CAP CITY

Life sometimes requires sacrifice. For Travis Taylor, that’s meant putting one of his passions on

hold temporarily to pursue another important endeavor. He’s put off his crafting of medieval weaponry to concentrate on his sculpture art. “I’ve been putting everything into this,” Taylor, an Enos Parker whose artwork made out of scrap metal could have slithered out of a Tim Burton film or a Tool music video.

His work paid off. “Spare Parts,” Taylor’s artistic debut, takes place on Saturday, May 9, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts from 5 to 9 p.m. The exhibit will feature many of the pieces currently on display in the home he shares with wife, Cindy, and their children. But since being featured in Illinois Times in February, Taylor says he’s added several new sculptures and that overall the pieces have gotten larger and more intricate. For example, one is an Aeolian harp wired to an amplifier to make an eerie sound when the wind blows. He’s also been commissioned to create a sculpture for a business on West Jefferson Street (he won’t disclosed details, except to say it’ll be big and shiny) and will participate as a featured artist in the Downtown Art Walk on June 4. Taylor acknowledges that these developments represent a departure from previous statements that he wasn’t interested in pursuing his art beyond leisurely tinkering.

“I wasn’t until all of this stuff just sort of ballooned all out of control,” he says. “Then I figured what the heck.”