Rockford sculptor Michael Zant, artist and poet Tré, and Rockford poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg will present SECOND NATURE: Salvaged Metal Sculpture & Haiku at Rockford Art Deli during Fall ArtScene, October 2–3, 2026.
SECOND NATURE brings together Zant’s salvaged-metal animal sculptures and original haiku by Tré and Vaultonburg. Created from reclaimed and repurposed materials, each sculpture will be accompanied by two poems—one written by each poet in response to the animal it depicts.
The exhibition celebrates the wild lives around us, the possibilities hidden in discarded materials, and the idea that everything deserves a second nature. Zant’s weathered metal animals are joined by the compressed observations of haiku, allowing sculpture and poetry to approach the same creature from different directions.
The presentation will remain deliberately simple. Each poem will be printed in black Garamond on cream paper and mounted on a small pale wood tile placed beside the sculpture. The repeated combination of salvaged metal, unfinished wood, cream paper, and black type allows the poems to become part of the exhibition without altering or competing with Zant’s sculptures.
SECOND NATURE is also a benefit for Wild Roots, a Rockford-area organization working to preserve and promote the region’s native prairie. Ten dollars from every copy of Vaultonburg’s 2026 haiku collection, Vanished Roads, sold at Rockford Art Deli during the exhibition will be donated to Wild Roots.
Vaultonburg is the founder of Rockford’s Zombie Logic Press and co-founder of Wolf Twin Books with Tré. His recent haiku have appeared in journals in the United States, Canada, England, Wales, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Tré created the cover and interior illustrations for Vanished Roads and is now contributing original haiku to SECOND NATURE.
SECOND NATURE: Salvaged Metal SculptureMetal Sculpture & Haiku
Michael Z Zant + Tré + + Thomas L L. Vault Vaultonburg
Rockford Art Deli
402 East State Street, Rockford, Illinois
October 2–3, 2026
5–9 p.m. both evenings
Free admission
A benefit for for Wild Roots
