Tee Man Bronze Sculpture

This “Tee Man” Bronze Sculpture was produced while I was an Undergrad student at University of Tampa, Florida.  The University had amazing facilities, including a bronze casting foundry where I created many metal artworks.  Lost wax technique was the method we used, which meant sculpting our piece out of wax, or material that would burn out in a kiln, in this case  wooden golf tees.  The wax and wood was then invested into plaster with air vents.  The kiln then burned out all material leaving a hollow cavity for the molten bronze to be poured in.  At the time I was very influenced by the surrealism of Salvidor Dali and used his pose from “City of Drawers” as a reference for my first bronze piece.

Intact and broken tees collected from the nearest golf course were pieced together with melted wax.  The Tee Man was poured in three different pieces and welded together with an Oxygen Acetylene setup.

I chose Dali’s City of Drawers for it’s  imagery representing the untidiness of inner conscience, and how we compartmentalize our thoughts and emotions.  With this underlying theme, I decided to build this man out of golf tees.  Though I am not a huge fan of golf myself, many people use the sport as a meditative experience, including my father (whom I gifted this sculpture to).  I have seen great men struggle to conquer and control their inner turmoil to complete a game that is easily underestimated. Here’s to the Tee Men.