Metal sculptor has a playful bent

Sondra Gerber's background in fashion led to a blooming path in metal.

Designing delicate fabrics doesn't mesh well with manipulating durable alloys.

But for Gerber, an Omaha metal artist, the two mediums require similar twists and an artistic mind that creates aesthetically and thinks three-dimensionally.

A few years after receiving her degree in fashion design from the Colorado Art Institute in Denver, Gerber worked in Omaha as an interior designer. But she really wanted to create and sell her own fine art collection.

So she tinkered, at first, with connecting and melting small wires together. She grew frustrated by the fastening process, though, and settled into welding classes at Metropolitan Community College.

She aimed for fluency in all things metal.

“I didn't want somebody to tell me how to make art,” Gerber said. “I wanted somebody to tell me how to weld.”

Gerber now chisels — with intense heat — garden sculptures and indoor pieces out of steel, aluminum and other materials.

A stroll through the backyard of her Elkhorn neighborhood home provides a glimpse of the 35-year-old's playful sense of humor blended with her love of the outdoors.

Covering more than an acre of land, her colorful garden features much more than flowers.

Large, sophisticated pieces of copper and aluminum stand out. However, smaller hidden gems and displays highlight the garden Gerber updates for the changing seasons and holidays.

This time of year, these gems include a paint can cut to look like a jack-o'-lantern and powder-coated a protective orange and green to give it an authentic pumpkin look. Other autumn pieces colored brown, orange and yellow are sprinkled among flowers and other foliage.

In addition to the fall-inspired pieces are a chicken made from forks and spoons, garden shovels with silly faces, mushrooms, frogs, owls and a fire pit. The pit is a signature item of hers that she makes from a large drum and designs with flower cutouts.

Gerber uses a plasma cutter that lights up like a July Fourth sparkler to achieve the detailed cuts in many of her pieces.

Something made for a home or a corporate office, though, has a more modern design, said Gerber, an Omaha Central High School alum who also co-owns an art gallery in the Benson neighborhood.

She's done a handful of public and private projects around Omaha, too, including a large sculpture in the lobby of the Child Saving Institute, near 45th and Dodge Streets.

She designs and makes her collections in the garage of her home in the Grove neighborhood, near 184th Street and West Dodge Road.

When she's not working with metal, Gerber teaches fitness and weight training classes at a YMCA. She's been doing that twice a week for more than five years. She started lifting weights around the same time she started manipulating heavy metal.

She also wants to inspire young artists. She recommends experimenting with many different artistic styles before settling on one.

“When you find what you love,” she said, “focus and get good at it.”

Contact the writer:

444-3198, chip.olsen@owh.com

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