Yvette Monstad

Repurposed Metal Sculpture

My love for art began at a very young age. As a child I enjoyed sketching, painting, and multi-media art projects. I took as many art classes as possible in high school, although I also enjoyed the sciences. As a higher education and career choice, I first went into ecology. I worked as a wildlife ecologist for 6 years before something truly creative happened in my life...I became a mother. I quit my ecologist career to become a stay-at-home mom, and this coincided with the rekindling of my love of art.
​I create masks and other artwork out of metal, clay, recycled materials, and stained glass. All of my pieces are designed to handle the outdoor elements, although they can also be displayed
indoors.

To create mask sculptures out of metals, including steel, stainless steel, aluminum, shovels, and pans.I use a plasma cutter, metal bender, grinder, and welder My clay masks are hand-built out of hifire stoneware or lo-fire clay, hand-painted with many colorful glazes, and are fired in either an electric, propane, or wood-fired kiln.

I love combining mediums - clay with metal, metal with stained glass, recycled materials with metal and/or clay. My favorite recycled materials include shovels, pans, metal pails, wine corks, propane tanks, and other interesting things I happen to come across. I hand-cut and use a silicone-based adhesive to attach colorful stained glass to some of my metal pieces. I also use light sources to create sconces and to back-light some of my metal and stained glass pieces.