Not every artist’s story is one of inspiration, or about a tortured soul finding an outlet for their grief and torment.
For some, like Maricopa metal artist Ajay Butler, it stems from a serendipitous meeting.
He was hiking the Continental Divide Trail when opportunity crossed his path.
“I met a guy in New Mexico and he offered me a job in his metal shop,” Butler said. “I worked there and enjoyed it. It was easy to do and it was put in front of me.”
Butler, 32, seized the occasion and began working with him, discovering his own talent and enjoyment for the craft, even though he downplays the beginnings of his crafting career.
“Someone just offered me a job who was already doing it for years,” said the former Maricopa Meadows resident who moved recently to Hidden Valley. “I worked in the shop and worked on the product from the steel sheets, to cutting it out, to welding it, doing the artificial rust, painting, all that. I did that for four years.”
It was the fortuitous beginnings of his own business, Rusted Metal Arts, which sells decorative metal artwork in designs ranging from landscape scenes to Kokopelli and other figures.
But it took some time to get there.
In 2017, he came to Maricopa to be closer to his sister and brother-in-law, Augusta and Jacob Graven. Then he moved between New Mexico, Brazil and Norway, studying various languages and cultures as he tried to determine the direction of his future.
While Butler may not have foreseen a career as an artist, his sister did.
“Oh yeah,” Augusta said, when asked if he always exhibited artistic talent. “He was always great at drawing and doing fantastic cartoons and landscapes. He started all that when he was about seven, eight years old. The more he progressed with it, I did see a future for him as an artist.”
BUSINESS ON WHEELS
Early last year, Butler started selling his own creations at local craft shows and events like the Salsa Festival. But COVID came right after he launched, leaving him with a robust inventory of metal art but nowhere to sell it as stores, outdoor events and other sales venues shut down.
“It just stopped the business completely,” he said. “I had to go to Montana because some stuff was still open up there. I spent most of the summer up there around Whitefish, Kalispell and Glacier National Park.”
Butler, who said he once lived up that way and still has family there, was able to sell all of his inventory there last summer and have some spare time to do some logging.
Now with post-pandemic life getting back to normal, Butler sells his wares primarily at Arizona festivals, fairs and craft shows, including in the northern part of the state
during the summer, but still does fabrication in Las Cruces. His manufacturing process requires space and equipment he just doesn’t have in Maricopa, for now.
The process combines artistry, technology and manufacturing sense. The first step is to create a design, which is drawn on a computer. Most pieces are based on what is in greatest demand at the time, and pieces he knows will sell.
“Sometimes I just randomly think of something,” he said. “The other day I was thinking that it would be cool to have a cover, or a gate, around pool pumps. People build block walls around them but that’s not really any prettier. So, we could do something with an elk or a Kokopelli or something with a hinged gate that would make it a lot prettier.”
Kokopelli are a common theme in his work, but no matter the subject he enjoys the work.
“It’s fun to do and it’s fun to put it together yourself,” he said. “Although sometimes it’s not fun to play with the acid we use to rust it.”
In order to make the initial drawings as realistic as possible, he researches the subject to get a feel for the shape, texture, motion and lines. He then begins to move toward the manufacturing process.
After 16-gauge sheet metal is marked up with a stencil, it is cut with a plasma cutter, which uses compressed air and electricity.
Once cut, the pieces are ground to take off the sharp edges. This step comes with some occupational hazards.
“I got the grinder caught in my shirt one time,” he said. “It was all caught up in there, and I got all cut up.”
‘IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL’
Butler is looking for warehouse space in Maricopa so he can avoid the 740-mile round-trip trek to Las Cruces and back to replenish his inventory.
“I’d like to open a shop in Maricopa so I can make the art here and it’s not a big hassle to go all the way over there all the time,” Butler said of his New Mexico shop. “For right now it’s the cheapest thing for me to do.”
His work is starting to be noticed by fellow artists and vendors who are impressed by Butler’s talent.
Butler said he sells pieces at stores in northern Arizona, and also locally at The Meeting Place Boutique in the Stagestop Marketplace. His creations range from magnets for as little as six dollars to larger pieces in the $400-$600 range, depending on metal costs and manufacturing time.
“Everywhere I go that he’s also showing, his booth is very popular,” said Josie Abernethy, the owner of Que Syrah Decor in Maricopa. “People were flocking to it and buying up his iron work because it’s just beautiful.
“I love his work — it’s just different.”
This story appears in the July issue of InMaricopa magazine.
