Porter Sculpture Park – Wayne Porter
451st Avenue (Exit 374)
Montrose, SD
605-853-2266
http://www.portersculpturepark.com/
Welded environment
This jaw-dropping sculpture park is located on the the South Dakota Drift Prairie, with more than fifty industrial art sculptures. All created by Wayne Porter with scrap metal, old farm equipment, or railroad tie plates.
While in high school, Wayne began welding in his father’s blacksmith shop in St. Lawrence, South Dakota. After graduation from college where he studied history and political science, he moved back to St. Lawrence. There he worked in his father’s blacksmith shop, raised sheep and welding on his sculptures in his spare time.
The sculptures started out very small and got bigger and bigger, with the largest sculpture in the park is a 60-foot-tall bull head. This highway head turner took three years to build, is 60 feet tall, weighs 25 tons, and is the same size as the heads of Mt. Rushmore.
Wayne (and his aussie, Bambino) are around all summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and happy to share the stories about the wonderful whimsical (and sometimes maniacal) pieces of art.
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(Photos & text © copyright 2006-2014 Kelly Ludwig, all rights reserved)
Bibliography:
“Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations Coast to Coast Travel-o-Pedia” by Randy Mason, et. al., Kansas City Star Books, 2009.