By Marty Baker, Editor

The intricate art work of Clark Gordon was brought to my attention recently by Hobart Institute student, Eric Swanson, who grew up not far from Gordon’s Walled Lake, Michigan, studio.  And it was the influence of Clark Gordon that directed Swanson to HIWT. 

“Eric came to me and asked me to teach him to weld,” says Clark.  “I knew he would be much better prepared for industry and better served in a structured learning environment.”

So Eric enrolled in the Combination Structural and Pipe Welding Program at Hobart Institute.  While Clark welds on a regular basis, most of what he knows he learned through trial and error and self-teaching. 

“When I was about twelve years old, my dad introduced me to welding in our rural farm shop.  I took a bicycle and retrofitted it, making the seat ten feet off the ground.  And I was able to ride it!”

A mechanic by trade, Clark’s love of metals and creativity has resulted in a unique career.  Attracted by the rediscovery of classic era automobiles and motorcycles, Clark established a restoration facility in 1973.  By 1979, he was drawn to Detroit, Michigan and the opportunity to work for Richard Kughn and his private museum, Carail.  As curator, Clark had the pleasure of restoring award-winning automobiles with names like Duesenberg and Auburn Cord. 

After years of working with transportation vehicles, Clark decided to pursue his artistic dream, leaving Carail to assist master photo-realist Peter Maier in perfecting a new, environmentally safe media which allows stunning life-sized automotive portraiture.  In 1991, while consulting with a tool wholesale company regarding appropriate art to decorate a new distribution facility, Clark determined that mechanics’ hand tools should be used as media for this application.  This successful project led him to realize that this media forms the perfect synthesis of all his previous endeavors.  Clark’s unique talent transforms these geometric shapes into figures and abstract forms. 

Through an evolution into pure fine art, Clark has created a Dimensional Illusionism Series and he is the only known sculpture that gives the works a fourth dimension, reflecting the sculpture into itself.

Working with vanadium, cast iron, mild steel, cold rolled steel, titanium, and stainless steel, Clark has also developed a distinctive method of using stick (shielded metal arc) welding in which the welds on the sculptures are not visible from the exterior of the piece.  Furthermore, he enjoys creating dragons, using droplets of molten metal to texture their skin and then polishing the exterior to give a life-like appearance to the pieces.    

Recently, Clark has also been working on an Engine Series replicating early Harley Davidson motorcycle engine designs.  Looking at Clark’s sculptures, you will not see the media, but the wonderful character he gives to each, bringing forth beauty and emotion from pliers, wrenches, and other hand tools. 

Keeping his mechanical skills alive, Clark says, “I also restore antique inboard and outboard engines from the 1800’s to 1940.”

Many days he can be found working in his studio at 852 Manzano, Walled Lake, Michigan, or can be contacted at Clark_Gordon@excite.com