Knoxville — With wooden beads, handmade paper, and monopoly houses scattered across his kitchen counter, Bruce Bunting spends his afternoons in a constant state of creativity.
Bunting used to spend his time working as a mechanical engineer in the automotive field before retiring.
"When I was retired, I had a lot more time and a lot more ambition. Also, classic story, somebody retires and then gets sick. Well, I retired and six months later, I got throat cancer," Bunting said with his voice straining; a side effect, he said, of the radiation.
"So, I went through four years of treatment and recovery. The art really helped me express myself, keep active, and things. So, that was really a motivating factor," Bunting said.
"I like process. Putting things together, production-type decisions. I can figure out how to make something, so it doesn't fall apart. And, I don't mind if the screws or nails show. I'm not trying to make fine art. I'm trying to make functional, expressive art," Bunting said.
His latest and largest expression of art is on display at the Emporium for the month of June. He calls it, "the alphabet series." It features 26 distinctive works of art depicting every letter of the alphabet.
Although Bunting says, he'd love to sell his pieces, he also enjoys giving them away to charitable organizations like those that helped him through his cancer treatment.