Artist Barbara Franc makes sculptures of animals out of recycled metal. I know turning trash into art is nothing particularly new, but her series of British Birds are really amazing. They remind me of every Disney bird ever—little sweet things flitting around, helping Cinderella or chirping at Snow White or whatever—only this is the robotic, steampunk version (21st Century by way of the 18th). Brightly colored and delicately rendered, they are prefect baby monsters, tiny captains of chirpy industry. Soft bodies in hard metal.
Or maybe that’s too complicated. The artist herself says the metal is simply the most fitting material she’s found to reflect the fluidity of animal movement: “I have always been fascinated by the shapes and sculptural forms of animals, they present a never-ending source of inspiration to me. I try to capture a feeling of their movement and presence in my sculpture. For this I use wire and other materials in a way that suggests drawing in three dimensions. This allows me greater freedom to add changes whenever I want during the construction to keep the feeling fluid and to reflect the diversity of movement and form.”

A bit dry for an artist’s statement, but it makes sense. Anyway, her birds are beautiful. Check out the entire series here.

{Spotted on Colossal}