(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Jason Jones.

I'm an artist based here in Northwest Arkansas.

And I'd love to show you my latest project.

(upbeat music) Do you know the robots originally?

I think they just chose me more than I chose them.

I painted a robot, I did a painting of a robot several years back and people really liked it or responded to it well so people request robots.

(chuckles) Whenever I get a job or whatever, they just know me as the robot guy.

And I've actually just enjoyed that.

I've developed a theme with it where I think of them as environmental pieces.

Because most technology ultimately does harm to nature so I envisioned these robots as technology that's in sync with nature or helping nature in some way.

(upbeat music) So, right now the mural is pretty much completed.

I'm in the process of painting the robot right now.

He'll be sort of all different shades of gray.

So, that's a bit of a process.

You gotta clean the metal and I gotta use a grinder and get all the rust off.

Working on installing a TV monitor inside his chest.

So, I've been teaching myself how to make little animations.

So, it really has an element of play for me, the learning part of it.

I get excited to try something new, it's just exciting for me.

So, I see it as play and just learning something, how to have another tool to create.

- In this project I got to come in and help Jason Jones build a giant robot.

What materials can we use?

Can we use things that exist?

Can we use a smaller size steel here to make it lighter so we can bend it easier?

Things like that.

Really getting into the meat of the problems.

- So, the material list is a pretty long list (chuckles) 'cause there's just so many different parts to this installation.

I'd use paint and then the robot's mostly steel.

And of course, I had to do all the mock-ups and models which I used cardboard to build this model to scale.

A lot of paper.

I also used my iPad and a program called Procreate.

I drew a lot of it out to scale especially the mural.

There's a lot of concrete I mixed.

I counted 55 bags of cement, 80-pound bags of cement, to build the foundation.

So, that was a lot of fun, too.

(chuckles) The arms are massive.

They are very heavy.

Just the hand and the forearms probably weigh close to 400 pounds.

It took three or four of us just to lift them up.

But they're very sturdy.

They're made out of steel, steel tubing and this is steel sheet metal.

But, yeah, they will totally hold your weight.

You can climb on them, jump on them.

They don't even really move.

Anytime you make public art, it's gonna be interactive if you want it to be or not to be.

(chuckles) So, yeah, we just lean heavy into that, really knowing.

Let's make it sturdy enough that they can climb on it and either there'll be buttons to push and light up.

So, yeah, that was really important.

I grew up here in Northwest Arkansas, actually just South of Fayetteville.

There's lots of bluffs and rivers and that was my inspiration.

And I was always a real shy, quiet kid so art was a great outlet for me just to entertain myself.

I didn't know those things just kind of stuck.

Probably the main word I use to describe my work is whimsical and fun.

When I was younger, I used to always get anxiety, social anxiety and that, so I make art.

That's just really fun and enjoyable to me.

Then it puts my brain into that mindset.

So, in a way, the whimsy is my meditation for being happy.

The next time you're in Bentonville, come by and visit the robot.

Maybe you can take a load off and sit in his hand.

I say, it's pretty hot, so I think I'm gonna do for the rest of the day and just chill out by the creek.

(upbeat music)