1When I was a child, I used to make “music” using pots and pans from my family’s kitchen, but I just read about an artist who uses kitchen utensils to create another kind of art. 2From spoons, recycled pots, and other consumer products, Jim Opasik creates sculptures of realistic and fantastic animals. 3Which are quickly becoming collectors’ items.
4Opasik took classes at Schuler School of Art in Baltimore where he studied anatomy and made clay statues. 5Wanting to be a little less “normal,” he began laminating wood, Plexiglas, and foam into sandwiches and then carved ballet dancers from these sandwiches. 6He also experimented with wire and spray foam and created a whole baseball team.
7“Art Ducko” is an example of his “kitchen” art and is a sculpture that looks like Donald Duck. 8When he wanted to make a snake, he looked at many pictures of snakes and then said, “Spoons!” 9Starting with small spoons for the tail and gradually using larger spoons, he overlapped them, and they ended up looking just like the scales of a snake. 10For the snake’s head, he used a larger spoon. 11He called this creation “Soupentine.”
12Continuing his search for something unique, he decided to use kitchen utensils because “they contain fascinating shapes and textures already.” 13He also is dedicated to recycling, so he visits thrift stores, sidewalk sales, and flea markets looking for pieces he can turn into animals.
14It goes without saying that now Opasik displays and sells his sculptures at national craft shows. 15His eight-foot seahorse was once displayed at the Baltimore National Aquarium. 16Maybe I should revisit my family’s kitchen to see what future sculpture may be lurking there.