Metal pieces have futuristic flair
Stepping out of the kitchen slider of Fred Pottratz’s Valley home is like stepping into another world.
A tall, futuristic metal woman from his crystal series (he’s made five of them) holds a single-person hammock, “I wanted a woman to support me,” and she hides an ominous weapon behind her back. Is she a bodyguard “or does she have less than good intentions?” Pottratz asked.
Stepping deeper into the metal jungle is an “ohmygosh” experience, and could cause a kink in the neck if one gets too eager. There are rock benches with metal legs, a rock with a metal fin protruding from it, a steel water fountain with small dragons, including one that spits water frolicking at the water’s edge, and kinetic creations. There is a bird made from combine parts, a bonsai tree made of more than 1,000 keys, and a life-sized horse named Silver made of roof flashing, grazing on the grass.
A central gazebo is lit by dragon torches and a fire-pit is a dragon that shoots flames from its mouth and is stoked by wood in his belly. Even Pottratz’s sprinklers are works of art as well as the shed that holds gardening tools. “We couldn’t just have a shed,” said Pottratz’s wife Lani, “It had to be a work of art,” which includes a drawbridge and a copper roof.
In Pottratz’s yard, birds bathe in rock baths and one can gong the bell made from an oxygen tank. It is eye candy created from the mind of a man influenced by science fiction and fire. His work is futuristic and at the same time, minimalist like Mad Max’s neighborhood where metals are abundant but power is only available via wind, water and fire.
Pottratz, 55, works in irrigation by day, and can often be found at night in his basement, a sort of Dr. Frankenstein’s lab filled with machinery and metal. His favorite tool is his mig welder. “If you don’t smell flesh burning, you’re not welding. Don’t fear the burn,” he advised. Pottratz and his wife have been in their home since 1977.
A Central Valley High School graduate, Pottratz’s formal art education was at North Pines Middle School. “I had some good art teachers,” he said. His father, a farmer, taught him to work with his hands. “We don’t do computers,” he said, “It stunts your growth. Even our cell phones were a big leap.”
Pottratz began his journey of “coercing metal into art” in the mid-1980s with only an acetylene torch. He began small. “As my visions became larger I realized I needed more equipment to complete them and I became a tool junkie.” He taught himself to use his tools through trial and error, enjoying the “battle of wits with what many people would consider an inanimate object.” His pieces are all one of a kind and include all types of mostly recycled metal. They are mind-bending creations, thought-provoking and alive with humor and the idea of good versus evil.
He currently shows his work at Rivers of Art, 110 N. Fourth St., in Coeur d’Alene, where he sold one of the pieces from his crystal series to a techno-pop artist from Seattle. Art Boyman, owner of Rivers of Art, has known Pottratz for 30 years. “He’s an interesting guy. His work is unique and filled with imagination,” Boyman said.
“Every piece, to me, has been an adventure,” Pottratz said. As is a jaunt through his backyard.