Ray Katz

This year, the work of Ray Katz returns to Ford Road with his piece, “Ring Walker,” an 11-foot-tall painted steel sculpture that is located in front of Target.

Katz is a Detroit native who, after graduating from Mumford High School, served four years in the United States Air Force, where he took up an interest in art.

He attended the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts and Eastern Michigan University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Fine Arts as well as earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and drawing from Wayne State University.

Katz taught as a professor of art at Oakland Community College for 48 years and has created and exhibited art at his Pontiac studio since 1974.

Today, Katz continues to install and exhibit his large-scale public sculptures. His work has been displayed in private, corporate and institutional collections throughout Michigan, in over 21 states and in Japan and France.

Mike Sohikian

Mike Sohikian’s sculpture, “Autumnus,” is on display in front of Planet Fitness and is a reflection of his knack for taking salvaged steel to new heights with his artwork.

Sohikian, of Genoa, Ohio, is a retired ironworker with a half-century-long career in the industry, earning him the nickname “Iron Mike.”

“I didn’t get started in artwork until I was in my late 50s, so I think I took a plunge into the art world realizing there was more to a man’s life than going to work and dying,” Sohikian said.

Since beginning his art career in 1995, Sohikian has earned several prestigious awards and recognition for his artwork. His paintings and steel-based sculptures are in over 400 art collections nationwide.

Brian Ferriby

Brian Ferriby’s bright yellow steel sculpture, “Bokeh,” is installed in front of Michael’s this season. The abstract piece was intuitive and Ferriby said it reminded him of “the pleasant blur you have in the background of a really great photograph.”

For Ferriby, his work springs from his surroundings – even his abstract pieces.

“There has to be something real to abstract from, and that something is close at hand,” he said.

Ferriby is a professional sculptor and arts educator who graduated from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He is currently working on commissioned public art pieces around the Midwest and maintains a studio in northern Michigan’s Leelanau County.

Mark Chatterley

Mark Chatterley of Williamston, Michigan, is a professional sculptor who started in ceramics over three decades ago. With a desire to branch out and make more than he could on the pottery wheel alone, he began sculpting.

His stoneware sculpture, “Three Graces,” is installed in front of Griffin Funeral Home, and was made from a five-foot-tall piece of clay that is intertwined with three androgynous figures.

“I hope the piece gets people to slow down a little bit and get them to wonder,” Chatterley said.

Throughout his career, Chatterley has received numerous awards and publications, and his work has been exhibited all around the world, with collections throughout Michigan, the United States, Italy, Ukraine, Taiwan, New Zealand, Korea and more.

Richard Morgan

For more than 35 years, Richard Morgan saw his welding career as simply a job. It wasn’t until March 10, 2008, that his perception changed when he and his wife found out their only son was murdered.

With the stress from this tragedy in addition to stress from work, Morgan found himself in his shop during his restless nights.

“It was then that welding began to erase some of the grief and my creativity was awakened and I began to transform into an artist and a metal sculptor, and have been creating nonstop ever since,” Morgan said.

While he’d occasionally weld gifts for family and friends in the past, now Morgan creates functional and non-functional metal sculptures that incorporate reclaimed materials, giving new life to discarded steel.

In his work, Morgan is driven to transform loss into beauty and inspire others to see the world a little differently.

His piece, “Tree of Life III” is installed in front of Planet Fitness.

Jim Gallucci

Jim Gallucci, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based sculptor, has over 35 years of experience in sculpture.

He currently works full time designing, creating and fabricating sculptures in his Greensboro studio and his commissions can be found in public, corporate and residential spaces throughout the country and around the world.

“Good art challenges us, can make us feel righteous, moves us, soothes us and can bring us peace,” Gallucci said.

This year, two of Gallucci’s inspirational pieces are installed on Ford Road: the “Oak Leaf Arch III” in front of Home Depot and the “Morning Glory Bench” in front of Kohl’s.

John W. Parker

John W. Parker believes that “outdoor sculptures have to function in a comprehensive way as a drive-by experience, as strong and dynamic silhouettes.”

His bright red steel sculpture, “Cara Cara,” is installed in front of Firestone on Ford Road and is inspired by insect life – “Segmented, hard-shelled bodies, robotic and armor coated, yet able to instantly take flight,” he said.

With extensive experience in both sculpture and ironwork, Parker has a unique ability to design, fabricate and install garden structures including trellises, pergolas and gates.

Parker has been creating outdoor sculptures since 1975, and has shown his work in exhibitions throughout the Eastern and Midwestern states.

Kenneth M. Thompson

Kenneth M. Thompson’s metal sculpture, “Blue, Orange and Stainless Steel” is displayed in front of Target.

Thompson has always been fascinated by buildings and bridges as well as the columns, posts, beams and arches that support them.With a passion for craftsmanship, his sculptures convey strength.

“Beyond content and suitability, my sculpture concentrates on the fundamental issues of form and how negative space defines it as well as the techniques employed to create it,” said Thompson.

Thompson, founder of the Midwest Sculpture Initiative, began making sculptures in 1978 out of a former car dealership turned studio.

Since 1997, Thompson has created more than 80 large-scale public sculptures around the country and enjoys doing smaller scale work for gallery exhibitions.