By day he’s a product engineer in Coldwater, designing suspensions for vehicles. But at night, and during almost any other free moment, Kyle Burnett scavenges scrap yards for artistic possibility.
Rusty metal pieces take on a new life under the flame of his welding torch. Over the past year, the Battle Creek resident has become a metal artist, creating bullfrogs, butterflies, cranes, elk, fish, and gargoyles out of junkyard scrap. Many of them are on exhibit in area parks and outside public buildings.
It all began with a gift from Burnett’s wife, Alyssia Burnett. She gave him a welder for Christmas.
“I’d been asking for one for a while,” Burnett says. “It was more of an entry-level welder, but it was all I needed to get started.”
That was in December 2019. Burnett began by making a woodpecker. He was pleased with the results and went on to something much larger: a life-size elk. That now stands outside the Chelsea District Library. Other commission work soon followed.
Burnett finds metal scraps for his projects in a variety of places.
“A lot of times I search around on Facebook Marketplace for unique scrap,” he says. “I also go to different scrap yards, automotive shops, and such. I go through the scrap and look for pieces that catch my eye, that I can incorporate into my pieces.”
Burnett doesn’t always have a plan before creating a metal sculpture.
“When I develop the actual sculpture itself, I tend to put pieces in front of me that have a wide range of textures and symmetry and then I incorporate them, but as far as when I go out and look for the material, I’m just looking for unique textures, circular pieces — it’s all based on what movement you’re trying to get with the sculpture.”
Burnett currently works from his garage, which he's converted into a studio. But he hopes to someday find an even larger space devoted to his work.
“Space is definitely a factor,” he says. “I can only go about eight feet up right now, so I have to get creative if I want to go bigger.”
Along with commissioned pieces, Burnett is now beginning work on a sculpture for the next ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.
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