A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Considerable cloudiness. Low around 60F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Considerable cloudiness. Low around 60F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Running a side business called Endangered Steel, Lori Barbeau makes and sells scrap metal sculptures. Photo by Pat Christman

Hilary Pooley models Mankato Iron & Metal's entry in this year's Raw Fusion Fashion Show. The outfit, made of rain gutters, a down spout, plumbing supplies and pop tabs, won the Dark Forest Award at the event. Photo by Pat Christman

Lori Barbeau has a stash of old springs in her grandfather's shop in North Mankato which she uses to make scrap metal sculptures. Photo by Pat Christman

This Lori Barbeau sculpture is named Richard and belongs to the artist's son. He travels with Barbeau to art shows. Photo by Pat Christman

Lori Barbeau welds together pieces of scrap metal at her grandfather's machine shop in North Mankato. Photo by Pat Christman

Loafers, a scrap metal dog, guards the door to the shop where Lori Barbeau works on her sculptures. Photo by Pat Christman

Running a side business called Endangered Steel, Lori Barbeau makes and sells scrap metal sculptures. Photo by Pat Christman

Sitting just inside the metal shop's open door, Loafers, faithful creature that he is, sat wagging his rust-red tail. 

He did not bark. In fact, besides swinging his tail, he did not even move. 

His eyes, ever watchful, kept guard over heaps of scrap metal.  

"Of course, there's the old joke, 'They make really good pets,'" Lori Barbeau said.

Reaching down, she pulled the metal dog's tail to one side and released it with a gentle "sprong." The long spring-like appendage swayed back and forth, and briefly it looked just as if the steel and washer canine was saying hello. 

Barbeau's scrap metal creations are nothing if not happy coincidences, symphonies of leftover engine and tractor parts. 

Each one is different, a unique combination of welded alloy. That's why they're called "endangered steel," she said. 

"They're endangered species because they're one of a kind for the most part," Barbeau said. "I can't re-create them, even if I try." 

Which is why each sculpture also has a name. Each one is so singular, it's as if it has an identity all of its own. 

"This is Sparkles," Barbeau said, picking up a small unicorn with a drill bit for a horn and a rusted chain tail and mane. 

The spring-bodied young lady with pliers for arms is Shop Girl. Gas Hog's round, red body is made from the gas tank of an old Honda three-wheeler Barbeau's fiance owned as a kid. 

A graphic designer at Capstone Publishing, Barbeau runs the business Endangered Steel in her spare time. She's had a booth at the ArtSplash Art Fair in North Mankato for the past two years and takes custom orders. 

The North Mankato woman is also the Raw Fusion fashion designer for Mankato Iron and Metal — Barbeau designed the dresses that won the company Raw Fusion's "Warehouse District" award in 2014 and this year's "Dark Forest" award, named after the fashion show's 2015 theme. 

Hilary Pooley models Mankato Iron & Metal's entry in this year's Raw Fusion Fashion Show. The outfit, made of rain gutters, a down spout, plumbing supplies and pop tabs, won the Dark Forest Award at the event. Photo by Pat Christman

"She always seems to amaze," Mankato Iron and Metal owner Tom Pooley said. He still is blown away by Barbeau's knack for turning scrap metal into art.

"You can't picture how it's going to look until you see it completed," he said. 

Pooley's crane operator sets aside scrap metal for Barbeau often, picking out pieces he thinks she will like. And Al Risk, who manages Pooley's Scrap Iron and Metal in New Richland, is always on the hunt for cool art pieces. 

"I can kind of see stuff in what I pull out of the scrap," Risk said. "... But she actually (turns it into something) ... Everything is so cool. My wife has actually bought a couple things from Lori that we have at the house." 

Whereas Mankato Iron and Metal is brimming with shiny, industrial scrap metal, the New Richland yard is replete with old, often rusted farm machines. 

Sometimes Risk will send Barbeau a picture of old hay baler chains, big rusty springs or near-antique tractor parts and volunteer to bring them to North Mankato for her. Barbeau's brother Lee Hewitt works in the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado — it provides cars and trucks a route under the Rocky Mountains — and often sends her scrap metal he's found in the underground bore. 

Lori Barbeau has a stash of old springs in her grandfather's shop in North Mankato which she uses to make scrap metal sculptures. Photo by Pat Christman

One of his friends, who owns a hot rod shop in Colorado, will send her old car parts and bumpers. 

"Some of my favorite parts, people just give to me," Barbeau said. 

She sometimes hoards scrap metal pieces for months, waiting for the right time to use them. Rare parts or parts with interesting characteristics appeal to her especially.

Once she finds the right combination of pieces, Barbeau welds them together into sculptures. She calls it "creative problem solving." 

Springs become bodies. Wrenches become arms. Joists and tongues become legs. Holding up a radiator, Barbeau said "Look! Now you see an elephant, an Indian elephant." 

Lori Barbeau welds together pieces of scrap metal at her grandfather's machine shop in North Mankato. Photo by Pat Christman

What is now a craft began as a hobby. When Barbeau was a senior in high school, she saw a manufactured dog at a specialty shop in the Mall of America and thought to herself, "I could make that!" 

She went home, walked across her parents' lawn to her grandparents' house and opened the door to her grandfather's metal shop. 

"As a kid, I hated it in here," Barbeau said, standing in the crowded garage Tuesday. It smells of warm metal and oil, but Barbeau still works in her 93-year-old grandpa's shop. 

Throughout her senior year at Mankato West, and while majoring in fine arts at Minnesota State University, Barbeau continued to make sculptures out of scrap metal. 

Her grandfather, Lester Hewitt, helped teach her how to weld; he owns a machine shop called LMH Machine. Barbeau's father, Lowell Hewitt, is an electrical engineer and also an experienced welder. 

They both have several pieces of Barbeau's art, while Barbeau's son is the proud owner of a metal dinosaur called Richard. 

This Lori Barbeau sculpture is named Richard and belongs to the artist's son. He travels with Barbeau to art shows. Photo by Pat Christman

"It's fun to see what she can put together out of the different materials," Lowell Hewitt said. "... Some of my favorites were some of the pieces she did in college, which aren't really around anymore." 

That's partially because they weren't as popular as the sculptures she's doing today. Though she tried to sell them while she was at MSU, she was unsuccessful. 

Eventually, she began making different animals and marketing her business in different ways. She posts pictures on Facebook, attends ArtSplash in June and has teamed up with Mankato Iron and Metal. 

Today, she's so popular she's been asked to make trophies for both Raw Fusion and the YWCA's Amazing Race. 

Still, "You really put your soul out there when you sell your own art," Barbeau said. "It can be tough ... There are great welders out there and I am not one of them, but I have a great time doing it." 

Visit www.facebook.com/endangeredsteel to like Lori Barbeau and Endangered Steel on Facebook. 

There are great welders out there and I am not one of them, but I have a great time doing it. 

Jessica here, doing some coffee-fueled reporting for the Mankato Free Press. My beat? Education, colleges, LEARNING. Feel free to contact me with questions, comments and story ideas.

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