Windy City: Propeller Junk Art.

Windy City: Propeller Junk Art

Back in the 1990s, Mike Kuper was visiting a scrap yard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, when he saw what he later learned was an impeller: the rotating set of blades inside a jet engine. Intrigued, Mike bought it, thinking that it might make the base of a coffee table. Then someone brought a twisted trailer hitch into his Chicago welding shop and Kuper realized the two pieces could be combined into an outdoor sculpture.

Completed in 1996, "Windy City" brought great joy to Mike, who enjoyed watching the elevated propellor spin in the breeze. He would point it out to prospective customers to convince them that he could weld anything.

At some point the bottom of Windy City rusted out. Instead of throwing the damaged pieces away, Mike had his crew attach the pieces to the "neck" of the sculpture -- like a reptilian frill or vestigial wings. Mike thinks it looks even better now.

Windy City: Propeller Junk Art

K Three Welding

Address:: 814 W. 120th St., Chicago, IL
Directions:: K Three Welding. On the north side of W. 120th St., just west of its intersection with IL-1/S. Halsted St.
Hours:: M-F 7-4. Gated after hours. Local health policies may affect hours and access.

Nearby Offbeat Places

Light Bulb Water Tower, Riverdale, IL - 2 mi.

Doughboy Cannon, Blue Island, IL - 3 mi.

Scale Model Smiley Water Tower, Calumet City, IL - 5 mi.

In the region:

Touch A Piece Of The First Nuclear Reactor, Lemont, IL - 18 mi.

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