Crafters Anonymous: Metal art keeps one man busy
Milton Neeley of Hooper, a professional metal art fabricator, even creates metal lawn art.
Milton Neeley of Hooper, a professional metal art fabricator, even creates metal art inside his shop that is also work of metal art.
Milton Neeley of Hooper, a professional metal art fabricator, even creates metal art out of his home.
The ceiling inside the shop where Milton Neeley of Hooper, a professional metal art fabricator, creates metal art is also a work of art.
HOOPER — The eight-sided shop that stands 30 feet tall and about 40 feet wide is a road stopper.
Milton Neeley created the self-supportive shop, which looks more like an oversized gazebo, as a place to work on metal art pieces, but it is also a work of art and a Hooper landmark.
Neeley, 57, is by profession a metal fabricator and his work has been seen by thousands during the Christmas season when visitors go to Ogden or Layton to see the lights.
He even built a moose for his front yard made from metal with light strands, just like the metal creations he made for the Layton Commons Park Christmas light show. Families have traveled from all over Utah to see the train, the dinosaur, the moose and eagle during the Christmas season.
Neeley said he had no intentions of becoming a metal fabricator when he was young. His focus in college was international business, but the economy went south by the time he graduated. His dad bought the metal fabricating business and Neeley joined him. Neeley had no training in welding when he started, nor did he know much about art.
“I think I kind of ignored (my creative side),” Neeley said.
One of his favorite creations is in Coalville. It is called ”The Leaf Dancer,” which is a metal sculpture of a woman adorned with leaves.
A friend of his, who was a belly dancer, was the model for the metal sculpture. Since the sculpture was installed in front of the city building in 2011, Summit County residents have taken turns to dress her up.
“Some people thought she was immodest, but now they have dressing contests and have fun,” Neeley said.
Neeley’s yard and home also boast his art work. A frog sticking out his tongue is not far from a man sitting on a bench in the front yard. Neeley built the man with his 14-year-old grandson’s help. Both their names are etched on the bench.
And then there is the fountain in the front yard constructed out of old automobile parts. It also lights up at night when Neeley plugs it in.
Neeley said he decided to create a post with his address on it so people could find his house easier. He cut out his house number into the round irrigation pipes and then got a bit carried away.
“I kept cutting the numbers into a pattern around the pipe, so I don’t know if people can see it from the road,” he said.
The irrigation pipes sit on old tire rims, which are the base, on either side of his lawn.
Inside his home are also metal creations, including a flower floor lamp. He said he was asked by a wedding designer to make smaller versions as centerpieces for a wedding reception.
Since then Neeley has made them as lamps for the inside or outside of the home, as well as fountains.
Some flowers also decorate the outside of his home, which is covered in aluminum sheeting.
“It’s a blank canvas,” he said.
Some areas on the outside of his home are covered in etchings, then painted. Other areas have 3-D art, like flowers or butterflies, attached to the outside walls.
“I get my ideas from nature,” he said.
One of his favorite creations is at the Norfolk World of Wonder Children’s Garden in Virginia. He created a worm that is 150 feet long “that pretty much looks like a roller coaster,” he said.
Watching children climbing through and over the worm was satisfying to him, he said.
He also built the entrance gates to the gardens on site and that too was fun.
“I guess I resist convention,” Neeley said.
And he’s probably right. Even his truck is covered with art pieces like flowers.
You can reach reporter Loretta Park at lpark@standard.net or at 801-625-4252. Follow her on Twitter@LorettaPark SE or like her on Facebook.