About Marshall

Marshall Raeburn and his Green Ray Gun

My name is Marshall Raeburn and I make Found Object Art. This is how it came to be. There I was looking for rocks. I was on Conata Road as it nears highway 44. There was a town here once upon a time. The town of Conata SD. It was a rendering town next to the railroad track. All that's left are the bleached stones of the building fountains and broken pieces of metal, glass, pottery and wood. There in the dirt next to an interesting stone was the internal workings of a door lock rusting away. I looked at that door lock and out of the blue I saw quite clearly that the door lock looked just like the head of a robot. I began to look for the pieces to make him whole. I collected a lot of junk. And that junk turned into that robot, the flaming mesoamerican deity, and the bobbling one eyed alien. Who knew.

Here are descriptions of some of my pieces and how I made them:

Robot carrying Head of Marvin the Martian
Robot Carrying the Head of Marvin the Martian

This piece was made by reverse engineering using metal pieces found at the once upon a time town of Conata SD. A door lock became the robots head. His torso is a mystery. His dress up leg once adorned a wood stove. His other leg he stole from a pirate. A broken half of a spark plug is his power source disguised as the tail of a tie attached to a marble caveat. It seems so surreal just like Marvin's head is just an old bottle opener and the robot's ray gun just speaks for itself. Here's Marvin:

Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian

The Flaming Mesoamerican Deity
The Flaming Mesoamerican Deity

There in the dirt of the town of Conata were two pieces of junk in close proximity to each other.

The flame part of this piece just fit like a hand in a glove into the electrical metal piece. When I looked straight on at this piece the grey electrical piece I could clearly see it looked just like some of the Mesoamerican deities I have seen in Pre Columbian art books. I figure that if I am going to make a surreal sculpture at least it can look factual.

One Eyed Bobbling Alien
One Eyed Bobbling Alien

This piece is made from a the connection end of an old car battery cable, ignition switch, an unknown piece of metal, a spring and a marble.

Zoom Car
Zoom Car

I modified a toy car I found at the free store in Lead SD. The parts are an old light socket with an old televison tube, marbles, cufflink, washers and unknown metal piece used in the manufacture of beer.

Prayer Wheel
Prayer Wheel

This object is made from automobile parts. On the inside of the circular piece is written the word Love. The circular piece rotates on an old engine valve. As the piece rotates it sends love out into the world. This piece is different from the Tibetan prayer wheels that rotate with the wind. This piece is rotated by human intent. You have to use your finger to spin it.

Plowshares
Plowshares

This piece is made from the replaceable dagger shaped metal points from an old field cultivator.

There is a Biblical reference to after the ending of war to use the swords as plowshares to furrow the earth for planting of seeds. In this piece I have used the plowshares to make war planes coming out of the sky. This is a political statement regarding the current state of world affairs.

Mushrooms
Mushrooms

Made from ornamental metal pieces and the metal pieces that the old glass insulators were screwed onto the telephone poles.