Photo Courtesy American Constructors
Zophia's Dragon
Eli the dragon, with a child happily perched on a branch, greets visitors at Nashville Children’s Theater. Below left: Metal artist Zophia Kneiss says, “If you can imagine it, I can build it.”
A 3,000-pound, 22-foot dragon named Eli greets visitors to the Nashville Children’s Theater. There thousands of people flock annually to enjoy productions such as “The Reluctant Dragon” and to catch a glimpse of Eli and his companion, a child holding a large crystal.
A 10-by-16-foot dinosaur made from hot dipped galvanized steel stands guard over a galvanizing plant in Bristol, Virginia—boldly hinting at the company’s motto, “Don’t let your steel become extinct.”
A small, rusty horse—its dangling mane and tail formed from bicycle chain links, its legs suspended in motion—dithers on a front lawn beside 10-foot flowers and a menagerie of companions.
The woman behind each of these sculptures, Zophia Kneiss, draws upon her mastery of blacksmithing, welding, and farrier skills to create whimsical figures from the seemingly cold, unforgiving medium that is metal.
A look at her unusual works should make it come as no surprise that Kneiss’s own journey followed a similarly unconventional path into these trades and to her Burning Art Studio, near Norris Lake in New Tazewell, Tennessee.
Her father taught her welding at age 13. Her graduating class in Elma, New York, voted her most artistic—says Kneiss, “I always knew I’d be an artist.”
With a degree in forestry from a college in the Adirondacks, Kneiss headed to the Pacific Northwest to study ecology. There she took her first metal art class. Soon she was fulfilling a dream in the Peace Corps living in remote villages near the Philippines’ Mount Pulag National Park, teaching environmental education, youth development, and sustainable livelihoods to the locals. She learned their language and was welcomed into their tribes.
Stateside three years later, Kneiss moved to Atlanta, but when her target nonprofit job didn’t pan out, she worked construction, earned her welding certifications, and started Burning Art Studio.
After three years in Georgia, Kneiss relocated to New Tazewell where she lives on a houseboat—a relic from the temporary housing created for attendees of Knoxville’s 1982 World’s Fair. As one of a select few in the region able to weld aluminum on the water, she can load her welder into her johnboat and cruise to her next job.
Intent upon reviving her Burning Art Studio, Kneiss discovered an ideal location about two miles from her houseboat: a former auto repair shop. Unlike her semi-sheltered studio in Atlanta, the three-bay garage provides space for forges, anvils, welders, plasma cutters, chain hoists; every ilk of hammer, tong, and rasp; and metals in every conceivable size, shape, and composition.
There’s also room for Jericho, her rescued donkey. It takes grit, compassion, and love to rescue a half-dead donkey, but Kneiss possesses a soft spot for all things equine. She drew horses by age two, rode by age eight, and earned national recognition as a participant in equestrian jumping. This passion led to studies at Casey and Sons Horseshoeing School. She earned the Journeyman 1 Certification from the Brotherhood of Working Farriers and honed her blacksmithing credentials at the renowned John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.
Fabricating horseshoes and the shoeing process, like welding, supplements her artist’s income. She considers horseshoeing another dimension of her art, explaining that it’s where her equine training and metal work converge. “The blending of these skills deepens my well of creativity, and I find great peace with the animals.”
Kneiss’s ultimate goal is to build large public sculptures that inspire curiosity: sculptures children can play on. But until that dream comes true, she will continue to create her decorative and functional metal art. Everything is one-of-a-kind; there are no stencils, molds, or punched repeats at Burning Art. Kneiss tells her customers, “If you can imagine it, I can build it.”
For quotes, commission information, or to see Kneiss in action, stop by or call Burning Art Studio at 5315 Highway 33 South, New Tazewell, Tennessee; 423-626-6996; zophiaburningart.com.