Dinosaur sculptures on display in Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - Dinosaurs are on the prowl in Eau Claire. Artisan Forge Studios is hosting a new exhibit, “The Scraposauras.” It contains 14 sculptures of prehistoric beasts made from scrap metals.

“I think they’re just fantastic. They’re an awful lot of fun. If you look around, it isn’t just little kids that are enjoying this. There’s adults, there’s young people, there’s old people, there’s people in between. Dinosaurs just kind of hold kind of a universal fascination by a lot of people and it’s just really a celebration of fun for everybody in the community,” Artisan Forge Studios owner Greg Johnson said.

Hastings, Minn. sculptor Dale Lewis sculpted the exhibit.

He said he’s been turning scrap metals into sculptures for about a decade since he retired. He adds, he enjoys admiring his work but that’s not his favorite part.

“That part is cool but it’s really the reaction of the people and stuff, you know. It’s the attention it gets in other people’s smiles and things like that that I really appreciate,” Lewis said.

Unlike other pieces of art, people don’t just get to look at the sculptures, they can play with them too.

“I like to see the kids having fun,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we would put a disclaimer out there and say, you know, ‘Dinosaurs are inherently dangerous so we have to be careful.’ And yet, there is a part of dinosaurs where we do want kids to explore and kids do need to touch and they need to feel and they need to get up close.”

Visitors enjoyed their experiences with the sculptures too.

“Be prepared to be amazed,” Michael Smith said.

“You have to see it to really experience it, in person,” Tina Sheppard said.

The exhibit will run all summer long, according to Artisan Forge Studios.

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