Most fences are meant to keep things in or out. This one is also meant to keep things interesting.

The idea came to Rick Spruce two years ago, when the elementary school educator felt the itch for a new project. Working from home during the coronavirus pandemic felt like good timing for that. It was time for a new fence, anyway.

Spruce shared his vision with his wife, who was “leery” at first.

“It was hard to describe, though,” he said. “I just wanted something unique and that stood out.”

Spruce also wasn’t sure where he was going with it. He started with the roughly 30-foot dark wood fence along the side of his house. He cut the tops of each post to form a flowy outline resembling wavy mountaintops with the peaks getting taller as they reached his backyard.

Then came what Spruce calls “cookies” or “portals” embedded in the wood. He was initially inspired by those bubble windows for pets to see through fences, so he cut out some simple holes in the fence. Then he got more creative, which led to a circular window made out of melted-down colored pencils and covered in resin and a few three-dimensional pieces that resemble a cartoon face.

Spruce, a Colorado Springs native who has worked in education for over 20 years here, thought of what might be fun for his students or his niece and or other neighborhood kids or anyone to see while passing by through the gravel path.

He crafted a circle through the fence with a wheel that passersby can spin. There’s also a hole with silverware dangling from atop. To the left is a small wooden mallet that encourages anyone to “play” the silverware.

This part of town, known as Middle Shooks Run, sees plenty of walkers. They walk by Spruce’s house, but it takes a few more steps to take in the little pieces of the fence.

“When they’re walking down the alley back and forth, it’s not because of the route,” he said. “They want to stop and see.”

Through one circular window, they can see a colorful wooden sign reading, “Spruce Woodturning.” The backyard shop serves as headquarters for Spruce’s side business as a woodturner. He started the hobby about five years ago after his father-in-law gifted him a lathe.

“I had never used a lathe and didn’t know how to use a lathe,” Spruce said.

Then he figured out how. And he figured out how much he liked woodturning.

“It’s my time to decompress,” he said. “It’s like a meditation.”

It turned into a side hustle, as Spruce started selling bowls and other items at markets. His creations are available at a local gallery.

When he’s working on those items, he sometimes hears a greeting from the other side of the fence. It’s a “ding” of the silverware playing or a “hey” wondering what the fence is all about.

The artsy fence has added to a new chapter for this house, the one he and his wife bought 20 years ago and raised their 17-year-old daughter in.

It has become a conversation starter for Spruce, who loves community but isn’t one to strike up a conversation with strangers. He is one to go on walks checking out neighborhoods in his hometown and finding homes that have something unique about them.

“I like to call them statement pieces,” he said.

It’s what he now calls his fence.