Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld heats and bends a feather on the great blue heron he is creating for the town of Erving. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld welds the eyeball on the great blue heron he is creating for the town of Erving. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld with another one of his bird creations. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld with the great blue heron he is creating for the town of Erving. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld checks on the plumage he is creating on the great blue heron he is making for the town of Erving. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield resident Jon Bander of Notorious Weld checks the pupil placement after welding the eyeball on the great blue heron he is creating for the town of Erving. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

At the confluence of Keyup Brook and the Millers River, feathers will meet ferrous later this summer as one larger-than-life avian guest nests at Riverfront Park.

The newest creation at Greenfield resident Jon Bander’s small Turners Falls welding shed is a 6.5-foot-tall great blue heron made predominantly out of repurposed steel objects. While Bander said he had “been toying with the idea of making a heron for a long time,” the project was commissioned by Erving with help from a $10,000 grant from FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. intended to promote “ecological resilience and interpersonal resilience,” according to Assistant Town Planner Mariah Kurtz. Kurtz hopes that by the end of August, Bander’s heron will be set up at the park for all to enjoy.

Having learned to weld 14 years ago at Franklin County Technical School, the Turners Falls native has spent the last five years sculpturally welding for clients across the country under the moniker “Notorious Weld.” Bander’s personal favorite projects throughout the years have included a full-size mechanical cherry blossom tree, an octopus coat rack and a steampunk-themed aquarium. He also created Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center’s center-stage metalworked logo, a work he credited as his “first real big commission.”

Kurtz said Bander’s concept proposal stood out amongst three other great submissions in part due to its portrayal of a watershed staple that is “really visible” in the Millers River.

“This one was the most literal translation of kind of the concept that we were looking for, and we thought because Erving doesn’t have a lot of public art, this would be a really good first project,” Kurtz added.

After having the uncommon opportunity to work locally via the Hawks & Reed commission, Bander looks forward to once again giving back to the place he has always called home.

“I’m just really excited in general to have a sculpture in a place locally,” Bander said of his new heron sculpture, which similarly fulfills him. “A lot of my work is not local. … I’ve been really honored to have that opportunity and really grateful that I get to do something like that.”

In addition to working for a local town, Bander grounded his project on home soil by taking metal from the scrap “boneyard” at FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain hydroelectric facility for use in the sculpture. He challenged himself to use a variety of these discarded parts, such as metal hosing he used along the bird’s neck and piping he reforged steel from to craft the creature’s formidable talons.

“You’ve gotta grab a bunch of stuff blindly and see where you can incorporate that in a way that make sense and speaks to the project,” Bander said of his scavenging.

Other parts of the sculpture are composed of old saw blades, silverware and more. Even after gathering metal parts that he thinks might be useful for a particular aspect of the project, Bander said, an “element of mystery” remains as putting it all together doesn’t always pan out the way he had in mind.

“I already had a conceptual idea of how I was gonna make it, but not exactly what it was going to look like,” he said of the heron. “It’s always adapting and problem-solving.”

This project in particular, Bander said, has posed major obstacles to overcome.

“Shape is everything, and posture and proportions,” he said. “I allow myself to make mistakes … because that forces you to rethink and come up with a new idea.”

An example of a hurdle came earlier in the process when Bander had to condense the entire interior skeleton after realizing its scale ruined the natural proportions of a heron, he recalled.

“I had the whole framework out and it kind of looked like an oversized motorcycle gas tank,” he said.

Now more than halfway complete, the sculpture has overtaken a major portion of Bander’s workspace, as well as his life. He said he has worked between six and 12 hours “almost every day” since beginning the welding process on May 18, not counting the time he spends conceptualizing things or negotiating with others to acquire materials.

“I feel like I’m always working,” he said.

Despite the workload, Bander feels he is “in really good shape” in terms of being on track to have Erving a satisfying product by the end of summer. Kurtz, he said, has responded positively to his regular progress updates and the townspeople seem to like what they see so far.

“They seem super excited about it,” he said.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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