Hutchinson High School welding students are trying something new this year by making an entry for Hutchinson’s Sculpture Stroll.
Technology teacher Gary Koehring pitched the idea to various commissions and boards and received the go ahead in November 2022
“I was looking for ways to connect our program to what our kids do with the community,” Koehring said. “I know that the Sculpture Stroll has been a huge hit in Hutchinson and outside of it. And I thought what a great idea it would be if our welding department started to make sculptures and be part of that program.”
Hutchinson Public Arts started Sculpture Stroll in 2013 as a way to showcase work from local and national artists in public spaces. The stroll has 12 permanent structures, two historical structures and 13 rotating sculptures, of which HHS welders hope to be a part.
In addition to showing the community what his classes can do, Koehring said there are two potential permanent spots if the sculpture does well.
“If it goes well, and they think that we make quality work, the school district in conjunction with the Parks and Rec Department were willing to build us our own independent concrete pads, one down by Park Elementary and then one here for our artwork,” he said. “It would still be part of the sculpture stroll, but we wouldn't have to make a submission. Ours would just rotate every year just as if it was a normal piece of artwork.”
The artwork at the potential new concrete pads would feature two new sculptures from the welding students every year. Students would vote on which statue they liked better, with the winning one going near the proposed pad at Park Elementary and the lesser liked would stay at HHS.
With the paperwork done, Koehring’s welding students started the sculpture in March 2023, but couldn’t complete it due to lack of time. The sculpture sat in the welding classroom until this past fall when the new welding students took over.
While Koehring lit the welding torch, he ultimately left the design and workload to his students.
“The students took up the project and ran with it,” he said. “They came up with the idea for a tree and they fleshed it out and spruced it up.”
The idea of a tree had taken root and was growing with each class session, but students wanted it to represent more. So they made a plan to make the tree tie in with the manufacturing side of Hutchinson, and with limited materials and budget they had to get creative.
It started with the trunk. The students found and made circles to weld together in a wide pipe formation, instead of going with a boxy, rectangular look. Moving away from cutting, students made the branches out of rusty chains, with each connecting piece being “painstakingly” welded together to hold their shape, Koehring said. And no tree is complete without leaves, so the students added wrenches that they made and cut in half to fill the role.
Each step came with its own problems, but students Thomas Pohlman and Kyzer Volz were up to the task.
“The challenges have been my favorite part so far,” Pohlman said. “Like a lot of the branches get in your way when you’re trying to weld, so you have to find awkward positions to get it to go. We also had problems getting the chains to weld because they were so rusty, but we figured out we could wire brush the places we needed (to weld) and that worked better.”
Volz said one challenge he solved was stability.
“There was a lot of weight on the sides of (the tree),” he said. “So we added bracing, but I ran the machine too hot and burned through the metal. So I had to eyeball it and make sure to touch on both sides to keep it from happening again.”
Both students said they learned a lot about welding while doing the project. Being unconventional and thinking outside the box happened a lot with the sculpture due to its size and structure. They would do it again, but with a different theme in mind.
“I’m all done with all of the welding classes, but my plan for next year is to come in as a TA (teaching assistant),” Pohlman said. “I’m going to help out where I can and try and possibly convince them to make a hammerhead (shark).”
With students excited about the future, Koehring has hope for the project.
“The biggest thing is we are looking for supporters of this program,” he said. “We are looking for people to help us whether it's with mentorships, opportunities for our students or it's helping us financially to fund this project. We want to grow it and we want to make this an annual thing that everyone can get excited about. We want to build stuff that we can be proud of, and so that is the goal and really the hope of it. And right now we're just taking the leap of faith to try it and hopefully it's well received.”
