Althoff graduate creates fountain sculpture at Bank of Belleville

The latest Belleville fountain hangs on a wall in Bank of Belleville’s lobby.

You may have noticed the shiny nine-panel aluminum piece as you headed to do business at the downtown bank.

It’s the work of artist David Newgent, 26, a 2008 Althoff graduate.

“They were looking for new art in the new bank,” said David, who creates art as a hobby. “They wanted it to be Belleville-inspired. I came up with a composition.”

Black airbrush detail enhances the fountain shape on the monochromatic ground aluminum panel. He based his design on the diamond-shaped fountain logo the bank uses on its letterhead.

“Each of the nine panels is a foot wide. They start and taper down. With multipanel pieces, I had to draw it out a bunch of times. I had my dad (Bill) help me with the design shapes on the computer. He’s good with Adobe Illustrator. ...

“It’s the biggest piece to date that I have ever done, just shy of 10 feet wide.”

But it wasn’t tough to hang.

“The nice thing about working with aluminum is that it’s lightweight.”

He has taken friends and family by to see the impressive artwork.

“I’ve gotten good feedback on social media. ... To be honest, one thing that really helps me with this medium is lighting. The way the lighting is set up is perfect. There are canisters on the ceiling close to the wall that produce a big ring of light. The three rows help the metal glow.”

Ron Stephens glows, too, when he looks at the piece he commissioned.

“It’s great. Everybody likes it,” said Ron, bank executive vice president. “We have gotten lots of compliments.”

Ron had seen David’s work at Seven Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Belleville.

“He’s a family friend,” Ron said. “We talked about it casually and I asked if he would be interested. He came in and looked at space, decor, color. He came up with a design size. We had suggested the fountain ... He came back with a mockup. We thought it looked good and gave him the OK.”

David’s day job is working as a technician at Sprengel’s Innovative Kustom, a paint shop that gives motorcycles, cars and trucks a unique look. On weekends, he’s at the shop using airbrush and car finishing techniques in his art.

“This is a hobby. Coming here on Saturdays, spending all day here, it’s a good way to relieve stress,” he said.

But it’s not his only hobby.

“I plan to travel as much as I can this summer.”

The wiry artist also likes working out, sand volleyball, snowboarding, “extreme sports in general” and riding his Harley. One day, he would like to buy and restore a classic car. That day, he was all about making art.

“I’m in the middle of a couple artistic projects,” he said, picking up a 2 1/2-foot diameter circle of metal with a Cardinal logo cut-out. He planned to paint the cardinal red. “A big part of the process is taping. It has to be perfect, all for five minutes of painting. That step is very quick. It’s the taping that takes a long time.”

The cutouts came from Derek Mayberry of Clinton County Metal Works.

“It’s a hobby of his, too,” David said. “We met at a trade show and hit it off.”

David buys aluminum panels from Shapiro Metal Works in St. Louis.

“They give them to me for a pretty good price, I might as well make something cool out of them.”

A couple of those cool pieces leaned against the paint shop wall, an area separated from a busy large work area where cars and motorcycles wait to be completed.

One of David’s pieces was composed of four blue and turquoise swirly circles panels on aluminum. He uses tricks of the trade to distort the color as he airbrushes.

“Abstract color is fun for me to do,” he said. “The color I use is bright, saturated.”

The long rectangular piece will soon be up in the dining room at Seven Sushi Bar where several are on display, and for sale. A couple hang upstairs at Seven Restaurant and Lounge.

“They don’t hang there too long,” said David. Each costs in the neighborhood of $400.

“Hanging is pretty simple,” he said. “You buy one-inch square aluminum tubing and industrial double-sided tape. This will probably have a piece of tubing that’s 2 1/2 feet. You could ask a strong man to rip it off and he couldn’t do it.”

The other is a 4 1/2-by-3-foot landscape with trees, mountains and a lake in shiny shades of gray.

“You start on the background and work forward,” he said of the landscape. “You add mountains, ground, water movement. As I am grinding the trees, I have to sketch back and forth to get the effect of limbs. If I mess up the trees, I have to do everything behind them again. The variations in each object is just from the grinding. I have 25 hours into it. There’s no color. It’s just grinded, and clearcoated to seal it.

“My boss (Jason Sprengel) is influential. I get close to the end and ask his opinion. He’s very helpful. He helps me tie up loose ends.”

Althoff art teacher Dave Woesthaus was an early influence.

“He is a big part of my inspiration. He was a great teacher. So is my boss in learning all these skills here. I met Jason after graduation from high school.”

It was a serendipitous meeting.

“He was dating my cousin when I graduated from high school. We had a graduation party. They came over. He saw my little S-10 truck I had customized. He told me to come to the shop and hang out. He asked me if I wanted a side job.”

Jason stopped by that morning while David was working.

“I brought him in and started teaching him stuff,” said Jason. “He knew I was doing cars, trucks and motorcycles. He was just hanging out more or less for a while.”

“Remember the first time you made me hold a grinder?” said David. “Now I do it all the time.”

The side job eventually became a full-time job. Along the way, David graduated from Ranken Technical College. He earned an auto body program associate’s degree in 2011 and a bachelor’s in applied business management in 2013.

“The first two years at Ranken were hands on,” he said.

He found his niche at Sprengel’s where he continues to hone both work skills and art skills.

“Being able to work for small business is cool. I do a lot of finish work, painting, auto body work, metal fabrication, refinishing. Me and Kyle (Bertsch) are versatile. I’ve watched the business grow in the last eight years. ...

“A couple years ago, he (Jason) encouraged me to try something new. My mom’s birthday was coming up. He suggested making her something.”

“He has a lot of artistic talent,” said Jason.

David found a 2-by-1-foot aluminum panel in a back room and went to work.

“It was a neat little swirly design. Mom is a big fan of orange. It was a neat panel for a first try. They hung it in their little study. My whole family has been supportive.”

His parents, Bill Newgent, a retired Fairview Heights police officer, and Jill Newgent, live in Millstadt. He has three brothers, Danny, Derik and Drew.

“I have a couple of family weddings I am in. I like to make wedding gfits out of this. I made one for my brother (Drew) and his wife (Allison). They met at Camp Ondessonk. I used the camp logo and put their names and wedding date in it. His first summer of counseling, one was the green unit; the other was blue.”

That determined the main colors in the piece.

“I was happy to do it. It’s exciting to be able to make something they can appreciate forever. That’s payment enough for me.”

To contact David or learn more about his Bare Metal Art, visit his Facebook page, www.davidnewgentart.com or on Instagram, d_newg90

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Althoff graduate creates fountain sculpture at Bank of Belleville."