Jordan Barela/Times-Enterprise "Delta Blues Man" is one of Glenn Simmions' larger glass upon wire sculptures. Fastened on copper wire, the teeth are made from a broken porcelain plate, the face from broken bottles and the hair from a broken car windshield. 

QUITMAN — When a bottle breaks, it’s thrown away. Simple. When a bottle breaks, to Glenn Simmions, it’s materials for creating. 

Simmions, a Barney-born artist, takes discarded materials like broken bottles, copper wire, old bullet shells and wood, and creates sculptures and paintings. 

“I work with throwaway materials,” he said. “I got the idea of using throwaway materials by studying Michelangelo.” 

Discarded materials make up the facade of his work, but the foundation is built upon Simmions’ immense faith. 

Simmions’ studio space is located in the heart of downtown Quitman on Culpepper Street. 

“It’s been a real joy,” Simmions said of his creative space of three years. “All I really wanted was a place to create, a space to create.” 

Each corner and crevice is lined with his work — physical representations of his childhood and memories brought to life. 

“These ideas that I had when I was a youth, I’m actually painting these pictures,” Simmions said, noting he did not have the skill in his youth to recreate his memories.  

Simmions added ideas stem from taking “mental photographs” of everyday life. 

In his youth in the 1960s, Simmions worked in a tobacco field, saving up to buy paint supplies.  

“I did a painting for my church,” he said of his first painting. “I did my interpretation of the ‘Last Judgement.'” 

Developing his painting skills through drawing, there was another artistic avenue Simmions wanted to explore — sculpture. 

Growing up in Valdosta, Simmions remembers coming in contact with copper wire in his childhood and being entranced by the malleability of the material. 

“I never forgot that,” he said. 

Sculptures he crafts today are an amalgamation of wire and glass. The glass, crushed, mashed and squashed, is fastened onto wire — a secret method Simmions has not disclosed to anyone. 

A method he deeply researched before putting into practice.  

The use of the broken glass came in 2005. A cancer survivor and facing financial loss, Simmions said he could not afford materials. 

Clearing out his then studio, Simmions removed everything in search of materials. 

“As I looked around in my environment — bottles, bottles,” he said. 

He then started to break them. 

“I had no idea what I was doing, but the Lord was guiding me,” Simmions said. 

Glass figures, large and small, are also housed in his studio, also physical creations of memories from his youth brought to life. 

“The Lord gave me a very unique gift with glass upon wire sculpture,” Simmions said. 

For his work, Simmions said he creates in a series of 12, sculptures and paintings, which match the number of apostles in the Bible, along with representing strength and unity. 

“They feed off each other, especially the paintings,” he said. 

Matching the uniqueness of his artwork, Simmions also has a different approach when it comes to selling his work. 

There are no price tags on any of his pieces. 

Simmions said he will only talk price when he sees someone with an invested interest in a piece — and when a checkbook is pulled out. 

A talent to create from things tossed aside, Simmions believes it’s a gift from higher up. 

“It is truly a joy to work and create and learn from the greatest of all artists, and that’s our Heavenly Father,” Simmions said. 

Reporter Jordan Barela can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1826.