A local artist has taken out the people's choice award for this year's Sculpture in the Gaol competition.
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Steve Whalley's 'Master of the Depths' incredible metal work piece caught the attention of the public during this year's online exhibition.
"I wanted to do something ocean themed and I have always been interested by sea creatures," Steve said.
Steve has worked as a welder for around 20 years, but only started creating art pieces and metal sculptures two years ago.
"I started making smaller pieces that are sold at the markets, but this is the first time I've made something of this size and scale."
The piece is made from a range of different metal objects including cutlery, wire cable, chain, transmission components, gears, a washing machine tub, sheet metal, whipper snipper parts, ball bearings, engine parts, oven racks and machine parts. All up, there were over 2000 pieces of metal used to create the sculpture.
"It took over 200 hours to make, it definitely didn't happen overnight," Steve said.
This is the first time Steve has entered the exhibition and said he is already wanting to work on a piece for next year.
"I didn't expect to win this year, but I'm very happy that people like it," he said.
"I'm thinking of some bigger pieces to work on for next year already."
South West Rocks Coastline Credit Union team leader Amanda McDonnell and coordinator of Sculpture in the Gaol Phil Nicholas presented Steve with a $1000 cheque on Wednesday afternoon.
Phil said Steve's piece was a stand out in this year's online exhibition.
"We had 20 artists and 20 works in the exhibition this year and there were some really amazing pieces, but Steve's did win the people's choice by quite a bit," he said.
This year also proved to be difficult for organisers, with the exhibition moving online due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"It did give us the chance to build our online following which was a success, but we're looking forward to holding more exhibitions in the gaol next year," Phil said.
"We're also looking at holding just a metal works exhibition as well."
For now, Steve's piece is being displayed at his home and is up for sale.
"I'm not sure where it will go yet, it is for sale, but when you put so much effort and time into something like this it makes it hard to part with it," he said.
Locals can view all of the entries in this year's exhibition on the Sculpture in the Gaol website and can also see more of Steve's work on his Instagram page @steve.wally.10.designs