JIM FALLS, Wis. (WEAU) - In Chippewa County, there’s one lawn that stands out from the rest, filled with dozens of sculptures made entirely of scrap metal.

George O’Malley is the artist turning one man’s trash into another man’s treasure. He made his first sculpture at just 14 years old.

“As a young fella, didn’t have any money and you had to build things out of nothing. I guess that’s where it all starts,” O’Malley said.

Originally from New York, O’Malley moved to Jim Falls 25 years ago, following in the footsteps of his father.

“This picture here was my dad’s education. He always pictured himself as the young fella and watching the blacksmith. That was many years ago. I followed in the same footsteps. My dad’s friends showed me how to build and weld things the same way that he did watching the blacksmith,” O’Malley said.

To this day, he still uses the same equipment his father did. Even though it’s 100 years old, it’s helped him create some of his favorite works of art.

“It says ‘I was somebody’ my dad’s good friend who taught me so much used to say, you know, he was a very old man and he’d say ‘I was somebody’. I’d get to thinking, and, I used to say, you still are. He’d say, O’Malley, only you would say something like that,” O’Malley said.

His eccentric lawn and unique sculptures are famous throughout the Chippewa Valley and beyond. Even inspiring a young boy with terminal cancer to use his wish from the Make A Wish Foundation to meet O’Malley.

“We spent a lot of time walking around looking at things, and when he got ready to go, he said, Mr. Old Trucks, could I come back and see you in the spring? I told him, young fella, you can come and see me any day of the week. This was a tribute to him. That really touched me,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley is fondly known as Mr. Old Trucks and Old Gear Head as he’s spent many years turning trash into treasure.

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