MOORELAND, Okla. (KFOR) – To create something where there was nothing before, that fumbling in the dark in anticipation of the first spark of inspiration, that’s where Cody Purviance lives in every spare moment.

“Every free minute I have, I’m pretty well out here,” he says of his big, metal barn

His empty void is a giant, 300-pound globe of hollow steel, a quarter-inch thick.

“They’re tank caps,” he describes, “from (oil field) pressure tanks.”

The Purviance first directive ‘let there be light’ comes from a handheld plasma cutter that does its hot job and draws at the same time.

“Exactly,” he agrees. “That’s exactly what it’s doing.”

Cody’s own father taught him the art of welding, first on two-dimensional plow disk wall hangings.

There is no longer any flat earth for him now.

His new worlds must allow for a horizon that’s always changing.

“Every act of creation involves destruction first,” said Pablo Picasso, another artist.

The world of oil rigs and tractor sheds that Purviance comes from makes it hard for him to think in quite that way.

He eventually points to the worlds he creates for people who call him up with a picture they want put on their outdoor fire pits.

His finished pieces are functional.

They provide both heat and light on cold, clear nights.

The fire within reveals his work, that thin line between destruction and creation becomes a picture anyone in Oklahoma can recognize.

To see more of Cody Purviance’s work, go to his Facebook page here.