City of Owensboro to Acquire Sculptures

It's official...

 ...The City of Owensboro is going to acquire a sculpture from both Meg and myself.  My sculpture (shown above) is entitled "Oberon" and it is scheduled for installation by the end of November.  Meg's sculpture, entitled "Escape", will probably be featured on her blog soon.

 This week's efforts were focused on finishing this 2 foot high Dragon Head in Indiana Limestone.

 "Why a dragon?", you ask. Because it's a symbol for powerful creative energy. 

 I find it strange how so many cultures around the world have come up with the same mythical creature.  For something that never existed, why is it showing up in the imagination of so many people in different places and different time periods?

 It can't be denied, I just had loads of fun doing this thing.  I like walking out and seeing it in the lawn.

This rough computer rendition shows potential plans for adding two wings and a tail.  I envision the Dragon as coming up out of a "dry landscape" of raked pebbles, perhaps in a vortex pattern.  Now that I see this idea translated from thought to image, I can see how it resembles a Viking long boat - or even what they call a boat burial, where stones create the outline of a boat for burial on land.  This seems to be a pattern; I create artwork that resembles that of my Celtic ancestry.  Coincidence... or racial memory?

Marble Dove and a Safe Bench

There was a huge push in August to finish the sculptures for the Yew Dell Sculpture Show, right on the heals of getting back from Meg's Alaska sculpture installation.  That knocked the wind out of us and it took a while to "get in the mood" for sculpting more stone.

 I started out lightly by creating this stylized Dove out of Brazilian Marble.

 Then, I started to have a little fun.  I made this "Safe" bench.

 ...and walking around the piece...

 ...and looking at the next view...

 ...and coming full circle around the piece.

 There's been some great weather for working outside, so I made some progress on the large hands, too.

 This comparison photo shows the progress that was made on the back.

The Safe Bench was inside and I only worked on it when it rained.  I spent a lot of mornings, in the shade, working on finishing the Comet bench (left) and Harmony (middle).  Ecliptic (right) is being planned for a dry landscape installation, similar to Japanese rock gardens.

 I've also made a scale clay model for another couple of stone elements to complete the installation.  The Japanese aesthetic has a careful relationship between 3 stone elements as the primary focus of a garden - I'm trying to emulate that consideration with the addition of a "Mars" in TN red marble and a Jupiter with moons in IN limestone.  The largest element represents the Sun on it's curved path around our galaxy.  The 3 inner planets are represented; the smallest is Mercury and the 2 that are approximately the same size are Venus and Earth.  The paths of the planets are actually curving spirals as they chase the sun around the Milky Way.  Even if you're sitting still right now, you are hurtling through space at about 230 miles every second - something to think about....

 

8th Annual Yew Dell Outdoor Sculpture Show

August 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. was the opening for the

8th Annual Yew Dell Outdoor Sculpture show.

There were 45 pieces by 15 artist...

...and I'm happy to report that the quality is

WAY UP from the previous year.

There's not a single bad piece in the show -

definitely worth checking out!

The show runs from today until October 25.

 David Caudill was the 'featured artist' this year.

 Mike McCarthy sold this sculpture at the opening.  It was also 1 of 4 'Top Picks' by the Jury. 

 Karen Terhune sold a sculpture at the opening; I don't know if it was this Texas Limestone piece "Grace #57"...

 ....or "Affectionately Your".  (Maybe she'll sell both before it's over...)

 I was happy to see a strong body of work from Owensboro native Bill Kolok.

 John McCarthy really jumped scale with "Botanical".  His 3 new sculptures were all a pleasant surprise.

 I loved Caren Cunningham's "Super Stupa".  No doubt that it will find an appreciative home.

"Offering" by David Waltz was also one of my favorites.  (I'm not sure which was the 4th sale on opening night...and it might have been this piece?).

Someone tried out my "Bubble Bench" at the opening. 

Yew Dell Load In

After coming home from Meg's sculpture installation in Alaska, we had to hit the ground running to have everything ready for the 8th Annual Yew Dell Outdoor Sculpture Show.

 On Thursday August 20, we rented a 24' diesel flat bed truck from Thrifty Truck Rental in Louisville.  It was past dark before we'd finished loading it using my crane truck.

 Early the next morning, we had a 23 ton crane from JBB show up to load the pieces that were to heavy for my truck.  We have our favorite crane operator, Derrick Sheroan, back on the controls.

 The first piece to hit the ground at Yew Dell was my life-size stone figure "Testing the Waters".

 We set a contemporary stone trough and then this "Bubble Bench".

 My "River Boat Bench" was 1 of 4 'Top Picks' by the jury.  It sold at the opening.

 "Leafy Bench" was the last of my 5 pieces to get set in the gardens.

 Next, we installed Meg's "Cougar and Fawn".

 Meg's "Flight" was also 1 of 4 'Top Picks' by the jury.

...and the last piece to get installed was Meg's "Leda and the Swan".

(All photos Meg White 2015)

Granite Hand Installation

It finally quit raining long enough to allow me to install my granite hand sculpture in Cave Hill Cemetery.

 Cave Hill Monument Company had supplied the lettered base.  Here, they're drilling 2 holes for the 3/4" x 6" stainless steel pins.

 All of these pictures (except for the last one) were taken by Meg.  I watch as they clean out the holes with pressurized air.

 We did a dry run to make sure it fit exactly right.  We used Meg's crane truck for the delivery and installation.

 Then, Meg swiveled the sculpture out of the way so that Billy could apply the epoxy.

 We set the piece.  (More hands make for light work...)

 ...and this is the final monument in Cave Hill.  I enjoyed this project from beginning to end.

Meanwhile, back home...Skidoo is right on Meg's heels as she puts out goodies for the wildlife.

Alaska Day 7 - Homer and Russian River Falls

After we left Whittier, we headed south to Homer.

We got into Homer late and were lucky to get a room without reservations in July.

 On the trip down, we spotted this Moose cow right next to the road.  This was my first look at Moose in the wild (...and it was the only Moose that we saw on this trip). 

 Homer has this strange finger of land that goes out into the bay.  They call it "the spit".

 As we drove out onto the spit the next morning, this Bald Eagle kept pace with the car and then flew low right over us.

 We took a long stroll along the beach...

 ...just to see what we could find.

 As we left Homer and drove back north, we stopped at this rock shop and bought some Alaska rocks and other cool stuff.  The owner, Tom, was great to talk with - I recommend this place highly.

 Our last adventure on this trip was a 2.3 mile hike (in the rain) back to Russian River Falls.  By the time we got back there, the rain stopped and the sun came out.

 The Salmon were gathering in a pool below the falls

 Trying to get a picture of Salmon leaping up the falls is like trying to photograph falling stars - it happens too fast.  Meg got some great pictures, but this is the best I could do.  We stayed back there for a long time hoping that a Grizzly Bear would make an appearance - but no luck.

On the way back to Anchorage, we were treated to this full rainbow.  A great way to end the Alaska adventure.

 (...and, coincidently, we were treated to a full double rainbow over the studio in Kentucky when we got home.  I take my omens where I find them...)