Washington-based sculptor Jason Paul has focused his metal art projects on one animal: elk. Images: Jason Paul
Elk, the second-largest species in the deer family, are majestic creatures and among the largest mammals roaming the North American terrain.
Like others who admire the animal, Jason Paul of Woodland, Wash., finds these animals fascinating, and his home in the Pacific Northwest includes a large elk population. But unlike most, Paul uses metal to express his admiration.
When he’s not working his day job in aerospace, Paul fabricates full-scale elk sculptures out of sheet metal. If his sculptures don’t give away his admiration for the animal, the name of his website, Elk Country Metal Art, certainly does.
“I think they’re amazing animals; I think most people appreciate them,” he said. “It is kind of a great subject to capture in life-size form.”
Paul is in the process of building a niche for those interested in metal sculptures of these animals.
Life-Sized
Building a full-scale elk sculpture is no easy feat. It requires careful planning, research, patience, and overcoming challenges. Paul is no stranger to these tasks, having learned and fine-tuned them over the last 20-plus years as a manufacturing engineer.
“I like challenges; I like solving technical problems,” he said. “And I’m always looking for ways and opportunities to solve problems.”
But Paul hasn’t always sculpted elk—he first tried his hand at horse head sculptures. He bought patterns for the head from Etsy, sent the CAD files to a company to be cut via waterjet, and watched step-by-step videos on how to fabricate the heads and what tools to use.
“I made a couple of these horse heads and realized this was a lot of fun,” Paul said. “But I was really just recreating someone else’s work. I had some artistic talent and realized I wanted to do something that was my own work.”
From 2019 to 2020, Paul worked on his first elks—large sculptures that featured the animal from the shoulders forward made from 16-ga. mild steel with a rusted metal patina. The 60-in.-tall by 52-in.-wide by 48-in.-long sculptures weighed between 80 and 90 lbs.; structural tubing kept the antlers set in position.
Jason Paul has spent the last few years improving his metalworking and metal art skills by focusing on life-sized, full-body elk sculptures. Images: Jason Paul
Always challenging himself, Paul said he could do better and moved on to another elk project. And another. He eventually shifted to full-body elk projects.
His goal has been to be one of the best elk sculptors around.
“I would prefer to be really good at something and be appreciated for that than just do a lot of different things and be mediocre at all of them,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, these full-body sculptures are bigger than his earliest projects, with typical dimensions around 96 in. tall by 52 in. wide by 96 in. long. They’ve also become heavier, with one of his recent sculptures weighing approximately 400 lbs.
Also like his earliest projects, the sculptures are fabricated from mild steel and given a rusted metal patina. He said he would like to work with other metals someday, like aluminum.
Paul described the antlers as a “real challenge to create, with those flowing, smooth curves, and I struggled with it for a while. But they are really the attention-grabber, and it took a while to figure out the process. Now they are the most fun to make.
“When I show one of them in public, everyone asks, ‘How did you make those antlers?’ I can’t really tell them how I do it,” he said, declining to elaborate on how he makes the antlers. “People are always amazed at that.”
He does most of his work from his small farm in Woodland, Ore., not far from Portland. His shop includes a welding machine, forklift, flatbed trailer, plasma cutters, benchtop shear, tube roller, forming tools, and specialty hand tools. Paul said he contracts out the work that requires an ironworker or waterjet cutting.
While he said the time it takes to fabricate these sculptures has decreased, a project still requires 300 to 400 hours over several months. But Paul admitted he doesn’t track time so much anymore.
“I decided I needed to focus more on realism and reaching the next level in detail and likeness,” he said. “I purposefully stopped tracking my hours because I did not want that to influence the quality of my workmanship or aesthetics. The end result has been so much better.”
Paul is based in southwestern Washington.
More Than Just Sculpting
Paul was stunned when one of his sculptures sold for the first time.
“Wow! That kind of surprised me,” he said upon hearing that news. “I didn’t think it was that good.”
Since then, Paul has successfully sold more, including one sculpture purchased by a well-known musical artist, although he did not identify which artist it was.
A partnership with Idaho-based Cisco’s Gallery has helped immensely in publicizing his name and work. Finding outlets to get art pieces sold is vital, Paul said, especially when artists spend countless hours and dollars on materials to bring something to life.
“Not only am I creating something that will last well beyond my own existence, but it also feels really good to see that somebody appreciates it and will pay a reasonable amount of money for it,” Paul said.
He donates some of the proceeds from his art sales to charity, his faith calling him to do greater good with his artistic talents.
“I am fulfilling God’s purposes for my life by using the gifts He has given me,” he said. “There are a lot of people with needs in our community and across the world, and so I use some of the money to help some great charities.
“That’s another great feeling, to know that what I am doing is helping a lot of other people. It’s not just about my own personal accomplishment.”
Paul’s elk sculptures have evolved from pieces that only partly depicted the animals to full-body replicas that weigh hundreds of pounds.
