Page 9 - HIWT Spring 2016 World of Welding

This area is not new example of a craftsperson that has embodied the art and business
to me, having relied of selling her craft.
upon Clayton, Grace’s
spouse for his competent Her work has been shown numerous places including the NC
servicing of our vehicles. Museum of Natural Sciences and United States Botanical Garden
At the front of this in Washington, DC. Her Four Season’s Apple Tree was chosen for
Waynesville, three Hendersonville, NC Public Art and the NC Arboretum has many of
generation landmark her pieces in their permanent collection. When asked to design
at the corner of Depot an ornament for the White House Christmas tree, she represented
and Walker Streets, is North Carolina with our state dog, a Plott Hound and made of
displayed metal jewelry, metal! She gives back to our community in so many ways…Giving
Stars, Moon faces, of her time and art to local fundraisers, offering her Sculpture
flowing metal palm & Garden as a fun and welcoming spot for tourists and locals alike,
mountain trees, lizards and providing leadership to the Waynesville Gallery Association as
gazing out the window. she grows her business and mentors and inspires other artists.
This is a special place.
Grace has gained a national reputation by her drive and desire to
I browse a shelf and spot grow and be challenged as an artist and she achieves her goals
a pile of extra pages from through hard work and the spirit of entrepreneurship. As stated in
her book “Fire & Steel”. the April issue of Our State… she is “a whirlwind of a woman.”
I’m intrigued and one page in particular catches my attention, a
short piece, titled Memorial Sculpture I read in part, In the middle of 2016, The service station will no longer house her
gallery; however, her work can be found at http://www.gracecathey.
“The phone call came out of the blue. Maria Pappas (not her real com/. and on facebook.
name) in New York wanted a sculpture for her parents’ tomb in
Europe. She found me when she Googled “blue butterflies.”Instantly
intrigued, I sat down to listen to her story. Maria’s family had
been beekeepers for generations. After her mother’s death, she
had begun to dream about ways to represent her family with a
permanent work of art installed on her parents’ sarcophagus. After
perusing my website she decided she would like to fly down to
discuss making her dream come true. I remember when Maria and
her son walked in the gallery door. Their eyes were big; they could
not believe the setup at this rustic old gas station. We talked for
several hours and ideas just clicked. The pieces Maria described
were pieces that I had sculpted or had wanted to sculpt. We set up
a time frame and she made a deposit.

I loved the challenge, and when it was done five months later I still
loved it. Clayton made a wooden model of the sarcophagus to the
exact measurements so I could visualize the space and imagine how
a visitor would interact with the sculpture. I started with Maria’s
beloved butterflies modeled on the beautiful iridescent blue morpho,
two of them to represent her parents. After that I sculpted oak limbs
and leaves entwined with vines and morning glories.

Maria flew down again to check on the progress. We decided that
there would be five bees, to symbolize her family’s five hundred
beehives. Two of them were partly inside the morning glories with
only their bee butts sticking out of the flower. Our collaboration
grew as she insisted on making the bees and the bodies.....” And
that’s all there was on that page. Looks like I’ll have to buy the
book.”

Grace Cathey graduated from Haywood Community College’s Fiber
Arts program. She later completed a continuing education welding
course that led to her life’s work, Metal Art. She is a perfect

SPRING ISSUE - 8 - www.welding.org www.welding.org - 9 - SPRING ISSUE