I am Brent Von Schenck, my great grandparents emigrated from Germany and Denmark. I was born in Great Falls, Montana. I graduated from C M Russell High School – then attended Northern Montana College in Havre where I studied automotive technology, welding, auto body, art and business. I started working with metal in my grandfather’s garage using oxy-acetylene welding, leading with a stick of lead and a hot iron, working on old cars and then fabricating at the Corvette shops in Arizona.
My father was a welder and his father was a machinist, so it might come naturally for me to work with metal. When it comes to art, I’ve learned mostly on my own – just messing around. My first piece of metal art came from a round of scrap metal plate from a fabrication project I was working on. I turned the round scrap into a 3 dimensional moonscape which my former boss still has today.
Restoring and repairing old cars with my grandfather are some of my favorite memories; I painted my first car at the age of 15. After college, I moved to Arizona and worked on Corvettes for seven years at three different custom Corvette shops.
In 1992 I moved back to Great Falls, Montana and started a home remodeling and painting business which I have owned for 28 years.
My art is done by using many different kinds of hammers, welders, grinders, anvils, sandbags, among other tools.
The engravings are done with several different grinders and metal prep tools, each one having a different effect on the piece of art.
What makes my art unique is that the 3 dimensional pieces have no flat pieces in them and the flat engravings have a 3D effect that changes with different light angles. All engraving pieces need light! No two pieces are the same. Every part of every piece is different and there is only one of each piece: one of-a-kind art.
ART SHOWS:
2013 & 2014 – Western Living and Design Show Great Falls, Montana;
PRESS:
2013 Best of Great Falls MT Magazine – Featured the Western Living and Design Show and highlighted Big Sky Metalscapes as a juried vendor.