Man of Steel

Steel. A combination of natural elements and human processes. It can support thousands of pounds or simply hold together two pieces of paper. It all depends on how it is used, on who shapes it, on whose vision it is bent to represent.

For nearly twenty years, sculptor David Tonnesen of Somerville, Massachusetts, has used the man-made material to evoke the natural wonders from which it is born. Taking a dark, heavy material, he blends artistic vision and practical application to bring light and openness to public and private spaces with his signature light fixtures and sculptures.

Tonnesen's first artistic love was photography, but while earning his BFA in that medium at the University of Delaware he tried his hand at other artistic pursuits. “I was concentrating too much on one thing,” he says, “so I took a class in jewelry making.”

Thus was born his love affair with metal.

“I learned how to anodize titanium,” he recalls, explaining the process of chemically treating metals so they reflect light at different wavelengths, releasing a myriad of colors. “I eventually sold more than 100,000 anodized bracelets, which was enough to keep me at a nice poverty level.”

Hoping to take his art and his bank account to new heights, Tonnesen decided to change the dimensions of his work as well. So when he moved to the Brickbottom Artist Studios in Somerville, he took on new challenges even before he really knew what he was doing. When word got out that he worked in metal, people began to approach him with project proposals. “I had no space, tools or know-how,” he admits, “but I figured I'd say yes to the job and then figure out how to do it.”

His improvisational ethic served him well even after he learned how to use the many machines that fill his garage-like studio. “I use the machines the way they say not to,” he says as he shows off his series of lathes, welders and plasma torches, which can cut through a half inch of steel with unadulterated heat. “They are meant to give smooth lines, but I like to bend them,” he says.

Tonnesen enjoys working with the latest technology, such as the LED illumination he uses for many of his lighting pieces, but he is also a bit of an old-fashioned guy who takes great pleasure in the ways of the hammer and the anvil. “Nothing beats elbow grease,” he says. “You basically persuade the hell out of it!”

Though the pieces of metal can weigh up to 250 pounds each and the hammering has left him with battered arms and wrists, Tonnesen is far from muscle-bound. Instead, like the material he uses, he's muscular but lithe, solid but flexible. The smile comes as easily to his slender face as the curves come to the steel in his hands.

Many of Tonnesen's pieces evoke nature: the vanity on a stainless-steel vanity calls to mind the flames that forge steel, a blackened-steel chandelier resembles a cluster of vines. Perhaps the crowning achievement of his nature-inspired work is the giant steel fish that sits atop Legal Sea Foods' headquarters on Boston's south piers. “I had done a waterfall for one of their restaurants and Roger [Berkowitz, the company's CEO] asked me for ‘something really major,' ” he says.

“The scale of my work has gone from my fingers to my entire body,” he continues, recalling his early days of delicate jewelry work. “Doing this project, I felt like an ant!”

That he still marvels at the process of working with steel allows him to keep his work fresh and to make each piece new and exciting. “I am always hard pressed to do just one thing,” he says, offering a portfolio that shows work ranging from menu holders to sconces to a new flame-shaped piece he has labeled a coat rack so the shippers won't blanch at the prospect of mailing art, in prices ranging from $3,000 for a dining room chandelier to more than $100,000 for a large-scale sculpture.

And as diverse as his work is, Tonnesen also suggests that each piece offers an array of approaches. “Every angle gives a different take,” he says. “It is not the same from every view.”

Though the raw materials may be raw indeed, Tonnesen takes great pride in his ability to bend and shape them not only to his will but also—and more important—to that of his clients. “My work can go in a traditional Colonial or a modern deck house. It fits well in a variety of spaces,” he says.

As with his anodized jewelry, which allowed him to play with depth on a two-dimensional surface, Tonnesen uses his larger pieces of steel to bring greater dimension to what is often a flat landscape.

“Now that I am working in three dimensions,” he says, “I can say a lot more.”

EDITOR'S NOTE  David Tonnesen's pieces for the home can range from $3,000 to $13,000, depending on size. He can be reached at (617) 666-9883.