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Nick McGill: Forging A Path Out Of Metal

Nick McGill is a collector, a scavenger and a borderline hoarder. He's collected fossils, unusual artifacts, mineral samples, and seeds from all over the world. He says the idea to scavenge started early in life.

"I remember as a little kid in the 60s," McGill says, "I looked at all the trash, and thought they were sorting out the useful stuff, and not just taking it to the dump. Then on Sanford and Son, Sanford would tell his son, look at my junk empire."

Foraging Before Forging

When he's at home in the Midwest, McGill forages the abandoned factories of the Rust Belt. He's not just collecting junk and throwing it in his yard. He's sourcing material for his sculptures.

"It's like a fossil. A fossil might look like a dog turd, but really there's much more going on there.  You've got to know how to look at it. You have to chip it out of the rock."

Nick welds ball bearings, gears, drill bits and car parts into gothic industrial candlestick holders, garden trellises, and public installations around Bloomington, Indiana.

Nick wasn't always a sculptor. For many years there was very little metal in his life. He went to college and studied biology, paleontology, and geology. After college he did fieldwork in Africa. He even owned a lawn care business called Marquis de Sod.  His motto:  "Let me whip your lawn into shape."

Then he was arrested for growing marijuana in the forest. " A S.W.A.T. team descended upon me with lethal force. My life was ruined, and I couldn't grow plants anymore, so I started growing sculptures."

Iron Age

Metal came back into his life, and he started taking classes at the John Waldron Arts Center. He eventually became a teaching assistant for the same class, which led to a job on Indiana University campus. He had unlimited access to the workshop in the sculpture department.  His art was good, and it started selling.

"I did a series on the evolution of sea life, which was interesting to do with metal. I did a metal jellyfish that I traded for a car. A nice Subaru four-wheel drive. It was one of my first big successes when I thought 'I could do this, if people are going to trade me a car for a sculpture'," he says.

His reputation as a metal sculptor grew, attracting a significant clientele in Chicago. In his peak he built seven sculptures a week, and they can sell for up to $1000. But 20 years of sculpting takes its toll.

"Metal is never a zen thing," McGill maintains.  "You have to fight it. It's strong. It's tough. It's dangerous. You have to impose your will on the metal, or it's going to bite back. It's just a little harder to get around and do things you once did, and a little painful. My back is out."

He lost a few fights here and therethe metal bit back.  So today he prepares for what he anticipates to be his last art show in Chicago.

Greener Pastures

"It's a hard business. I wouldn't ever recommend it. It's worked out for me, but I don't have expectations of retirement. I don't have a family to support. I don't have health care," he says.

But just because he's quitting metal, doesn't mean he's done with sculpture. He considers gardening and playing sitar to be his new ways of creating sculpture.

"One is physical sculpture, one is sound sculpture. [Gardening] is a living sculpture that I can mold and shape. It's also its own creation too, but I can be integrated with that. Now I'd rather have living plants than dead metal.

"My sculpture is my journey," McGill concludes. "I don't have a retirement plan. I'm hoping I go gently into the good night."

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