars that I make, I just bring it to them.”

Q: So a majority of your sales are from events?

“They are.”

Q: Do you have anything coming up?

“I do. Yeah. The State Fair’s having a holiday bazaar the 18th of October. In November… there will be a show in the Menard Center… There’s kind of a little gun show I’ve never done but curious I check one out anyways. That’s gonna be at the State Fairgrounds [also in October]… There’s plenty of places to see me…”

For more information about Vibrance Metal Art, visit vibrancemetalart.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com