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HUDSON BAY – Entrepreneur and metal artist Rob Jung, who is originally from Melfort, recently opened Rob Jung’s Metal Art shop in Hudson Bay.

Jung said he relocated to Hudson Bay about a year ago and purchased a commercial building that was previously the Hudson Bay Autobody shop. He renovated the building and opened Rob Jung’s Metal Art shop, as well as an art gallery featuring local wood carvings, paintings and other artwork available for purchase.

Jung's father owned Dobson Welding in Melfort. He said the welding shop was started by his maternal grandfather, after he had returned from the Second World War. His family owned and operated the business until four years ago.

Jung’s metal artwork has attracted customers from Vancouver, Ontario and California. And smaller items were shipped to the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Spain and Ireland before.

“I worked with my father for 12 years. I just started putting things together. To create the metal artwork, I build in progressions. I start with the feet or a particular part and work my way up. For larger metal artwork, I build a cage and then form the pieces around that,” said Jung.

The tools he uses to create his artwork include basic welding tools, a plasma cutter and hand-forming techniques. Most customers come to Jung with an idea and let him create the rest.

Jung uses old car parts, logging equipment, combines and other scrap metal that would otherwise go unused. He said metalwork artists are not very common in Saskatchewan, but there is a network of metal artists across Canada with whom he exchanges ideas.

The local 4-H club recently visited Rob Jung’s Metal Art shop to listen to Jung sharing his work with young students. The local school has also brought students to learn about metal artwork.

Jung said the price of his artwork varies depending on the hours spent creating a piece. One of his most recent pieces, Weeping Willows, earned him $40,000. The piece took more than 600 hours to create and is being shipped to Ontario. He also has many customers who request memorial metal art pieces, which he said are very meaningful to them. Jung estimates he has created approximately 200 pieces of metal art this year.

He hopes to host workshops on how to build smaller metal artwork. He has met with Sask Tourism and Community Futures Newsask in Tisdale to create a tourism destination plan for those interested in learning how to create metal artwork.

Anyone interested in discussing a piece of metal artwork can contact Jung through Rob Jung’s Metal Art Facebookpage, by phone at (306) 921-3747, or by email at [email protected].