The Art of Angela Rueger

Welcome to

All Things Piano

​

This adventure began in 2009, when my daughter and I visited an art gallery in Sanford, Florida. There we came across a figurine of Don Quixote mounted on his "faithful steed" Rocinante. The figurine was made of piano parts, and I found it quite intriguing. My daughter and I walked around the gallery, admiring the many unique exhibits, then we loaded back into the car to continue our trip.

​

I didn't think about Don Quixote again until the following year, when I became the unexpected owner of a beautiful old piano that was destined for the landfill. Right away I knew that I wanted to make things from the pieces of this piano, and that's exactly what I did.

​

It took four years to exhaust the pieces harvested from that first piano, but I had gained a reputation among my friends, and they began telling me about other old pianos that needed a good home. I also searched classifieds for free pianos, (bought one for a special commissioned project), and before long, I had seven more pianos---in whole or in part---at my disposal. I rented a storage unit to house the pianos, and my son helped me with the heavy work of stripping them down so we could get the frame off the soundboard. In return, he got a cup of Wawa coffee every day that he worked for me, plus he got the scrap metal for recycling.

​

In 2016, we finally got to build the shed my husband had been waiting for, and we moved his things into the shed and brought my piano parts home to the garage. Let me back up and tell you that my husband had requested a job transfer to South Carolina, and for three years we waited for something to happen. We finally accepted that perhaps God wanted us to stay where we were in Chesapeake, Virginia, and so we built the shed. On the very day that I moved out of the storage unit, my husband got his transfer! We believe God was just waiting for us to be content to stay in Virginia before we were ready to move on. Incidentally, we did not move to South Carolina---we moved to Milton, Florida! That's a story for another day....

 

Over the past several years, I've done some research into this field of piano art. Some of my research involves study, learning how to work with reclaimed wood, what tools to buy, and so forth. But I've also looked online to see what other artists are doing. To be sure, we who make art from pianos are few, but obviously I wasn't the first, as someone else's work inspired me in the first place. I've seen some things I'd like to duplicate, but thus far everything I've made has been of my own design... and perhaps I'll keep it that way. After all, I like being original.

​

On this page you will see examples of everything I've made using piano parts: mixed media artwork, geometric patterns, furniture,  clocks, Christmas trees, and ornaments. Someday I plan to also make some jewelry and other furniture pieces.

​

If you see something you like that is not in our Shop, please contact me and ask about a commissioned work. I'll also customize a piece for you upon request.