Functional Yard Art: The “What”

Summary:

In short, the goal of my project was to produce an artifact inspired by yard art and a jagged, rusted aesthetic like the “Diesel Punk” that can be found in the Mad Max movies. Counterintuitively, I planned to cast this aesthetic on the thriving ecosystem in my yard in the form of a jagged, rusting tree. The function of rotation enhances this interactive backyard art and provides a way to enjoy local nature in the form of a bird feeder, bird bath, and interactive structure. 

Since I have recently moved, the thriving local wildlife is novel to me and I wanted to enjoy this through my artifact by seeing if they will come to enjoy a juxtaposing, eye-catching, rough aesthetic that was secretly meant for them.

Inspirations:

My main source of inspiration was the materials I had at hand. Between scouring junkyards and the “boneyard” at my new place of work, the unique pieces of well-used material with true character elicited many different images for my artifact. Different shapes that lent themselves to both my function and aesthetic were plentiful, so I duplicated some and used some as the starting point for structural aspects.

Another point of inspiration comes from the Mad Max film series, as shown above. The “diesel punk” aesthetic of these films is pretty distinct, even iconic, and I wanted to capture the rough-hewn chaos for this juxtaposing application. One issue that changed this style choice along the way was the fact that balance and points of access would become more important to me along the way. By this, I mean that I wanted the wildlife to be able to move around across this structure and access each feature, as opposed to being buried in a forest of protruding metal. The result is that the final piece looks rather less filled out then some of the inspiration imagery but is more functional and leaves room for additions.

 

Lastly, I also took inspiration from some other examples of yard art – from my neighbor’s unique pieces to works found online. Below is one that probably had the most impact on my design due to my attraction to it and the similarities with my own overall structure.

Vision:

Sketches:

The idea started with the first sketch below, and the opposite aesthetic is featured next. This idea progressed to the final sketch, which was still mainly a general inspiration toward my final piece. This project was a practice counter to my typical process for basically anything because execution was emphasized far more than planning. The idea with this was to maintain creative freedom, and also because I wanted my yard art to be a continually changing and growing project even after it has been in use.

Timeline:

The timeline below began as an overall guide but represents actual time used. This required little change from initial plans. The rough quantification of weeks worked well considering most of my available shop time took place over weekends. In counting weeks for each aspect, this includes significant overlap although the steps fell mostly in the sequence outlined.

The Final Product:

My final artifact stands exactly 7 feet tall and features three independently rotating sections. These house 4 basins for food or water, 1 to 4 standard bird feeders (one built in), 2 hummingbird feeders, a dangling climbing pedestal, and plenty of perches. This is crowned with a small nesting area for warblers and supported by a massive 1.5 inch thick plate to sit next to nearby lilac bushes of equal height to the structure.

I am overall very pleased with the robustness and character of my final artifact seen below; this is the overall vision I was aiming for. The main difference being that the final piece feels much less “filled out” in its profile than I had envisioned. This was partly an underestimation of what it takes to fill all that space so completely, but also came from the goal of having free space and access points for the actual use case of birds and squirrels hopping around from limb to limb.

I achieved my functional goals, and the assembly already serves as a unique addition to my backyard space. I am able to house bird feeders and baths, while also giving the squirrels food and obstacles to entertain themselves without bothering their neighbors. While I remained true to my aesthetic theme and I quite enjoy certain visual aspects of my artifact, it has not yet realized the striking appearance I had envisioned .

There are varying improvements I would like to make, but the majority of my future efforts will focus on adding dimension to the piece reaching out from the central axis and filling in the space in a more full and balanced fashion. 

In summary, I am able to enjoy the appearance of something I put together with creativity, which is rare for me personally. Along the way, I learned and enhanced new skills and simply enjoyed the process of crafting old and used, yet sturdy, parts and pieces with molten metal. I was able to use my fabrication and (to a lesser extent) engineering skills, but let them take the back seat as I simply explored the visual results and enjoyed the process.

Sources:

Potos: Myself, March/April 2025

Alderman, Nicole. “Broken Tools Converted into Yard Art and Other Landscape Art Inspiration.” Broken Tools Converted into Yard Art and Other Landscape Art Inspiration (Art Forum at Permies), Apr. 2022, permies.com/t/38176/art/broken-tools-converted-yard-art.

Heeger, Susan. “18 Tips for Decorating Your Garden.” This Old House, 28 Aug. 2024, www.thisoldhouse.com/gardening/21019414/18-tips-for-decorating-your-garden.

Alexander., K. M. “Mad Max: Fury Road and the Art of Worldbuilding.” K. M. Alexander, 12 Jan. 2016, kmalexander.com/2015/06/24/mad-max-fury-road-and-the-art-of-worldbuilding/.