They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and that couldn’t be truer of Andy White’s incredible animal lawn art.
“I’ve always liked making things and turning things from my imagination into something that’s real since I was little kid,” White, 45, of Columbia, South Carolina, told ABC News of his elaborate sculptures.
“There’s something about working in the medium of metal and taking things that are pieces of old stuff that are either discarded or may have my own memory attached to them and turning them into something new to keep around for my kids to enjoy. I like the process of creating something new from stuff that’s old and giving a new life and a new meaning.”
So far he’s created a 9-foot-long Tyrannosaurus Rex, a friendly rabbit, a moderately-sized dragonfly, a snail and a triceratops.
“The triceratops has pieces of my daughter’s first bicycle in it,” he explained. “I like having things around that remind me of different parts of my life. This is a way that I found I could get rid of most of that, but leave little things that I know what it is, like listening to a song or looking at an old photo. I will keep them around or chop it up, or I’ll pick up other people’s crap off the road.”
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A professor by day, White enjoys welding the large animals in his downtime to unwind, but isn’t interested in taking special orders for others.
“It’s nice when people like my things, but other than that I really don’t care,” he said of his personal hobby. “As long as my family likes them, it’s all that matters. They’re for me. People ask me to make a sculpture of their dog but I don’t care about that. I’m going to enjoy the process and enjoy the product. It’s not my job. It’s something that I love doing.”
He doesn’t keep track of how long the animals take him to complete, but said the T. rex was the most complex at about 40 to 50 hours.
“I’ve never really kept track,” said White. “A few hours on a weekend, or I’ll take a day off work when I just need some mental space. I’ve never tallied up the numbers. It’s just fun and it doesn’t take effort.”
As for how long he’ll continue turning his lawn into a playful junkyard zoo?
“My yard is only so big,” he joked.