We met William David Reynolds at the 2014 Concrete Decor Show. He was helping Cory Hanneman from Element 7 Concrete with his entry into the Brawl in the Fall competition. Cory told us to find William David because he was working on some really interesting projects, so we went looking for him.
When we found him the first time he was welding. When we went back again he was welding. When we went back again he was helping to unmold the bench in the shape of a leaf that was also part of Team Element7’s competition entry. We finally got to talk with him and found him as interesting as Cory had promised.
William David is a skatepark builder in Marble Falls, Texas. He told us his last three projects have been large, private skateparks in backyards, and his last public skatepark project was in Poteet, Texas, funded by donated and fundraised money. Before that, he worked on a skatepark in Marble Falls, with another project hopefully coming up. The skateparks, he says, are skateable sculpture parks, with artistic features such as arched concrete bridges and concrete loops that are smooth enough to ride on.
William David’s most recent work, “Dreamcatcher,” was selected from numerous submissions to represent a public artwork installation in Marble Falls. William David tells us that each year the city rotates the artists that they choose to display and that it is prestigious to be selected, because they receive so many submissions.
The 30 pieces that are selected are displayed throughout the downtown area. His dreamcatcher will be in a prominent location on 3rd and 281 in Marble Falls, a spot where just about everyone entering the city will see it.
The feathers tower at 8 feet tall and the ring floats at 18.5 feet total. The concrete he used is 3,900 pounds of a fabric-formed shotcrete mix he turned into a six sack mix instead of the typical seven+ sac mix. He also used Fritz Pak Super Plastizer 5 in the mix.
The dreamcatcher’s ring schedule 40, 2-inch pipe bent to an 8-foot diameter and wrapped with 1-inch strips of 1/16- inch sheet metal.
The webbing is 201 feet of 6-gauge copper wire with a 3-inch diameter crystal quartz sphere in the center.
Three beads of mortar-set quartz from the Llano River hang above each feather in between the tassels, which are made of hand-spun 6-gauge copper wire rope. The rope also has Llano River quartz embedded in it as well.
After William David told us about this, he wrote us back to tell him that his sculpture made it to the front page of his local paper. It’s being placed today, and he promises more photos once it’s in its spot. The piece is for sale, he ntoes, and it can be moved, in pieces, if anyone wants it.
WD tells us that Dreamcatcher won first place in the Marble Falls sculpture contest.
