MICHEAL THEISEN’s Inspiration Point:

Four years ago, when I first started making art bells, my designs were strictly limited to the size and shape of found scrap metal. Curved metal pieces suggested Asian designs while farm, logging, and mining relics yielded a more industrial look. In order to expand my repertoire of themes I added forge, hammer and anvil to my arsenal of tools. My hope was to manipulatemetal to achieve more natural, flowing designs. This past summer I sought inspiration in what I observed during numerous hiking and camping trips and so typically carried a small sketch pad with me during these activities.  For example Zen came from a sketch I made after a hike on the Oregon coast. It was not meant to replicate something observed as much asit was an expression of a feeling which came to me while observing.

While Zen represents the feeling of living, natural, and oddly symmetrical elements of nature, Blood Moon is meant to represent a specific event occurring in nature.  Work on itbegan47 years ago when I picked a roughly circular chunk of scrap copper off the ground a few miles out of Great Falls,  Montana. I have hung on to this piece of copper all these years waiting for the right use. The inspiration finally came to me during a walk through a heavily wooded area on the night of the super moon eclipse. To me this design represents the full copper (blood)  moon rising over the hills.