Larger Sculptures  In Situ

Sometimes I have the opportunity to design and create a work for someone's property or a business which is life sized or a large scaled caricature. These can be made from bare non-ferrous wire, which will patina over time or from plastic coated colored wire, which results in a cartoonish appearance. Bare wired work is more elegant and attractive to the average person, but colored wire pieces can be fun and folks sometimes burst out laughing when they see it, which I enjoy. Prior to the era of digital photos, I made a giant snapping turtle for the edge of a pond on an estate. Below are some other examples. One is a young moose I hauled to Ohio and installed in 2010 and a baby giraffe and elephant made for a preschool in 1998.

Community Outreach

For several years I participated in an "Art Night" held at a neighborhood school. I displayed some of my work and tried to assist the kids in making their own sculptures. My friend Janice taught art there  and she recently retired. I was reminded at these events how difficult it is to describe or explain the process by which an artist manages to execute their work(s). There are hours of trial and error, random insights, learned eye-hand coordination and patterns of execution which result in the slow establishment of a style which is recognizable.

One day, downtown, I was sitting on a bench working on a piece. A woman from Germany approached me and asked if my work was on the walls of a bakery. I affirmed her observation of the similarity. She then stated, "I don't like your art, but I respect it". I smiled and thanked her, because this was a compliment I had never received. It rewarded the risk that artists of all kinds take when they share their work with the world.

Additive Assembly of Identical Components

Some of my pieces are built by connecting a series of duplicate parts to form a whole. I often receive odd materials from friends and family; neighbors leave resources on our front porch. These are apt challenges to my creativity. I used discarded aluminum playground rings as the vertebrae for a large snake. I also used copper rings to fabricate a rain chain. Several centipedes assembled using this method were sold to a woman with an affinity for these multi-limbed creatures. One included 20 large drapery rings and the other a series of tie racks laid end to end. The photo example I will include with this post was built with blocks from a miniature masonry toy set my sister-in-law was giving away. This Frankenstein like figurine is connected with 22 gauge jewelry wire. A ruler has been provided to facilitate an appreciation of the scale of the "bricks" in its composition.

Found Objects

Many of my pieces include found objects within other media. However, some are almost entirely made up of these seemingly random parts of the man-made world. The example I will use to illustrate this genre of my work is an angel which was made primarily of wood parts. The elements included dowels. part of a banister, pins and pieces from a Carrom game, a cross and Star of David, "hand" drink stirrers, a 1950's nut tray, Christmas ornaments and a music rest from a piano. It was sold on the same day it was put on display in a neighborhood bakery.

 Archangel Gabriel

Brass Assemblage

Using discarded parts, I assemble brass figurines, flowers and members of the animal kingdom. The parts are from locks: doors, lamp parts, vintage kitchenware, antique plumbing and gasline fixtures. These are mechanically fastened with brass nuts, bolts and washers using a liquid which "locks" the connections. While it takes a degree of imagination to arrange the disparate components, the sheer variety of shapes of objects from these trades lends itself to this endeavor. Laying out scores of pieces, I visualize myself as a master chef with limitless ingredients available.

Assassin Bug

Man Stopping Traffic

Art as Therapy

Art is both expressive and projective. It enables us to convey echoes of our inner selves, with potentially enlightening results. For three decades, I have used drawings with clients of all ages. An example is a sketch of a house, a tree and a person made by the individual and then interpreted by a clinician. My brother Mike, a school psychologist, aided me in honing the use of this diagnostic tool. Art can also be transformative. About twenty years ago, my friend and colleague Laura showed me how to use oven-baked clay to make sculptures with therapy groups. Self-portraits are hand built by the members as a process of  healing and empowerment. I will post the sculpture I made of myself during one of the sessions we conducted with teens.

Stef

Fun Car-top Sculptures

For the amusement of myself, friends and the general public,  I create animal sculptures to mount on the roof of my car. The "skin" or "scales" of these pieces have included media as diverse as gutter screen, jute, wire and used hard-drives. The works are surprisingly sturdy and are fastened securely enough for interstate highway driving. A medium-sized moose  which I will cover in a future post was delivered to Cleveland from our home in Ann Arbor in this manner. Below are a polar bear and a gorilla (which currently reside in and on top of the garage).