ABOUT

Haley Gadzik is a Chicago-based artist who moved to the city to pursue a life in the theatre and, in the interim, became a plumber.

For a long time, due to having the physical dexterity and coordination of a nervous toddler with two buttered corncobs for arms, she was pretty bad at soldering copper (integral to plumbing), so she took to practicing alone where no one could see her or make fun of her. She began to appreciate the straightforward beauty of welded copper, which led to experimenting with sculpture and eventually creating things that she would allow other people to look at, and see, with their eyes.

Now through sculpture, you can find her cultivating a practical skill, finding beauty in a utilitarian medium, creating softness and femininity from something rigid and masculine, and training her toddler corncob arms to be more like tween corncob arms.

Fun Facts

• 100% handmade

  • except for the pipe

  • and the fittings

  • and the tools

  • I’m not a genie, okay

• Each piece is unique

  • mistakes

  • ugly in its own way

• Crafted in my in-home studio

  • landlord doesn’t know I’m doing this in his unit

  • please don’t report me