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Wheeling Metal Sculptor Makes Ukrainian Sunflowers

A local metal artisan and sculptor has made Ukrainian sunflowers fashioned from the type of metal used to make bullet casings.

Jeff Forster of Wheeling said the sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine, where a war against invading Russian forces continues. People around the world have been using the sunflower as a symbol of peace and to show support for the country.

To add even more symbolism to his sunflower works, Forster decided to make the flowers from a special brass.

"It's made of very soft, malleable cartridge brass," Forster said, adding it is the same type of brass used to make bullet casings.

Forster received a request from a relative to make one of the sunflowers for the relative's mother. Then he made another one that is on display at The Winery in the Strip District in Pittsburgh, he said.

"For millennia, high grade steels were used to make edged weapons. During peacetime they were hammered into plows," Forster said. "This is the same thing. Something out of war, but made into a peaceful thing."

Forster noted the brass he used was actually an antique brass and that future sunflowers likely will be made of other metals.

While making the piece he used his own method to create the petals as one large piece instead of individual petals.

"All the petals are made in a hammered line. A lot of artists don't know how, but I can do it in one piece," he said.

Forster said he has had other artists ask about his method. For now, he plans to keep this method to himself while he creates more pieces, including more birds, a garden angel and a pegasus.

Many people likely know Forster's metal elephant sculpture just off Main Street in downtown Wheeling. The life-sized elephant is accompanied by one of his cranes and a turtle. Forster also made a metal sculpture behind West Virginia Northern Community College's B&O Building in Wheeling.