Jan. 8, 2014

Dallas eco-friendly artist Reed Hoover is turning 83 years old next month but he’s creating art that appeals to a new generation of “green” art collectors.

The lifelong artist embodies sustainability, turning recycled metals and found objects into jewelry, serving utensils and sculptures. 

Self-trained, Hoover says his art has morphed into what it is today through “trial and error.” 

“All of my work is from recycled material,” he explains. “I buy copper at salvage yards and a can that has been crushed by traffic may look like an angel to me — add wings and a halo and it becomes art.”  

In fact, Hoover has always used recycled materials in one way or another.

“It may be cloth, scrap metal or rocks. I use it for the design that time and wear have given it.”

Always able to see art in nature, he takes as much time finding the material as he does molding and sculpting the art into its final product. His material comes from places like scrap yards, walks along the highway or local lakes, where he picks up driftwood.

“The material itself is my inspiration,” he says. “An old spoon can be twisted into a very modern server. Shapes of the clouds, stacks of plastic bags full of leaves — all things have form and some are very artful.”  

The Dallas native said the first medium he worked with was watercolors, but then he began to experiment with oil painting, metal sculpture, wood sculpture and jewelry leading him to where he is today with his creative art pieces. 

His work has appeared in numerous places from corporations to private homes. For example, he did the art for the Ling Temco Vought annual report, an award presented to United States Marine Corp top flyer in Vietnam, and there
was also a commission by the Texas Fine Arts Association to create a sculpture award presented to a lifetime member.

Hoover’s work sells from $50 to $2,000 and he says his most popular items are his serving pieces along with his unique pendants. He has held both solo and group showings that include colleges around Texas to
the Isaac Delgado Museum in New Orleans to the Oklahoma Art Center in Oklahoma City, OK. 

Today, his art can be found in several galleries in the southwest, including the Artisan's Collective in the Bishop Arts District.     

As for what else he does that is true to his eco-friendly nature, he says he does his part for conservation. 

“I never leave a light burning when I leave a room and I save rainwater for my plants.” 

 

Above, Reed Hoover, courtesy of the Hoovers.


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