A dentist by trade, Bruce Hummel decided to give art a try as well.
He took his idea to the grand scale of things, making a 24-foot-by-12-foot sculpture for Jeff Harvey, Detroit Lakes dentist.
"He does nice things for the community and for me personally. I decided I wanted to give him something back," Hummel said.
Hummel, who lives in Fargo and has a cabin on Lake Seven near Frazee, said a couple years ago he was sitting in Harvey's dental office, looking outside, when he knew there needed to be something in the yard.
"I didn't want him to buy something, I wanted to build a sculpture and give it to him," Hummel said was his motivation to complete the work of art.
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"I wanted something that moved gently in the wind," Hummel said of his vision. Rightly titled, "Gentle Movement," the metal and copper sculpture has pieces hanging down that sway in the wind, and when the wind blows, the entire upper portion of the sculpture moves like a weather vane.
Hummel said he wanted something big enough to capture the site, but also delicate. He started with a notion of colors, but changed to copper and metal to be "bright and shiny without being gaudy."
"I like the proportion and gentle flow. I think we accomplished that," he said. But, he added, since it was a gift, the real success would be if Harvey liked it or not.
Not a problem there.
"The first time I saw it, it was under construction. It was a skeleton," Harvey said. "The next time was just like this. I was in awe. I didn't have much to say, which is rare for me."
Look closely and the center of the sculpture shows "JH" for Jeff Harvey's initials, and each piece off of that represents smiles.
"It's a dynamic piece," Harvey said. "It will have a life. It will have its seasons."
Hummel said the 800-pound project was definitely a group effort. His son, Grant --"who is much smarter than I am" -- helped with the mechanics of the project, and Pat Shannon did the welding.
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"I had the idea, that's all," Hummel said. "It was really an effort from a number of people."
On the scale of reciprocation, Harvey said there is "nothing to do or say to justify what he's done for me. I just love him for what he's done for me."
"It gets better with age, just like Dr. Harvey does," Hummel added.
