Lost & Found: Illuminating Serendipity
BY MARSHALL GORDONPHOTO BY MATT ROSE
It’s early morning at the Biltmore Iron and Metal Company and pieces of mangled, rusting scrap metal lie every which way. In its midst stands Bill Sproul, who concentrates intensely as he carefully ponders the various misshapen discards around him. To most, there’s nothing to consider but piles of useless junk.But Bill is envisioning something entirely different — something beautiful, with a history and character all its own. He sees a potential component in his next piece of found object art.
“Most people are dropping things off, but I’m the guy that’s paying to walk around and put them in my pickup truck to bring home,” Bill says. “We’re pretty much a throw-away society. We get something, throw it away and move on. I go to the junkyard and take something a person leaves or throws away and then I reincarnate it into a piece of art that just might end up in a home some day.”
“Some pieces are immediate, just speak out and say ‘use me now’,” Bill says. “Other pieces have potential and I may not use them for five years.”
A shining example is his Balance Cone, a lamp that serves as a focal point in the sunroom of his and wife Marie Morris’ north Asheville home.
“I created it several years ago,” Bills says. “The right pieces of the puzzle just came to me. I found the grass catcher, which is the shade and the base, and an old street cone. The center support includes a wheel set from a galvanized portable mop bucket, which a friend gave me.”
Finding the parts was only the beginning.
He spent weeks looking at the pieces, deciding which would go where. And there was the technical challenge of putting all the parts together in a way that they could function and balance as a whole.
Bill says he’s not so much a creator as a director. Each object has its role — a particular resonance and character. Some command the visual focus, while others are part of the support system.
“Every element has a voice to it or a part to play in the whole picture,” Bill says. “These elements all say something to me. Then the question becomes how to get from point A to point B and have fun. That’s the dynamics of it that inspires me.
“The translucent grass catcher,” says Bill, “was screaming at me to be a lampshade. I knew that I wanted to see the grass catcher illuminated. It asks you to twist your mind a little. It’s a bit subversive. It says, ‘I know I’m not a lampshade, but I want you to see me as a lampshade.’”
Bill’s work requires a special sensibility about the meaning of art. “How far can I push you into seeing this as a lamp? How far can I push you into accepting this as a piece of art as opposed to just a bunch of junk?” he asks. “I have niche clients. People who buy my things usually have a very funky sense of art. It’s not for everyone.”
In the case of Balance Cone, there’s no question of a sale. Though it’s one of his finest pieces, it’s not going anywhere, at least if his wife Marie has anything to say about it.
“I wouldn’t let him sell it — I love it,” she says. “It’s unique, it has a warm glow, it fits in the room with all the other funky stuff we have. There’s nothing like it. He made it, it’s him. I want it in my house. It’s been a part of my life since I met him 14 years ago. To me, there just isn’t enough money to replace it.”
So heads up to anyone interested in funky found object art: You’ll have to settle on one of Bill’s other pieces. Forget the lamp.
Bill Sproul is represented by Steve Parker.
For more information, contact Steve at 828-713-0099.
