The Bodgery

"Foundation Piece"
ceramic-mixed media sculpture
30'" x 24"
2026
Artist: Tom Oele

Artist Statement:
My grandfather ran and lived on the Michigan Veteran's Facility grounds in Grand Rapids, Mi. I grew up around those buildings, now torn down and replaced. I played in the creek that ran through it with my sister, explored the veteran's cemetery with so so many faceless names. I watched those who came back whole and I watched those who came back almost. When I started this piece I wasn't reaching for metaphor, I was reaching for the ground I came up on.

The large white stone is from Mockingbird Hill, an overgrown part of the Milwaukee Veteran's Hospital grounds. A foundation piece. Discarded. Somebody decided it wasn't useful anymore. A feeling so many of us veterans are also accustomed to. The rock leans into an ambiguous figure now, one meant to hold every gender that walks through the doors of these places. The system that breaks you is the same one you end up leaning on.

The rough black ceramic body is one piece, fired solid. It represents every broken warrior I have watched walk through these places. Myself included. The head is open, an empty vessel where speech and sight used to live. The wires are the multitude of repairs. Dense on one side, simpler on the other. Different injuries get patched differently and you do not always get to choose the medic.

That figure is still standing. Broken. Healing.

Students from Shabazz City High School, Innovative High School, and Madison Country Day School have been busy designing and creating a variety of projects while learning real world skills.

Madison Schools - MMSD Madison Country Day School

Dave Haldiman describes his recent project, "A recently finished candle holder made from a cherry branch with some burl on it, a couple of cherry off-cuts, and lime Jello. Okay, the Jello part isn’t true."

Gail Leinweber recently took a fused glass pendant class. She is having fun and made these beauties. She turned some of her pendants into earrings.

The Bodgery has partnered with Shabazz High School for a while now and most recently the students built a boat!

Shabazz high schoolers build rowboat from scratch MADISON, Wis. — Shabazz students are learning woodworking, problem-solving and design skills by building a boat through a hands-on class connected to rocks, rivers and ropes.

Hayden Elza made this great chair. He reused some Cedar 4 x 4s he had from a previous project. He used a 1950's pattern, but to make the chair project easier, he imported the pattern into CAD so he could cut hardboard templates on the laser cutter.

Cid Freitag made this remarkable CNC topographic map of the local four lakes area. The map was made using lake boundaries from the early surveys done in the 1830s so they look a bit different than now.

Pete B made this gorgeous round coffee table from Walnut.

[email protected]

This is the first woodworking project that Fred Turkington completed at the Bodgery. He made it from 5/4 Hard Maple purchased at Capital Hardwood. It is a clone of another piece he already owned and he uses the one he made to store dog treats near his back door.

Rosa Hernandez and Aiden Brumsickle collaborated to make glass beads for this lovely necklace. The glass beads were combined with some wooden beads they had on hand. Aidan strung the necklace (his first time doing so) and gifted the necklace to his mother.