Bruce Bitter is a longtime Hoisington resident that has made a name for himself through his art and his business. B& B Metal Arts LLC began as a part-time endeavor that has now become Bitter’s full-time gig. He is involved in every step of the process from greeting a potential customer to installing the final product. It’s hard to describe a typical day for Bitter. He could be in the office, at the shop, or on the road to a show.

Bitter attended Hoisington High School before moving on to Pittsburg State University where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, and then earned his Master’s. He started his career in process engineering in Osborne, before moving back to his hometown and working at Superior Essex.

B& B Metal Arts began as a side gig for Bitter and his brother to earn some extra income. Popularity among their products began to grow at the many craft shows and events they attended. When starting out, Bitter recalls attending 50 shows in a year when starting out, he then reduced the amount of shows to 30, and now they typically attend three shows per year. They will attend the Four State Farm Show in Pittsburg on May 17-19. Bitter will pack up his truck and bring some of his pieces to display while mingling with guests and other business owners.

B& B Metal Arts works on several types of projects ranging from household wall hangings to ornamental outdoor fixtures. “We do a little bit of everything from large sculptures to fences,” Bitter said. He goes on to say, “We do a lot of community work. We also do fabrication and work mostly with stainless steel.” No project is too small or too large for B& B Metal Arts to execute and bring to life.

B& B Metal Arts has taken on the task of creating and building a 50 foot long memorial with a height of six feet and a 12 foot tall helicopter sculpture on top of the wall. The wall will begin at two and a half feet tall and will gradually get taller as it approaches the middle of the memorial. Bitter describes this memorial as “a fabulous memorial honoring the Vietnam Veterans. This memorial will have the medal they received in the center and will be surrounded by the branches of the army.” Unlike the project at the softball complex here in Great Bend this sculpture will be three dimensional.

Another project in the works for B& B Metal Arts is a Gort statue, referencing the humanoid robot from another planet in the 1950s sci-fi movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” This project will be an eight-foot tall three dimensional metal sculpture that will go to Geneseo, which is also the UFO capital of the world.

Bitter and his brother, Brent Bitter, are the primary employees that work with metal and carry the business. He explains that he and his brother grew up working with metal on their family farm, helping their father transition to round bales for feeding livestock after he was diagnosed with cancer. They gained experience with metalworking that they later applied in their engineering and manufacturing careers. They combined their talents working with metal in their father’s old farm shop, which inspired them to start their metal art business on a part-time basis. Their interest and the demand for their metalwork grew over time, leading them to focus on it full-time. Bitter’s wife, Carrie, does most of the book keeping. “They (his kids) all have had a part in the business at some time in their life,” Bitter said.

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