Metal art a colourful charity contribution

ROSES, dragons, a windmill and an Anzac Day memorial are just some of the impressive steel sculptures Stephen Brown has on display at his Eaglehawk property.

As well as his towering artworks, Brown has raised $10,150 for a project he started last year, creating blue roses in memory of the four police officers killed on the Eastern Freeway.

He has also raised $2500 making roses for mental health foundations, and $550 for cancer support and said his charity work was a good way of helping people.

“I’m not the greatest talker but I thought well I can make things and sell them and that can be my contribution,” he said. “People like the product, It’s just my way of helping.”

Brown studied a trade when he was younger before completing a paramedic’s course, and has driven trucks across Australia, but gave it all up to focus on his passion.

“I started getting too many orders and it became a safety issue, I couldn’t stay awake on the roads, so I told them I had to quit,” he said. “I started doing sculptures full time.”

Last week he raffled a 1.2-metre-long rising sun Anzac Day sculpture, with the money going towards buying materials which are becoming harder to source.

“Paint’s getting harder to get because they’re from China,” he said. “Certain colours I like to use I can’t get them anymore, all the Rustoleum brands I just can’t get them.”

Standing tall at his Eaglehawk garden display is a four-metre-tall windmill, which Brown said he wanted to build it twice as high but didn’t have the resources.

“I wanted to use external bearing sections, have it running on the actual rollers, but I couldn’t get the actual ring,” he said.

Currently working off his private Eaglehawk Garden Sculptures Facebook account, he hopes one day to start his own business focusing on high quality steel roses.

“I’m probably going to be specialising in indoor gift stuff,” he said. “I’ll be starting an actual business; I don’t know what I’ll call it yet, I’ll keep [the garden] but I’ll have a more professional thing.”