Considering the heavy-duty equipment Jason Lydic uses to create a menagerie of metal creatures, ranging from crawling beetles to the head of a warthog, you might snicker when he reveals his former aversion to tools of any sort. “Even in college I was scared of a screwdriver,” Lydic admits. “Now I want to buy tools and learn things. Maybe that’s what we start to do as older guys.”

Artist Jason Lydic brings creatures and plants to life in metal