CONNER, Mont. — Scrap iron and various metals are always of value. Once their primary use is over they can be recycled for industrial or commercial use. But they’re also material for artistic creation.
Laura Jean Newby uses her skills as a welder to turn metal into intricate works of art.
She loves the texture of metals.
“Anything that’s rusty and can be repurposed,” she said. “Shovels and sawblades, old cream cans, chains, sprockets and gears. Something that has an old life that I can turn into new life.”
Laura Jean transforms her material into images that she finds in nature.
NBC Montana spent time in her welding shop in Conner as she created metal roses and a tiny leaf that she inscribed with her signature.
“As soon as I learned how to weld,” she said, “I felt like I found my purpose as an artist.”
Even as a child growing up in Seattle, Laura Jean was artistic. She did weaving, pottery and painting. But she was working low-wage jobs that didn’t keep up with the high cost of living.
She heard the oil fields in North Dakota paid well.
“I jumped on a train to North Dakota by myself,” she said. “It was very scary. I didn’t know what to expect. It was going to be negative 40 degrees.”
It was her first time leaving home. She got a job as a welder helper on the natural gas pipeline.
“During downtime,” she said, “I practiced welding, and I loved it.”
She became a welder helper lead, all the time perfecting her welding skills.
From North Dakota, she said, “We traveled to the east coast and worked along different compressor stations.”
But after a few years she got tired of traveling. She moved to western Montana.
After passing a welding test, she was hired by an industrial welding company in the Bitterroot.
“They do dam filtration systems,” she said, and “coal mine conveyors.”
Today, when Laura Jean isn’t creating art, she works as a welding instructor at Trapper Creek Job Corps.
She met her husband, Levi Vincent, when he gave her scrap metal left over from a truck he rebuilt.
“It was kind of love at first sight at that point,” said Levi.
“Yeah,” said Laura Jean of Levi, “he’s great. He’s the love of my life.”
Levi’s background is logging, metal fabrication and mechanics. He works at a motor sport shop.
He welds too, and creates his own art projects. He helps Laura Jean in her artistic work.
“We collaborate on ideas,” said Levi. “And help make her creations, visions, imaginations and her creatures come to life.”
In the couple’s front yard, Laura Jean shows us her favorite sculpture. It’s a wild mustang. She calls it “Spirit of the Bitterroot.”
“I built it in my head for over 10 years,” she said.
“Spirit of the Bitterroot” is made mostly of metal flowers.
“The tail is like a wild, long grass,” she said. “I wanted to give it life by making it look like wind is flowing through it.”
On the wall of her house is a multi-colored three-dimensional piece called “Father-Son Buffalo Hunt.”
“I wanted something to come off the wall that looked like it was alive,” she said, “and had movement.”
Also on the wall is what she calls “Whimsical Butterfly.” To construct the butterfly’s torso, she said, she used herself “as a template and welded washers onto the template.”
Laura Jean is a self-described metal hoarder. She and Levi have collected everything from cable to old ironing boards and even a musical instrument. All of it potential material for her art work.
“Mr. W” sits in her yard. He is made from scrap and is designed after her dog, Waylon. He’s made of rakes, chains and other scrap metal.
Next to “Mr. W” is “Scrappy the Baby Bear.” He is also made from scrap metal.
Parked in her shop is a 1969 VW Beetle. It’s one of her most ambitious projects.
The entire car has been turned into a story from Lewis Carroll’s famous book.
“It’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’-inspired and botanical inspired mix,” said Laura Jean.
On the hood of the Beetle is Alice. She is surrounded by flowers and vines. There’s the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
“We got a little mousy in a teacup,” said Laura Jean. “And this,” she said, next to the words “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS,” is “The Queen of Hearts.”
Each piece that Laura Jean undertakes requires hours of time to put together. But it isn’t just the physical work of welding. It’s also the planning.
“It’s hard to make decisions,” she said. “Once you cut it out, you’re committed. It’s permanent.”
She thinks and thinks again before making that final cut.
“Sometimes,” she said “I fall asleep and dream about it too.”
Just like Alice herself.
Laura Jean has no shortage of material or ideas.
In her driveway is another VW Beetle just waiting for new life as metal art.
