Uncommon Art: Josh Brooks 

Artist Josh Brooks 

Josh Brooks didn’t go looking for artistic acclaim. Instead, it walked right into his Edmond shop when a representative of Uncommon Ground, Edmond’s upcoming sculpture park, asked for his collaboration. 

“We started talking about projects for the park, and I was given the freedom to develop an idea for 12 sculptures in total,” Josh said, explaining that the steel sculptures are not a far departure from the work he’s been doing for 12 years at Precision Automotive Development. 

After graduating from Oklahoma Christian University with a degree in business and art, Josh opened the shop best known as “The PAD OKC.” There, he and his team produce top-tier automotive welding and fabrication, sought by local car legends like the 405 Guys and featured on shows like the Discovery Channel’s “Street Outlaws.” 

“It was a pretty natural transition from the artistic work we do on cars to the artistry required for these sculptures,” Josh said. “It might not be what most people would automatically consider ‘art,’ but the visual component of cars is huge. Our work turns functionality into art.” 

“For this project, I had a couple of reference pictures to start from. But for the actual build process I worked directly on the sculptures,” Josh said of the creative process. And since the sculptures needed to be installed in dry ponds, his timeline was short. “It took a little over a month to complete all 12 sculptures while running my fabrication shop full time.” 

Future visitors can look for Josh’s work, “The Water Dancers.” The twelve colorful humanoid shapes, ranging from seven to 12 feet tall, will appear to dance across Uncommon Ground’s three water features. Six are made of plate steel, six from tube steel, and all are built to last generations. 

“These 12 sculptures started with raw sticks of plate, bar, and tube steel,” Josh explained. “They were then cut into appropriate sizes and hand fit into each other with various hand tools and then welded. Next there was a lot of grinding, sanding, and polishing to get a smooth, clean finish for primer and paint.” 

Uncommon Ground Sculpture Park Executive Director Melissa Pepper expressed her excitement about Josh’s contribution: “Josh is a true Renaissance man. His pipe and steel sculptures are not only visually striking, but they also reflect the virtues of art, work, and play.” 

“I love Edmond and so being able to contribute these creations back to the city is an honor,” Josh said. “And of course, it’s cool to think that 20 years from now I can take my kids and grandkids and say, ‘Yeah, daddy built those back in the day.’” 

Though Josh never expected his passion for art and his profession to intersect in this way, he welcomes the opportunity and all that could follow. “Maybe I could have already put more art pieces into the world if I’d tried,” he reflected. “But I like to believe things in life happen when and how they are supposed to. So I’m excited to see where this might lead.” 

Uncommon Ground is set to open in the fall of 2026. Until then, car connoisseurs and art lovers can follow Josh’s work on Instagram @ThePadOKC or online at thepadokc.com

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