Sports stats

IL1 Buffalo Bisons

New Bisons Pitcher Has Artistic Side

July 9, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


Blake McFarland is one of the newest members of the Buffalo Bisons. He joined the Blue Jays organization in 2011 and arrives in Buffalo as a pitcher from the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

McFarland isn't only a Bisons baseball player; he is also a fantastic artist. For about five years now, McFarland has been creating and selling amazing pieces of artwork during the offseason.

Most recently he has been making sculptures out of recycled tire. The sculptures he has made so far have been of various animals, including cougars, bears, and a human torso. CLICK HERE to see a full gallery of McFarland's work.

The sculptures are made of various parts of the tire; using the different pieces adds depth and detail to each piece he creates. McFarland originally got the inspiration to work with tires from a Korean artist who does similar work.

"I saw a picture and was blown away by it. I thought to myself, I really want to try that," said McFarland.

Making the sculptures is no easy task. The largest one he made, a cougar, is the same size as a real life mountain lion.

"That one took me about a month and a half to do. But I am not working on them full time. An estimate would probably be around 80 hours total for the cougar. The smaller ones take less time."

He has also recently made pictures using wine corks. These unique images come in various designs. The images are able to vary in color because McFarland uses corks that have been used with different types of wine.

"I live pretty close to Napa Valley out in California so wine corks are easily accessible to me. I just tried to see how they would sell and give it a try."

An added bonus to McFarland using old tires and wine corks has been keeping these materials out of landfills. Part of the attraction to creating these pieces was the products being recycled and put to use in creating a great piece of artwork.

Aside from his recent venture into sculpting, McFarland has been a painter for quite some time. "I would draw in class and then my sophomore year in college is when I started painting."

After finishing his college art classes, he continued to draw and paint the scenery around him. He says he only paints scenery and really enjoys doing ocean work. The one thing that he avoids painting is people and faces.

"I really can't do people or faces at all. I am terrible at it, but anything scenery I can do pretty well."

While it doesn't look like any paintings are for sale, McFarland currently has his tire sculptures and wine cork pictures on display on his website, including some pieces available for purchase.

Check out the Buffalo Bisons Statistics



International League Stories from July 9, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central