“I’m always looking for the surprise. I used to write poetry and my friend always would say, where’s the surprise?” Jepson said.

His studio space is unconventional, to say the least. Half of his father’s long greenhouse has become his workshop, with pieces of antique furniture lining the sides, sorted according to type. Bird sculptures of all types: cranes, hawks and owls project into the workshop from unexpected areas.

A horse made from the backs and legs from 12 chairs, leather belts and a welding glove is a piece close to Jepson’s heart. It captures the sense of movement from the horse through its mane and muscles portrayed through curved chair backs.

The simple act of looking at one object and imagining how it can be taken apart to make something startlingly familiar and different all wrapped in one is the best part of creating for Jepson.

“We see it always one way, but it can be more a bird, it can be a horse, somebody else might do this and it could be something else. It kind of wakes the dreaming child up inside that we all have. I love making the lights go on in people and I can tell that they like it too,” Jepson said.