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Found object sculptor Paul Maghielse makes imaginative pieces out of discarded parts

 

By K. Michelle Moran

Arts & Entertainment Editor

     Inside a cavernous, garage-like space behind a Roseville industrial facility, a man wearing a protective facial helmet and gloves melds metal parts together to the grinding roar of a MIG welder and the strains of rock ‘n’ roll.

     Welcome to metal artist Paul Maghielse’s studio. It may be an unlikely setting for the creation of fine art, but it’s perfect for Maghielse, whose road to becoming a sculptor started in his father’s tool and die and stamping businesses.

     “All through the summers as a kid, I kind of grew up in the shop,” Maghielse recalled. “From 15 on, I started sweeping the floor, cleaning machines, and then gradually started to learn the technical skills. When I got out of the Navy, then I went to work for my dad and my [older] brother, from 1987 until 2000,” when they sold the business.

     Maghielse now lives with his wife, a certified public accountant, and their two sons, ages 8 and 16, in Grosse Pointe Park. After graduating from Grosse Pointe South High School, Grosse Pointe City native Maghielse spent two years studying at Purdue University before leaving for a six-year stint in the Navy. He isn’t a formally trained artist, although he’s taken classes at the College for Creative Studies. Maghielse’s career as a sculptor began, he said, when he and his shop co-workers made things from their production parts. Impressed, other manufacturers soon asked Maghielse to make pieces for their lobbies.

     “I basically like to build things, to make things, and I think that’s pretty much what I’m still doing — making things,” Maghielse explained with a laugh. “It doesn’t really matter what it is — as long as I’m making something, then I’m happy. Working with machinery has always been something that gave me a lot of personal gratification. That sounds kind of strange to say, but to build something and to have it be your own is kind of neat.”

     Using new auto and machine parts that would have otherwise been melted down, Maghielse fashions pieces that vary from abstract works to playful figures. Most spring from Maghielse’s vast imagination, but the artist said sometimes a part itself inspires a sculpture.

     Artist Robert Maniscalco, whose Grosse Pointe City gallery features Maghielse’s work, said the sculptor’s pieces range “from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

     “His work is easily accessible on so many levels,” Maniscalco said. “He has purely abstract work, [and also] whimsical dogs full of wit and charm, and yet they have an esoteric, clean-edged, modern sensibility, and they’re operating simultaneously.”

     Maghielse’s one of the rare artists who wants people to touch his work, and builds hidden kinetic elements into many of his pieces.

     A sense of movement is also evident in the artist’s studio. On a recent summer day, CDs by Nirvana, R.E.M., Kate Bush, Led Zeppelin and the London Symphony Orchestra are among the pile on his desk.

     “I find the rhythm of music helps me create, helps me work faster, better,” Maghielse said. “So that’s why I usually play it pretty loud. I have a lot of different things that I like to listen to, but there’s some music that motivates me more than others. So when I need that extra jump start, I’ll put something in that I know will work for me.”

     Maghielse, who’s now trying to work on more monumental pieces, said art show spectators frequently recognize parts they made in his work. It may not be the reaction most artists hope for, but Maghielse embraces it.

     “That’s what makes it great about showing pieces here,” he said.

     You can reach K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com