For Bruce Larsen, every sculpture begins with exploration. His creative process starts not in a studio but in the field, searching through forgotten workshops, shipyards, and salvage yards along the Alabama coast. He looks not for perfection, but for potential. “I’m drawn to objects that already have a life behind them,” he says. “Metal that’s been used, bent, or scarred are the pieces that tell the best stories.”

His workshop in Fairhope feels like a living archive of history with piles of rusted tools, aircraft components, and industrial parts that once powered ships, cars, and planes. Many of his materials come from a remarkable local source, R.O. “Doug” Douglas, a master machinist from Theodore, Alabama, whose private collection of metals spans more than a century of engineering innovation. Within this collection are pieces from the late 1800s through the World War II era and into the Apollo space race. “Doug was a true connoisseur of metal,” Larsen explains. “When I work with his collection, I’m not just building a sculpture, I’m connecting to a lineage of craftsmanship that shaped the modern world.”

Larsen works intuitively, arranging, balancing, and welding until each piece finds its place. He rarely sketches in advance and instead builds organically, letting the materials speak. He often describes it as a dance between chaos and order, guided by instinct and experimentation. “I think of what I do as a little bit of archaeology,” he says. “I’m uncovering and preserving the last of the pre-digital, pre-robotic world. One hundred years from now, people might not even recognize these objects.”

Every weld in a Larsen sculpture carries meaning. Layers of steel and iron form the muscles of a sprinter or the wings of an eagle, symbolizing endurance and evolution. “Everything in life is recycled,” Larsen reflects. “The metal I use once belonged to someone’s work, someone’s hands. I give it another chance to live.” His sculptures remind viewers that beauty can emerge from what has been overlooked and that innovation is as much about rediscovery as it is about invention.

In 2009, Bruce Larsen was honored by the United States Sports University and its American Sport Art Museum & Archives (ASAMA) as the Sport Artist of the Year – Sculptor for his remarkable ability to express motion, strength, and emotion through reclaimed materials. His work captures the power and perseverance that define both athletes and artists, turning discarded metal into symbols of endurance and beauty.

Larsen’s piece Borzov the Sprinter has become one of ASAMA’s most iconic sculptures. Positioned at the museum’s entrance, it depicts a runner frozen in mid-stride, built entirely from welded steel and mechanical parts. “Since he first put Borzov the Sprinter out front, people have been fascinated by how he takes other people’s junk and turns it into a beautiful piece of artwork,” said Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, founder of the United States Sports University. “There are always people coming in off the street to photograph his work. They love the energy it captures.”

Through his partnership with ASAMA, Larsen’s art continues to embody the University’s mission to unite sport, education, and creativity. His sculptures stand as lasting symbols of imagination, endurance, and transformation, inspiring all who visit the campus in Daphne, Alabama.