Lawrence artist Nick Schmiedeler is pictured with his most recent sculpture, which he refers to as the

It’s ironic, Nick Schmiedeler says, that the old Packard junkyard on 1106 Rhode Island Street didn’t produce enough junk for the metal sculpture he just completed at the site.

“I used some things from here, but I had to dig into some of my own treasurers,” said Schmiedeler, a Lawrence artist known for works that prove one man’s junk is another man’s palette.

With two gleaming white restored buildings now gracing the large lot at the corner of 11th and Rhode Island streets, there’s nothing to indicate that the city of Lawrence was preparing to take action to get the long-neglected lot cleaned up just four years ago. At that time, 15 antique Packard automobiles filled the yard as tightly as an Allen Fieldhouse parking lot on game day. East and south of the cars, the home Rhody Delahunty built in 1868 and horse barn and truck garage he and his sons built for their hauling and storage business were slowly decaying.

With the restoration, most of the junk that cluttered those buildings and the yard was removed, including the cars that later property owner Raymond Barland parked at the site in 1965 when his downtown Lawrence Packard dealership closed, said Mike Myers, a partner in 1106 Rhode Island LLC, which owns the restored complex. Myers said there was still a little of that history for Schmiedeler to incorporate into the piece.

One surviving artifact, a sign post, provides the 90-degree hinge for the two sections of the sculpture at the corner location. Myers and Schmiedeler say they don’t know if the post dates to the Delahunty or Barland era. Schmiedeler leans toward the older origin, noting the noticeable bend it developed from years of sign bearing.

Not among the junk found on the site are the two Packard hubcaps that are part of one of the work’s kinetic elements and pay homage to the site’s past. In a way, though, their availability for the project traces to the property’s history.

Before the junk was cleared off the lot, Schmiedeler said, he had read about the site. He went to the lot once and peeked over the tall fence for a closer look.

“That’s when I became interested in Packards,” he said. “I started collecting Packard parts whenever I could find them. The hubcaps were mine. I thought they would be a nice complement to what used to be there.”

His creative process is to work from spontaneous inspiration as he as completes a sculpture, Schmiedeler said.

“I told Mike I’d like to ad lib the piece,” he said. “I kind of gave him a roundabout of what I planned. Mike said, ‘Go for it.’ I had a blast.”

Although he did add a few more parts than he originally intended, he attempted to stay restrained and not let the work get too busy, Schmiedeler said.

Among the found objects in the piece are sections of street sweeper drums, which add to its unifying motif of circular objects and sport brushes that add a dash of color to the overall red-rust patina. There are also anodes from water heaters, chains from various industrial applications, a piston, gears, sprockets, a tractor wheel and objects Schmiedeler can’t identify. One of those, a golden orb, is mounted to spin.

“I honestly don’t know what it originally came from,” he said.

Schmiedeler and Myers are happy with the finished work, agreeing its mostly rusty iron appearance contrasts and complements the restored buildings. It is both modern and evocative of the site’s history, Myers said.

As an artist, Schmiedeler said he appreciates the visibility his work will have on the busy corner near the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

“A lot of people talked to me while I was working on it,” he said. “Eleventh is a pretty busy road. All the police officers will see it every day.”