One of Gracie Sproles' rose sculptures
Gracie Sproles is a metal sculptor, whose main focus is floral designs. She mainly uses carbon steel and stainless. She welds and forges all of her pieces, starting with scrap metal or regular stock.
“I took a welding class when I was 13 on making a horseshoe owl and fell in love with welding. I took a class sophomore year in high school and then took dual enrollment through Northeast State and graduated from Northeast State with an associate’s degree in welding and metal fabrication and welding certification two weeks before I graduated from high school,” she says.
She learned how to integrate welding and art through research and trial and error.
Her mentors in welding are Dennis Ivory, John Rosenbaum and Dustin Simmerly. They taught her everything she needed to know about welding and encouraged her through her degree and are still encouraging her today. Another mentor is Allen Cross. She worked with him for about a year and he taught her about manual machining.
“These men are absolutely amazing and have encouraged me through many rough times.
“My inspiration is flowers. The romance behind flowers, my favorite thing is to see men buy one of my roses and give it to their wife or sweetheart. They last forever, and I hope that is how long their love will,” she says.
In addition to flowers, she also creates musical instruments and other sculptures.
She sells most of her flowers and sculptures at A Work of Art Gallery and Gifts. “I love selling my things through them, it’s very simple, and everyone is so nice. The environment is warming and inspiring. Every time I go in, I find something and just get so inspired by it,” she says.
