In the Studio: A New “Heart Made From Tools”
Walla Walla, August 2025
Jim Dine with “Heart Made From Tools,” 2025
This August, Jim spent time in Walla Walla developing a new version of Heart Made From Tools. The work is a powerful testament to Jim’s ongoing dialogue between art and labor, form and function, poetry and precision.
Jim Dine, Heart Made From Tools, 2025
The piece began with a three-dimensional heart made of plaster. Around this form, Jim “drew” with wax tools, each cast from molds of real tools such as hammers, picks, and loppers, shaping, bending, and screwing them into place with rhythm and intuition. The result is a visceral sketch in space: layered, overlapping, and emotionally charged.
Jim Dine, Heart Made From Tools, 2025
Over the coming months, Blue Mountain Fine Art, Jim’s foundry, will carefully disassemble the wax version. Using the lost wax casting method, each wax tool will be transformed into bronze then welded back together in its original arrangement, forming a hollow bronze “cage” in the shape of a heart. Once the structure is complete, Jim plans to paint each tool in brightly colored enamel.
Jim Dine, Heart Made From Tools, 2025
We’re grateful to Jason Treffry for sharing these wonderful images and process notes from the studio. Stay tuned for more updates as the sculpture takes its final form.
