SHELBY COX

Robot Parade Metal Art: Origins

While studying for my undergrad degree, I took night courses in welding for fun. Years later while pursuing a masters degree in Anthropology, I was living in the foothills at the edge of the Gila Wilderness in Southern New Mexico and would gather metal I would find on hikes with the dogs but had no idea in mind for what I would make. Suddenly one summer I found myself with a baby girl on the way, my master’s thesis in Anthropology about organic avocado growers in Uruapan Mexico wrapping up, and my geologist wife was being transferred to a new mine. We had to scramble. My family were to leave before me and I was to wait for the movers in two weeks.
But what do with my pile of metal? I told the movers the pile was going, and when they arrived at the end of the week, I had spent 5 evenings (after packing) making the pile of materials into my first 8 ft robot. I mailed in my master’s thesis from my new home in north Washington and quickly started my next robot. Using materials found hiking trails with baby daughter and dogs in tow, this time it only took me 5 months to make another big robot sculpture, working through the spring and summer. I was planning the third when I heard a song my daughter liked called “Robot Parade”, it clicked that I will always want to make another, the next and the next. The idea of my imagination as a parade of robots fit and I have loved the imagery ever since.
Only a year passed in Washington when we were moving again, by choice this time. This time with two big metal robot sculptures and the pile of materials for a third big one. After the mover’s initial shock (“The list says yard art, its 500 pounds!”) we all had a fun time loading up the lighter- than- they- look sculptures for their new home.
Arriving in Salida, Colorado, I truly started my love affair with the process of finding metal and recycling it into fun art. Looking for different uses of materials, I soon found expression through wall hanging portraits and detailed landscapes made with handmade frames and layered recycled sheet metal using their original colors. I am constantly in search of car hoods, appliances, and original colors in sheet metal to clean up and shape into something new, adding a spray on clear coat to give it long life.
I have made over 30 robots big and small: a full-sized rafter bot with PFD and paddle, a sign holding girl bot on 10 ft stilts, and a poodle loving granny robot that doubles as a rural mailbox to name a few favorites. In addition to robot sculpture of people and animals, I make custom furniture and chandeliers, unique hand rails, and striking yard art. I have done a wide range of special and commissioned projects- all out of recycled metal. Take a look through my store to see what might appeal to you! From the staid to the eclectic, I accept custom orders and work closely with customers to meet their art needs.
Thank you for your support!

Robot Parade Metal Art is located in the beautiful mountain town of Salida Colorado and owned by artist Shelby Cox. Science fiction in books and movies is often his muse. His two original robots still turn heads from the front yard, and the parade of robots from the studio garage goes on, as long as there is a pile of metal to recycle.