Sculptor Jeffie Brewer discusses art at Mt. Enterprise Library

Published 1:11 pm Tuesday, July 29, 2025

MT. ENTERPRISE — East Texas artist Jeffie Brewer has spent 30 years adding pops of color to the world with his whimsical, abstract sculptures and last week he shared his artist’s story at a book talk presented by the Mount Enterprise Library.

The library’s summer adult reading program this year is called Color Our World, making Brewer and his book “Joy Machine” perfectly on theme. The book illustrates many of his sculptures, of which thousands now exist all over the country, and features essays from art historians and curators along with Brewer’s own words about his work and his process.

Brewer spoke to the 28 attendees at the library on Thursday about his personal story growing up in a junkyard in Palestine, where he first developed a skill and appreciation for working with metal, and how his world opened as he learned more about 3D art while attending Stephen F. Austin State University.

“I had a friend that ran the arboretum at SFA and she asked me to make her something. I made her a bird and somebody stole it, so I made her this big bunny that nobody could steal,” says Brewer.

Tall, human scale models made of steel or aluminum and painted in one or two vibrant colors became Brewer’s most recognizable type of piece, but he sculpts smaller ones too. They’re most often depicting abstract, friendly-looking animals but plenty more represent flowers, trees and various quirky shapes. The big ones average 10 feet in height, and they can take several weeks to fashion and paint.

“I raised a kid for a year and that made me see the world a little bit differently. Like a child. And I was able to kind of let go of being a snooty artist and make fun things,” explains Brewer.

His career got a boost when he had a piece displayed at the Poydras Corridor in front of the Superdome in New Orleans, garnering a great deal of press and boosting his career tremendously. After that his art went to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Now he has sculptures in every state, save for Montana and North and South Dakota. There are hundreds in Texas, with many in his stomping grounds of Nacogdoches and a handful in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. Most are public in galleries, community areas in cities, colleges and hotels and some go to private collectors. The furthest one of his pieces has travelled is to Tokyo.

“I’m very fortunate to make a living being an artist,” says Brewer, whose Nacogdoches studio now also features four other artists. “I probably got more attention than I should have, but I worked really hard at it.”

Brewer was a professor for about 20 years, including 13 years teaching at SFA. He was always busy making public art as a professor and six years ago he quit teaching to be an artist full time.

He hesitates to call himself famous, though he knows his distinctive cheerful and vibrant design is one that people can tell is his when they see it. Several pieces now serve as notable landmarks, like a dog sculpture in Boston and a handful marking a bike trail in Illinois.