Artist’s creative creatures start from scrap

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Apr 27, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Only an adult would call it a snake.

Let’s insert an eye roll here, because one passed by and said just that.

Now, if you’re a kid you can see Richard Swenson’s creation clearly, even before the head is assembled.

“Look, a dragon!” someone said.

It’s a girl’s voice. She’s followed by the rest of her class of second, maybe third, graders spouting “whoas” in agreement. They obviously were on a field trip, exploring the wonders the Louisiana Art & Science Museum had to offer.

Mummies and Muppets, stars in the planetarium and, whoa, a dragon created by Swenson. No, better make that horses and cheetahs and rabbits and bugs, too, for there seems to be no end to what Swenson can create from scrap metal.

He’ll drive to the museum from his home in Picayune, Miss., on Sunday, May 4, to talk about his work. His art.

That’s kind of hard for him to say, art.

“Because I’d never done artwork before,” Swenson said. “I was born and raised on the prairie in North Dakota, so I didn’t get much exposure to art. I don’t remember any paintings in the houses in town, and I remember only one statue — a soldier from World War II. He was holding a bayonet.”

That’s the introduction to Swenson’s story, which later has him as a physicist, researching oceans throughout the world. That’s when he began visiting museums, looking at art.

“And I really felt an affinity with art,” he said.

But he didn’t go the art way upon retirement, instead opting to restore old John Deere tractors. Liking art wasn’t the same as being an artist, right? Besides, what did he know about drawing, painting or sculpting?

Now tractors were a different story. Swenson had grown up on the prairie. Farming equipment was naturally close to his heart.