Jon Koehler is a master craftsman of gigantic proportions. The designer, welder and fabricator, creates ginormous steel sculptures. Abstract and free-form patterns that stem from a barrage of “crazy ideas that could only work in the imaginary world,” become thousand-pound pieces of steel assembled on site with cranes. The towering structures are breathtaking and yet, the artist is humbled by their magnificence. “Stuff,” as he describes, starts with imagination and morphs into art with “a little help” from the “man and his machines.” In Koehler’s world, “steel dances like feathers in the wind” as he creates “visual harmony with flowing lines of steel. “I make the immoveable move,” he said. “I turn steel into a graceful kinetic balance within its environment. I make a heavy medium appear light and structure opposing forces into equilibrium.” Inspired by nature and the nautical and aquatic worlds, the Point Loma native balances pushing the boundaries of metal engineering while manipulating stainless steel with finesse.
“Stainless steel is harder to work with than copper and aluminum, softer and more malleable metals,” he said. “Stainless steel requires a special expertise and finesse – as well as patience and persistence – to manipulate without fracturing or damaging the metal.”
But exactly how does one become an artist that fabricates steel into art? Serendipitously, at age 35, Koehler began his artistic journey for the sheer sake of answering his heart’s call for “creativity.” The now 52-year-old answered a public “call-out” to fashion an art exhibit for the Port of San Diego. He won. His first, 30-foot sculpture was on display for a year. He garnered the title for the next five consecutive years. “That’s how a career is built,” he said. Careening forward on “speculation,” he then sorted his first 30 years of “moving through different industries” into the genre of art. His knowledge began in his father’s Shelter Island boatyard, Koehler Kraft, still in business today. Working alongside his father designing, building, servicing and repairing pleasure boats, he learned to weld “interesting and creative” shapes and artifacts for boats. “There are no square corners on a boat,” he said. “It’s all railings and bracketing. I learned how to create shapes by making fuel and water tanks. But I always felt bad when they were buried in the boat, never to be seen again.”
Koehler then segued into assembling “outrageous, fantastic sports cars.” “I converted race cars and fabricated sheet metal bodies together to make them more beautiful,” he said. “I built beautiful three-dimensional structures I considered art, only to see the cars destroyed on the tracks. It was hard to watch. But I acquired mechanical experience to go along with my passion for art.”
Because of his desire to watch his art come to life rather than be destroyed, Koehler plunged into life as an artist. “Something you are,” he said. “Not something you do.”
The school of hands-on and hard knocks trumped the art degree. “I’ve moved through life experiences, learning along the way,” he said. “I never studied art history. What I’ve learned isn’t taught in a university. I learned from working in the boat yard. I learned by fabricating materials and parts for mega yachts, race cars and everything in between. My feet got wet everywhere.”
Random ideas, odd shapes noticed along the way and effervescent colors – even clouds and trees – become sketches then built into “mockettes,” scaled versions of his tall, stackable formations that can be manipulated in order to gain perspective in how “shapes work together.”
The self-described “Tool’aholic” is “blessed” with a workplace brimming with “amazing” tools that “manifest my imagination into stuff,” even if it means designing and fabricating tools never to be found on the shelves of Home Depot. The “treasured” equipment is treated with “respect” and kept in “tip-top” condition. “I can create anything in my fabrication shop,” he said. “I have no limitations. I never worry about needing materials. I make what I need from raw materials.”
A creative, “magical, mystical and blissful” process supersedes the results. That is, his “journey is more important than the destination.” “My life is my work,” he said. “And my purpose is to create, I strive to balance the give and take of my life’s purpose. I’ve shaped my life and my art into being. I live it. I am the silent artist who created a life and a journey.” Koehler strives for people to “connect” with his work even though it’s abstract.
“I love to see viewer excitement,” he said. “My art doesn’t always resemble anything in particular, although it may have a sailing theme as I grew up and continue to live in a sailing community. But it’s important to me that people interpret my work in a way that inspires them to be great. Creating is my life purpose, but without it having a lasting, positive impact on others, my purpose is incomplete.”
Life experience and passion drive Koehler. “I’ve spent my life creating art,” he said. “I create because I’m passionate to create. I cannot, not create. It’s in my DNA.” Koehler’s favorite piece is always “the one I’m working on.”
“I work with the evolution of the piece,” he said. “It’s never all figured out. I figure it out moment to moment with an idea, a concept, a composition and a goal. Details are not always ready.”
In addition to his large pieces that are shipped all over the world, Koehler’s gallery touts an assortment of amazing work, including his signature Dolphin five-foot pendulum metal sculptures. “Tranquil” by design, the dolphins swing on a pendulum axis, emblematic of his ability to create motion with static materials. While Koehler’s structures can be found dotting San Diego’s coastline, he will be among the 350 artisans sharing the streets of Little Italy during Mission Federal ArtWalk 2018 on Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29. Donning a 10-year presence, he’s thrilled to be among a huge diverse crowd of art lovers. “ArtWalk is a great way to interact with 300,000 people and an opportunity for everyone to experience different levels of art,” he said. “And it’s free!” Mission Federal ArtWalk Where: Little Italy
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29.
Info: artwalksandiego.org/missionfederal/.