IIW welded art exhibition, 2021

LEAH APPLEJOHN and PAULO FERREIRA (Canada)

Leah and Paulo were both welding instructors at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), Souch Campus, in Northern Alberta, Canada. Chris Manning the Head of Department gave them a challenge to showcase welding’s versatility and provide an example of its use outside of the industrial scope. Part of the challenge was to create a welded exhibit in time for the Polytechnic’s “Open House” in October 2015 where students looking for career opportunities would often ask where welding can take them.

Contact info E-mail: Paulo Ferreira: ferreirap@shaw.ca / Leah Applejohn: leahapplejohn@gmail.com / Chris Manning: cmanning@nait.ca https://twitter.com/i/status/654702017915392000 https://twitter.com/NAIT/status/654703536836509697/photo/1

Exhibit “NAIT OOK” The 140 Kg statue sits perched atop a welded tree stump with its wings stretched out about 1.2 metres. It is a version of the Polytechnic’s mascot and took about 150 hours over several months to create. Leah worked on much of the detail whilst Paulo did the “smashing, bashing and blacksmith-shaping” as he says.

Most of the statue, including the 357 individual feathers in the wings and tail, was made from scrap metal left over from courses in the welding training workshops. Each feather was individually cut using a bench shear and all the welding was manual metal arc welding (MMAW). Its eyes are glass and other NAIT departments helped by providing the stainless steel NAIT logo and a clear protective coat to prevent rust. Dimensions 2m high x 1.2m wide

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