Donnie Firkins’ art is loud. The tools he has worked around for years to sculpt metal and stone have affected his hearing, and the process resembles construction.

As he prepared Tuesday to put the finishing touches on his latest piece – a marble sculpture with “moving lines, flowing lines and rhythm” – he switched on an industrial fan, pulled a mask over his mouth and nose to keep out dust and stepped up on a platform with a small grinder in hand.

Before all the cutting, chiseling and grinding, the block of marble weighed 8,900 pounds, Firkins said. He estimates he used 40 to 50 tools throughout the entire process. But finishing is the hardest part.

“I don’t know why,” he said.

Maybe he prolongs the process once he knows he’s nearing the end. “It’s a relationship you have. … This is 14 months of my life.”

To him, the work he’s doing is finally quiet – serene, even.

A former force for public art, Firkins, 66, has stepped back from commissioned projects and involvement in the art community. He created the veterans memorial sculpture outside the Warren County Courthouse. He also has sculptures in Fountain Square, in U.S. Bank’s lobby on Main Avenue and at Western Kentucky University, where he earned an art degree. He also founded ArtWorks, a coalition of visual artists.

Andee Rudloff, a Bowling Green artist who considered Firkins one of her mentors, said, “Donnie was a real pied piper for this community. He just always saw art in everything, everywhere, all the time.”

She said Firkins saw her painting a mural about 20 years ago.

“He was really fascinated when I was doing that mural. I was just out of college. … He thought my approach was very much a sign painter’s approach. He was a classically trained sign painter. I would say his mentoring has been a part of my life since. … I would now consider myself a public or community artist.

“I learned a lot from Donnie about making sure a client knows what they’re getting. He has this way of explaining the process – and it really depends on what he’s going to be working with. The stone can force him to change a design somewhat, but he has a way of telling that story so that usually the person commissioning it loves it even more.”

Firkins sticks close to home now, caring for his wife who has multiple sclerosis. They live on a cul de sac, but their house – a log cabin he moved from Butler County – is set far off the road, down a slight hill on 34 wooded acres.

“This is kind of my sanctuary, and I’m selfish about it,” Firkins said. “I’m in good health. … (The work) is maybe what’s keeping me young.”

His newest piece, “5 Dances,” conveys movement and fluidity. It’s his interpretation of a dynamic yoga practice known as “5Rhythms,” which uses movement and rhythm to connect to the soul. It’s abstract – meant to connect with a viewer’s feelings more than his or her understanding.

Rudloff said, “His knowledge of stone is beyond anyone’s knowledge in this region. … He can look at a piece and tell you where the weak spots are. I don’t know how he can see the veins and fissures, but he does. Making stone appear to move is a very difficult thing. I think Donnie has a way of doing that. You almost think that what he carved continues to move.”

Firkins’ yard, where his current project stands, is littered with blocks of marble that will be used for future projects. Tools tumble out of a small shed nearby and his four cats roam around while he works. He considered building a new workshop, but didn’t like the way it felt when he framed it, so he took it down.

He relies on his feelings. The movement in his “5 Dances” is the same rhythm that moves him from piece to piece. Two or three projects surround him at all times. As he molds one, he begins creating the next one in his mind.

“I’m finding the depths of wherever this takes me. It will lead me from one sculpture to the next to the next. … It’s kind of an adventure.”

— Follow Taryn Phaneuf on Twitter at twitter.com/tarynphaneuf or visit bgdailynews.com.