It’s been about two years since my father, Raymond Berger, passed away. It’s been a lot of work fixing up and organizing my father’;s shop and preparing to begin my own journey into pursuing metal sculpture as my new occupation.

While I have been doing metal sculpture my whole life, it hasn’t been my primary vocation. My primary job is running a martial arts and fitness facility called Baltimore Martial Arts Academy. Operating a martial arts school with over 12 employees takes a lot of responsibility and at age 51 I’m ready for a new challenge. 

Before my father passed away i promised him that I was going to revive the shop and carry on  the Raymond Berger Metal Sculpture name.  My father never asked me to do this, I did this of my own own volition and it was something brewing inside me for the past couple of years. The picture above is my first attempt at making one of my father’s classic and very popular designs called the kaleidoscope.

The kaleidoscope is an amazing metal wall art design that captures light from any angle and from any light source. It is made of steel rods and reflective metals like chrome, copper, brass, aluminum, stainless steel and other materials. I have injected my own creativity on this design by introducing new materials and color schemes and even had my Danyelle come to the shop to offer her own arrangement.

The Kaleidoscope is a very intricate design that involves dozen of detailed fabrication procedures. Below are just a few pics that show some of the steps.

Raymond Berger was an engineer before he was a metal sculpture. As a result, everything he made was made to exact specifications and was built to last forever. Every design he made, including the kaleidoscope, could be replicated and was unpartalled by other sculptors that tried to copy him.

Check out my next blog to see the finished product and an example of a 6 part kaleidoscope hanging on a wall.