bios

Obi Art Kenobi

Arthur Schoenig a.k.a.Obi Art Kenobi has been a full time sculptor creating metal sculpture and doing juried art shows for 25 years. As an Anthropologist / Archeologist, Art has worked with and studied some of the earliest metal working sites in the UK.

He learned whitesmithing early on while studying anthropology and armour making in Scotland. In his early years, he was apprenticed to Scottish armour makers and whitesmiths, got into the archeological trenches, hung out with the Hopi, and worked for the Park service.

His many years of working in nature have deeply affected his choice of subjects. His artwork depicts many native texas flora and fauna. He has created many unique metal sculptures of all kinds of texas critters including horned toads, geckos, dragonflies, butterflies, twiggy lizards, hummingbirds, and roadrunners just to name a few. He also is known for his gorgeous wild flower metal sculptures.

He gathers, works, and incorporates many native gemstones in his pieces. Art is an avid RockHound and has been known to wander off roadsides in his quest for rocks. His work uses a variety of metals and incorporates some semi-precious gemstones. Don’t let the gemstones fool you into thinking these are small jewelry sized pieces.

A great deal of the delight in the work is that many of these large up to 7 foot high flowers are based on micro flora. There is something magical in sketching a very tiny flower in nature with a pair of jewelers lenses and then making it out of many different types of metals; (steel, stainless steel, brass, and bronze with a big chunk of amethyst) to get all the colors right and then making the smallest and most intricate flower you have ever seen 200 times its’ natural size.

Mr. Schoenig did work with micro flora in the parks service and likes to bring part of the virtually unseen and overlooked world that is at our feet and as high as out toe nails up to the human world. Many of the current flower pieces being made are based on sketches and micro photos taken around Texas. To get these little beauties as close as possible to the actual flowers many different Texas rocks and even giant marbles had to be found and tracked down.

Dragon Girl

Rebecca Rang Schoenig a.k.a. The Dragon Girl has been doing metal sculpture since 1994 and was apprenticed to the Whitesmith Obi Art Kenobi for a time. From this apprenticeship, she learned many of the secrets of working metal.

The name Hidden Dragon comes from the ancient asian concept that the dragon of creativity lies within all of us hidden and once found can be a powerful, dynamic energy. It seemed the right metaphor for the process of bringing art into the world and thus Hidden Dragon Art was created.

After creating many 3D types of metal sculpture, she decided to leave the art world for a wee bit to go on sabbatical to finish a degree in physics and ponder the secrets of the universe. She came back to the realm of Art and using some of her newfound knowledge figured out a different way to create metal art using the idea of a metal canvas. A canvas that can go in 2 or 3 dimensions, and possibly even 4 depending on how long you stare at it.

She currently holds degrees in physics and psychology, alongwith the eclectic mish mash that comes along with way way too manyacademia courses. In the Art world, she is happily amused she canpsychoanalyze quarks and build rocketships of her own imagination. Her background in physics and psychology brings unique abilities and insight to her work.

Her pieces are one of a kind metal art created using various techniques including whitesmithing, patinization, painting, welding, photography, digital technology, and plain ol’ elbow grease. They sometimes incorporate various mixed media elements such as glass and stone. A 2D or 3D metal canvas is created for each piece using the various techniques above, then it is formed through various processes into a piece of unique art.

She uses her knowledge,experience, and many times her intuition to create her artwork. She believes that concepts are important and likes to reflect the muses of positivity in her work. Words such as love, peace, and joy can be found sprinkled among the bright colors as well as abstract figures. She believes that by fostering these muses we can find beauty in even a piece of recycled metal. Pieces that lift the spirit and create artistry for the soul.