Randolph Dunn stands with his sculpture entitled "The Tree of Life." The sculpture memorializes Ann Arbor-area native David Marsden, who died in a bicycle accident in Virginia in 2005. The sculpture will also act as a bicycle rack to hold 12 bicycles. Randolph Dunn has been welding metals for more than 30 years. He can make every type of weld on just about any type of metal.

About 18 years ago, Mr. Dunn started welding scraps together, making small artistic sculptures. Today, he works on much larger projects at his Cedarville workshop and gallery, Dunn-Hill Iron Works Art Gallery. His projects are often functional as well as artistic.

"I worked my way up through little projects onto bigger ones," he said. "I've always had sort of the knack, or the creativity part, to be able to think of something, mentally design it, and then make it."

Making custom hand railings and chandeliers are two of Mr. Dunn's specialties.

About two weeks ago, Mr. Dunn completed his latest project, called "The Tree of Life," which was commissioned by an Ann Arbor area high school.

The Greenhills School class of 1987 decided to honor the memory of a former classmate by commissioning Mr. Dunn's sculpture and donating it to the school as a gift for their 20-year reunion.

"The Tree of Life" is an allstainless steel sculpture with a six-foot, circular base and three 14-foot trunks standing up out of it. At the top, a series of small branches with leaves spread to a 12-foot diameter. Each leaf features one of 11 cut-out designs of something people remember about former classmate David Marsden, including hiking boots, a bicycle, a family, a movie reel, the Detroit Red Wings logo, the University of Michigan "M" logo, a hockey stick and puck, a cancer ribbon, a palm tree, downhill skis, and quotation marks. Mr. Marsden enjoyed memorizing movie quotes.

The tree trunks represent life, the limbs represent family, and the leaves represent life's passions, said Mr. Dunn, who worked on the sculpture for two and a half months. The sculpture will double as a functional rack to hold up to 12 bicycles.

He became aware of the project through a friend, local glassblower Rick Shapero, who knows David Marsden's father, K. G. Marsden, a Paradise summer resident.

David Marsden, originally from the Ann Arbor area, died in August 2005 in a bicycle accident near his home in Vienna, Virginia.

The family knew Mr. Marsden was familiar with and enjoyed Mr. Dunn's artwork, said Lyn Drennan, director of Alumni Relations for Greenhills Schools.

Mr. Dunn had to build the sculpture outside his workshop on West Dunn-Hill Road because it was too tall to build inside. He built makeshift walls out of old billboards he got from the Tourist Association and draped a blue tarp over the top to act as a roof.

He said he had proposed the same sculpture idea to the City of Cheboygan several years ago for a park sculpture, but the city decided against purchasing it.

Mr. Dunn hauled the sculpture to Ann Arbor Wednesday, October 29, on a trailer. Once there, he planned to anchor it to the ground and make several final welds to secure the trunks and branches in place.

The entire project, including material, installation, and labor, cost the Greenhills Class of 1987 $12,000, which was paid through fundraising.

"It's just been a whole lot of work, a lot more than I anticipated," he said. "That's the art. The artist part has been more the job from the heart; the design, the desire to accomplish it, to make a functional piece. It's a challenge, and I enjoy the challenge."