Larry McCoy learned to weld in the Navy. He served in the Vietnam War, and then went on to graduate from college and become a corporate recruiter for a tech company. That was a long, secure career that ended about two years ago, when “corporate recruiter” became a much less secure job title, and McCoy was “downsized”, as he puts it. Unemployed, McCoy found himself spending whole days in his M Streets garage working on the metal art sculptures that had previously been only a hobby. “Some friends of mine bought a piece, I think out of sympathy more than anything,” he says. “But then their friends would see it and ask where they got it, and it started getting bigger and bigger.” Now McCoy stays busy making custom sculptures for courtyards, chic living rooms and offices. He recently was working on a large abstract copper piece after a couple he met at a party asked him to make something for the space over their fireplace. “I literally drew something on a cocktail napkin, and they said, ‘Let’s do it,’” he says. Depending on the size of the piece and the materials involved, his work sells for between $450 and $2,500. Even if the market for tech recruiters is stagnant right now, the market for custom-made metal sculpture is not bad so far. And even though working as an artist isn’t lucrative, and it has its unique stresses, McCoy says he can’t wait to get to his garage studio every morning. “It’s a better quality of life,” he says.
