Jennifer Rod, metal sculptor, to be featured Artist

Jennifer Rod of Moscow, a metal sculptor and painter, will be featured in the Meet the Artist session March 1 at the library in Colfax at 7 p.m. The Meet the Artist series is sponsored by Colfax Arts Council and Whitman County Library.

Rod earned her masters degree in Fine Arts from the University of Idaho in painting. She learned steel sculpture about 10 years ago from a friend in Enumclaw who made fish out of steel.

Dogs are Rod’s main subjects for her steel sculpture. In fact, her first steel sculpture was a monument of her dog which she placed on the dog’s grave. As she made sculptures which were noticed by people in area, she began to be commissioned locally to make life sized sculptures of people’s pets.

The motto of her business is “steel with heart.” She discovered the ability to put heart into metal is the most intriguing and satisfying part of metal sculpture.

The process she uses to create her sculptures is to draw the design then transfer it to a sheet of steel using carbon paper. She uses a hand tool called a plasma cutter to slice the shape out of the metal. Her designs must be drawn carefully and with the fewest lines possible in order to sustain the integrity of the metal as she cuts pieces away. She has various techniques for polishing, combining stainless steel with other steel and using even small scraps left over from other sculptures.

Rod plans to have both her acrylic paintings and her sculpture at the “Meet the Artist” session and will explain the techniques uses to work in two such diverse mediums.

The Meet the Artist series meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month, except in the summer months, and is free to the public. The informal sessions give the audience an opportunity to ask questions and talk with the artists. The series features visual and performing arts.