Local artist Ed Wilson—known widely for his Heights Blvd. esplanade installation of a paper airplane made from steel—creates three-dimensional objects and landscapes for his latest exhibition, Stories in Steel.

The show, which goes on display this Friday in the lobby of the Heritage Plaza downtown, includes several large-scale works that play with perspective. There will be a mix of older and relatively new creations, which, according to the artist, can take anywhere from two days to two years to complete, depending on size, complexity, and whether they involves a lot of casts and molds.

For the artist, it’s the pliability of steel that's always attracted him. “You can make almost anything out of it. You can make strong lines go through space almost effortlessly,” says Wilson, who moved to Houston in 1981 for grad school and set up shop as a working artist.

Keeping up with his somewhat unconventional approach to art-making, Wilson applies a patina instead of paint to the surface of the metal he works with, oxidizing it to create an incredible range of colors. “It’s not always obvious on the first look, and some you may never figure it out,” says Wilson. “There’s a story behind it.”

Stories in Steel, presented by Arts Brookfield, runs July 10 to November 19 in the lobby of Heritage Plaza at 1111 Bagby St. downtown.