By Marcia Kuszmaul
Homer Independent Press
Clarification: The list of sculptures has been edited to note that Moose Run Metalsmiths designed the halibut hook sculpture and that Bay Welding Services fabricated it.
Whether you know it or not, the artistry of Marlon Prazen and Tarri Thurman, the husband-and- wife team of welders and fabricators known as Moose Run Metalsmiths, is all around you.
Thurman, 68 died Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at home. Prazen, 65, died a day later on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.
While much of their work is in private homes, a large body of work is in plain view. You just have to look.
You see it in the architectural details of our most frequented buildings. You see it in the free-standing icon of our town. You see it not only in the Cowles Council Chambers but also at the Homer Animal Shelter.
But most importantly, you feel it. Thousands of hands touch their polished bronze door handles, welcoming familiars and strangers alike as they come and go in our community.
The art of Thurman and Prazen remains and will persist, inspiring us to love the nature that surrounds us, the sandhill cranes that live among us and the community that sustains us.
More Moose Run Metalsmiths’ art can be seen in public around town. Once you start looking, you’ll see it everywhere.
Free-Standing Installations
Homer Public Library Fish Wall
Signs
Carl E. Wynn Nature Center
Homer Animal Shelter
Inspiration Ridge Preserve
Wasabi’s
Art and sculpture
Cowles Council Chamber, Homer City Hall
Inspiration Ridge Preserve
Halibut hook, Homer Spit (designed by Moose Run Metalsmiths with fabrication by Bay Welding Services)
Decorative Art
Entry doors, Homer Public Library
Entry doors, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Entry door and window grills, Fritz Creek General Store
The bronze crane arch and door handles at the west entrance to the Homer Public Library welcome Homer’s lifelong learners. This installation as well as the fish wall in front of the library, which Moose Run Metalsmiths fabricated, were created for the opening of the new library building at 500 Hazel Ave. in 2006 and are part of the City of Homer Municipal Art Collection. (Photo by Marcia Kuszmaul/Homer Independent Press) 
No one was posing for pictures at the iconic 14-foot aluminum circle hook at the intersection of Homer Spit Rd. and Freight Dock Rd. during the winter storm on Jan. 6, 2025. Designed by Moose Run Metalsmiths, constructed by Bay Welding Services and installed in 2015, the sculpture is part of the City of Homer Municipal Art Collection and a testament to local art and local manufacturing. (Photo by Scott Waterman/Homer Independent Press) 
On a snowy Jan. 6, 2025, the bronze fronds of Moose Run Metalsmiths’ signature bull kelp wave a warm welcome at the entrance to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge visitor center (formerly known as Islands & Oceans), an agency of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. From their first opening in 2003 at 95 Sterling Hwy., these doors have introduced thousands upon thousands of visitors to a remote Alaskan world. (Photo by Scott Waterman/Homer Independent Press) 
In a short film [https://youtu.be/8jpTEE2gQvs?si=ozrENY5ndULDOdpv] produced by Nina Faust in 2013, Tarri speaks of her love of sandhill cranes and how they became one of their favorite subjects for gates, garden art, wall art and more. She was concerned that their lawn cranes, seen here as originally installed at the Moose Run Metalsmiths workshop on East End Road, would be scarecrows and chase the cranes away, but they turned out to be decoys, attracting cranes to join their dance. (Photo by Nina Faust) 
Fortunately, Moose Run Metalsmiths’ distinctive bronze window grills survived the July 2023 fire that nearly demolished the landmark Fritz Creek General Store east of Homer on East End Road. Sean Maryott, who owned the store from January 2000 to May 2024, recalls that the grills were installed about 2006 to 2007 and the entrance door handles around 2000. (Photo by Scott Waterman/Homer Independent Press)
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