CONTENT TO WORK HARD

CONTRIBUTORS

METAL ARTIST, STEPHANIE DWYER, WORKS HARD TO FIND CONTENTMENT

Written by Susan Marquez / Photography Courtesy of Stephanie Dwyer

She may be pretty and petite, but don’t underestimate metal artist Stephanie Dwyer. She knows her way around a welding shop, and she is as badass as she looks when donning her welding helmet and steel-toed boots. Without trying, she is setting fashion trends in Paris. That’s Paris, Tennessee, y’all, and Stephanie has become part of the fabric of the small town located just two hours and some change from Nashville. Her everyday attire consists of Carhartts and a t-shirt, and she makes it look chic.

Stephanie’s path to welding fame began in Bellingham, Washington, where she spent the majority of her formative years.

“I grew up darting around from California to Washington and Texas but spent the majority of my time in Bellingham.” After high school, Stephanie worked random jobs and did landscaping on the side. “The climate in Bellingham is mild, comparable to England, so landscapes can get layers and intricate. I wanted to incorporate sculptural and structural metal to my landscaping projects, but I didn’t know how to weld. My friend suggested a night course for intro welding, and I got hooked.” She attended a two-year vocational college for welding and metallurgy, not realizing that it would one day become her career.

“I’m a shoot-from-the-hip kind of person,” she laughs. “Going into business for myself was not by design. It just evolved from knowing I had to get myself legal in regard to income.” After getting out of school, Stephanie chose fabrication jobs which enabled her to continue doing landscaping. She moved to Mississippi in August 2006 and went to a fabrication shop outside of Jackson. “I felt instantly uncomfortable asking for a job. The men looked at me like I was some kind of joke or something. They didn’t know what to make of me.” After a couple of rejections, Stephanie decided to just make some small things to sell on her own. “I literally sold items off the back of my truck.” That led to a booth at a weekly farmer’s market in Jackson where she was surrounded by other local artists. “At that point, I had to start my own business, although I never considered myself an artist. The need to work more led to getting on the road to sell to retailers, such as home and garden shops. I drove to potential businesses between Memphis and Lafayette, Louisiana. My first big sale was to a nursery in Natchez. They could see how focused I was, so they supported me for quite a few years before I moved to Tennessee.

Stephanie’s move to Mississippi was one year after Hurricane Katrina, and on the heels of a toxic relationship that involved unbearable mental abuse. That situation was the most painful of her life, but she says it was necessary to get where she is now. “I guess it was a unique form of divine intervention.” After living in Mississippi for nine years, Stephanie had progressed enough with her metal art that she felt the need to move closer to a viable city that could offer more consistency with commissions. “I chose Nashville but couldn’t find the right place.” Stephanie has a soft heart for animals and rescues them wherever she goes. “A friend suggested renting in Paris, just to get relocated and to buy time finding the right property. That was nine years ago, and I’m still in the same place, with even more rescue animals.” She has a shop surrounded by privacy and wildlife. “I also have some incredible friends here that I call family.”

In her metal shop in Paris, Stephanie heats and bends metal with ease. She hammers and forges and bends the raw metal into sensuous curves, adding tiny swirls and leaves to give it an organic look. Much of Stephanie’s work is commission pieces that she personally delivers and installs. “Getting on the road to do deliveries and installations balances out the need for travel and socializing. I have experienced some really amazing cities with so much history and personal style. Architecture is my weakness. Clients have been super kind to me, so I always look forward to sharing meals with people who started out ordering something for me to build and ended up becoming long term friends.”

One of her signature pieces is the bottle tree. Each one is unique. “I am amazed at how many people actually find me. My website was erased by the host by mistake three or four years ago and getting a new one just hasn’t been in the cards for me. Mostly I get commissions and sales through posting on social media or word of mouth. I also discovered that if you Google bottle trees mine really stand out and then people literally hunt me down. That’s a very flattering compliment to hear after a lifetime of self-doubt and low self-esteem. I have no business model other than staying focused on creations and making sure I pay my taxes. Bottle trees, by creating them, saved my life and got me to where I am now. I call the past seventeen years my Bottle Tree Adventures.”

Not all of Stephanie’s work is found in private homes. She has made custom pieces for everything from The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. “I would say that is the most prominent public piece I have made so far.” She has also crafted the alley of trees called “Dancing Sisters” for the Shangri La Botanical Garden in Orange, Texas. As far as public spaces go, the 12’ to 17’ trees, which Stephanie regards as sculptures, can be found scattered mostly in the South where their cultural history is more diverse. “As cheesy as it sounds, it’s the countless bottle trees that are scattered all around the nation in front and back yards of private homes that I am happiest about. That’s my greatest artistic honor, especially because of the connections I have made with people who I would not have met otherwise. It’s been a pretty amazing adventure.”

Stephanie is anything but a one-trick pony. While she loves making bottle trees, she also makes custom gates, trellises, and birdbaths adorned with gingko leaves. “I love them because they are functional and an offering to nature.” Stephanie says her lifestyle, one of working hard, then loading up to get on the road like a truck driver, suits her. “Knowing that there are historical cities to explore within a 10-hour radius of where I live is also an incentive to work harder toward a little time off feeding my passion for architecture and regional food. I look around this property and there’s so much peace knowing that I’m able to take care of what’s in front of me. That level of content is hard to come by.” etsy.com/shop/BottleTreeAlley instagram.com/stephaniedwyer1