Plant Eater Giraffe Sculpture

“I started out from my garage. As the business grew, and my wife’s and neighbors' patience stretched, it was time to move to an industrial space. There I can bang and grind at all hours of the night. It's 1,000 square feet of pure metalworking nirvana.”

Chris Crooks took a winding road to get to where he is now—creating imaginative lawn sculptures inspired by the Southwest landscape he calls home. After graduating from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Chris worked in advertising, then ran a printing business with his wife, while painting during his free time. It was when the couple moved to Tucson that Chris collaborated with a metal art manufacturer and fell in love with the art form. He now designs and creates sculptures in his studio at the foot of the Santa Rita Mountains. "I always wanted to make a living doing something genuinely enjoyable," he says. "To get up in the morning raring to go, and never having enough time to do everything you want to do."