Tulsa artist uses a ' cutting torch' to create

Thursday, September 16th 2004, 10:25 am

By: News On 6

When you hear about a "welder" some people picture a guy. But as News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains, put a cutting torch into the hands of a creative woman, and you get one of a kind pieces of art.

Lisa Regan is using a plasma torch to cut patterns out of a sheet of 20 gauge steel. Itâ€™s a combination of compressed air and 220 volt electricity and it's pretty effective. "Like a hot knife thru butter."

The popularity of her work is spreading. A decorative fence downtown at the Youth Services of Tulsa. Over in Brookside at the Library her little garden deva's dance along the wall in the children's area. "Deva is a Hindu word which means happy spirit." And that's the name of her company the Garden Deva Sculpture Company.

She was working in sales for a company that made printing equipment and she began cutting figures out of metal as a tension reliever, then she took some to a neighborhood festival. â€œI took ten pieces, sold them all. I said I like that, I went back and made some more." That was in 1991. For a while, it was just a hobby. In 1996 she started full time and she has never looked back.

Regan goes to about 15 shows around the country every year. "My clients are hippies with disposable income, people that like to garden."

She buys scrap metal and gives it a new home, and a new life. At Luxy over in Brookside, she created the display tables and the logo. Down the street, at Gills she created a wall sculpture. The little designs cut into each piece she calls sacred geometry.

The Garden Diva Sculpture Company is having an open studio party next month on the 22d and 23d. You can come by watch them work; there will be food and music to go along with it.