A message from the artist …

"A different approach to steel sculpture" is what one writer called this art on the Kansas hill. Unique diverse methods of construction use metal bar, plate, pipe, and found pieces. Not all the pieces have a literary reference, but it is a theme of many of the pieces and scenes. I like "a different approach" better than "original" - the word "original" is so overused in the art world. The main purpose of my sculptures is to give people pleasure. Even though the sophomoric desire for attention is popular today in the art world, I feel that there is enough in the world of art that is dedicated to shock and disgust.

Steel for me is the metal for today's sculptures using my representational, expressional, impressionistic, or abstract styles. The maintenance of properly built steel sculptures is probably less than most other sculptural materials that have to be cared for once or twice a year. To last steel should not be set directly in the ground and should not have pockets in the structure that will hold water. As Shakespeare wrote: water is a "sore decayer." I have tried to create designs that can be sandblasted and painted on all surfaces without any closed areas. The flat plate pieces start from the center and anything that might overlap another area is bolted on. The access of all surfaces in the open steel bar designs is also assured.

What I have tried to do is to find new ways to use steel in sculpture.  I wish i were young enough to explore more possibilities.  I have reached the point where I am selling the right to copy, to loan maquettes or license photographs of my designs.  As the poet Dylan Thomas writes in "Do Not Go Gentle Into The Night," it is time to "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  And yet somehow the world goes on.

Sorry, but the tour is closed due to old age.  

Feel free to send me e-mail using the link above, write to Frank Jensen, 10410 S.W. Boyer Road, Augusta, KS 67010, or telephone (316) 775-5296.

Frank Jensen and "Sentinels of the Savanna"
Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, Chanute, Kansas
2006
 

© 2001 to 2008  Franklin L. Jensen
All Rights Reserved.
All Original Works Property of Franklin L. Jensen