Josh Cote began sculpting with wire after he smashed apart a dilapidated travel trailer on his property with a sledgehammer.
Inside, he discovered lengths of copper wiring. Not wanting to waste it, he stripped off the insulation, grabbed some pliers and started twisting his first salmon sculpture.
He describes the experience as like “finding a diamond in a mountain of trash.”
Since then, Cote has created a river full of salmon from wire, as well as owls, ravens, wolves and other wildlife. He will show his works of art at Sorticulture this weekend.
A provocative sculpture he calls “I’m So Hungry I Could Eat a Cowboy” was recently installed in front of the courthouse in Everett. It features a wire cowboy curled inside a horse’s belly.
A Michigan native, Cote, 37, now lives on a rural 12 acres in Carnation with his wife, Pam. He has been an artist since he was a child.
Cote’s father was a watercolor painter, and as a child, Cote remembers traveling to art fairs in his father’s ancient Land Rover.
“He never made much money,” Cote said.
That didn’t deter the son from taking up oil and watercolor painting. After a time, Cote said he became bored with two-dimensional work.
“I wanted to feel something with my hands, create something tangible and real.”
That’s when he began carving wood, and his subject matter turned to the natural world. He has since experimented with carving stone. But sculpting wire takes up most of his time now.
He sits on the porch of the cabin he built, rain or shine, twisting wire from a gigantic spool for sometimes 10 hours a day. Cote says he likes the versatility and simplicity of his medium; all he needs is imagination, his strong hands and pliers.
Not many artists work with wire, but Cote isn’t the only one. He points to prominent artist Alexander Calder, who said sculpting with wire was like doing three-dimensional line drawings.
Cote now uses mainly aluminum wire, which won’t rust in the weather and is inexpensive enough that thieves won’t bother with it. All his wire is made from recycled material and he purchases it from a licensed dealer.
It takes about four hours to complete one salmon. He has created dozens, but each is a little different. Larger pieces, such as the courthouse installation, can take a month or longer. The salmon cost $70 apiece, while larger pieces cost about $1,200.
He’s beginning to experiment with other forms, including a just completed mermaid.
“The possibilities,” he said, “are limitless.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
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