Hammering It Out, Cuss Words Included
Joe Barrington transforms steel into sculpture in his Throckmorton studio
Clamps, cuss words and hammers.” Those are the tools of the trade according to Joe Barrington. Not unusual for a carpenter or maybe a plumber, but Barrington is a renowned sculptor who works out of his Red Star Studio, which adjoins his home in Throckmorton, located 70 miles northeast of Abilene.
Of those three necessities for his job, the hammer may be the most important. A tattoo of a ball-peen hammer, his favorite, on the inside of his left arm attests to that. “I always have one handy that way,” he jokes. With hammer and steel, Barrington turns out pieces that grace the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, various locations in Abilene, art museums, galleries, city spaces and even a private residence in Vermont. “Artists like Joe are a dream for museums,” notes Rebecca Bridges, director of programming and interpretation for the Grace Museum in Abilene. Barrington and the artists he works with are true professionals, Bridges says. Their goal is to create art and get it before the public. They show up at a venue with their artwork and tools necessary to display it.
Barrington can sculpt just about anything that pops into his creative mind, but animals are a favorite, from a 23-foot-tall longhorn that stands majestically on ranch land just west of Throckmorton to an 18-foot-long English bulldog sculpted for a city park in Houston.
Left Barrington welding in his studio. Right “Desert Mule Deer Skull,” 1999.
After graduating from Throckmorton High in 1974, Barrington wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He knew he didn’t want to be a welder after working most his life in his dad’s welding shop. He loved drawing and had talent, but it took an art professor at Midwestern State University to recognize Barrington’s gift — though it didn’t sound that way at first.
“You need to find something else to do,”the professor said after glimpsing one of Barrington’s first drawings. But before Barrington could protest, the professor offered a suggestion. “You need to be in the three-dimensional classes,” he said, not the printmaking class Barrington was in.
That was all it took. Barrington combined the fabricating skills he learned in his dad’s welding shop with his schooling and artistic instincts to become what he is today. But that took time.
After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1974, Barrington eventually ended up in Throckmorton to again work with his dad. But the love of art kept tugging, and he eventually gave up welding for full-time sculpting.
METAL HEAD “Messenger Looking Back,” 2012. “I was naive enough to think I could do it when I got out,” Barrington says of believing he could be a successful sculptor right out of college.
Today, Barrington creates imaginative works of art while also promoting something dear to his heart. Following his father’s lead, Barrington is a strong advocate of taking care of the environment. From carrying a trash bag on walks around town to using recycled metals and rubber tires in his work, Barrington spreads his message.
He was commissioned to sculpt a blind salamander and patch of Texas wild rice, both endangered, for the city of San Marcos. Ideas for commissioned pieces — and offers — never run out for Barrington.
His home — an old car dealership he converted into living space with the feel of a rustic cabin — and the adjoining shop always show signs of work in progress. And the projects are endless. “There’s always one hanging out there,” he says.
