John Warren was invited to design and fabricate several architectural gates for client residences in San Jose del Cabo for the Oceana Property Management Company.
This gate was only designed to keep farm animals from entering the property. At the East Cape in Baja, domesticated burros, cows and horses wander free among the residential neighborhoods. These animals can devour a garden and cause other damage. It is essential to have barriers to keep out the large animals. Dogs and people can pass through without opening this gate.
This 17' gate was fabricated on-site with local materials. Steel reinforcing rod (rebar), 3" steel tube and 1/4" steel plate are the fabrication materials. The gate was built with a portable arc welder and oxyacetylene torch. Natural stones form the included 'Rockfish Sculptures' and hammers are the heads of the hammerhead sharks. As the owner of the property is a surfer, it was reasonable to show an image of a surfer (stylized) surfing upon the whaleshark.
Another Baja Gate on the same property is the Sailfish Gate. It was designed to cover an unsightly propane tank . In order to service this tank it had to be accessible from the road. The Gate opens in the center. The sail of the sailfish on this gate was a found object, a burnt automobile hood which was on a wrecked automobile on the East Cape Loop. The background of the gate is patinated galvanized sheet metal. I was unable to find any muriatic acid to create the patina, so I emptied the sulphuric acid out of several dead lead-acid batteries into an open plastic pail. One of the more dangerous trips I made was driving alone down the bumpy dirt road in a dune buggy holding the open pail partially full of sulpuric acid with one hand and shifting and steering with the other hand. Anything for the sake of 'art'.
Other forms have been represented besides fish and abstract shapes. The Iron Butterfly Gate has been a popular subject.
1/4" Steel plate has been hand-cut with oxyacetylene torch to make the butterflies. Accurate cutting requires a steady hand and well-tuned cutting torch. The local artisans in Baja California prefer to use propane for cutting steel, but it does not have as high a temperature as acetylene and subsequently produces inferior workmanship. Acetylene is available in Mexico, but due to ignorance or preferences of the local artisans, it is not commonly used. These shapes were built in my studio in California. They were not made in Baja California.
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