Tree of Life and a Halloween party

The work continues on the Tree of Life commission.

I spent the first couple days of the week figuring out how to attach the Dove to the Tree. This is a full scale clay model of the Dove, which will be carved from Colorado Yule Marble. There is a cluster of leaves that was custom fitted to the back of the Dove, and 2 branches that make a cross brace to hold the Dove securely.

I have begun the process of cutting leaf clusters from the branches with a sawz-all. I number the clusters on a photo of the Tree (in red ink in the lower right hand corner), and number the clusters as well, so that it will come back together correctly at the foundry.

I also use a register mark, to make sure that the cluster is properly oriented, when it is welded back together.

The rest of the week was spent cleaning up the clay work on the leaf clusters. This will continue all through next week, as well.

Saturday night, we were invited to a Halloween party at the home of Steve McMillen and Alice Kimble.

Peewee Herman was our host.

Dorothy and Scarecrow from the merry ol' land of Oz.

If you think your head hurts now...wait till the morning.

Lizard Boy and zombie dog have a tussle.

Two leather-clad rockers and a pumpkin.

A zombie and a Viking.

The trick is to know when to quit.

Cat girl...and in the background Peewee and something that's been dead for a while.

Gandalf brought fireworks to the party.

Whoosh! Lift off from the end of a wizard's staff.

A fiery Angel. (photos by Meg White)

Dove for Tree of Life and a fountain

Work continues on the Tree of Life commission.

This is how the Tree of Life looked on Sunday, the 25th (the last posting).

This is how the Tree looked today. I worked on the outline, so that it would match the original rendition more closely. Then, I improved the branches and leaves (for about 3 days straight - and there is still lots of work to go).

This was the original design for the Dove. I had received feedback from various sources that it needed improving.

I came up with this design last Monday.

Today, I began to make a full scale clay of the Dove. I started by making a 10" x 12" image in photoshop. Then, I trimmed it into 3 images that would fit onto regular 8-1/2" x 11" paper. I cut and taped them together, and that gave me a full scale drawing.

I cut the outline of the paper Dove and traced it onto a stiff piece of poster board. I used an exacto knife to cut the poster board just a little bit smaller than the outline.

I started packing clay over this poster board armature.

This is how the dove looked at the end of the day. It is beginning to shape up like I want, although it will take me another day or so to refine the forms. It's starting to shape up nicely.

On June 28, I started to set up a fountain. I laid a bed of sand, leveled a section of cement board and put down a butyl rubber liner before starting to install the stone elements. I got side-tracked with other commissions and had to leave it unfinished for a long time.

There was some architectural salvage along the front of the studio building. They were causing rain water to back into the building, and they had to be moved. Over the 20 years that I've had these antique stone pieces, I've moved them 6 to 8 times. I thought that maybe this should be about the last time to move them. I decided to use them as the border for the forgotten fountain.

This is how the fountain looks, at this point. There are still some improvements that I want to make, but it will have to wait.

However, it is working, and it is right outside the break room window. The sound of falling water is great!

Refining Leaves and Branches

Work continues on the Tree of Life commission.

This is how the sculpture looked at the end of last week.

This is how it looks at the end of this week. It is hard to tell the difference at a glance. As the sculpture gets refined, the gains will be ever more subtle.

This is how the clay looked when it was roughly applied over the armature.

The work this week focused on making improvements to the branches and leaves. The forms were refined and texture applied to the entire surface.

About mid week, I had a visit from Steve McMillen, who is a biologist for the State of Kentucky. Steve, Meg and myself gathered leaves from around the studio and discussed the attributes of real leaves and possible treatments of the clay leaves.

Thursday, I did some consulting work for Ted Rosky (right side of the photograph), who wanted to install a recently acquired 4,400 lb. Jade Tiger sculpture. Ted Rosky owns the original stone "Ely" (in foreground) that is one of Meg's best stone sculptures.

A few feet over from Meg's elephant is this detail 'fragment' of Frederick Hart's "Ex Nihilo". The complete sculpture of "Ex Nihilo" is on the western facade of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. and is, in my opinion, the best sculpture in the United States.

While in town, we picked up our sculptures that were in the Kaviar Gallery monument show. Meg took this photo inside Craig Kaviar's blacksmith studio.

Other news includes the fact that our studio now has indoor plumbing!

This horse drawn caravan went down the road past our studio. (photos copyright Meg White)

Leaves

The main effort this week was packing clay onto the leaf armatures on the Tree of Life commission.

My original thought was to finish the branches and roots first, but I couldn't resist forming up leaves.

At this point, I've gotten into the 'groove' of making leaf pre-forms. (I'm dreaming about making leaves, while I sleep).

This is how the sculpture looked at the end of this week. All but a few leaves on the back side have been roughed in.

Friday evening, we went over to the Watertower location of the Louisville Visual Art Association.

I had promised Craig Sherman, a long-time friend and collector of my work, that I'd donate a piece to this year's art auction.

Then, it was over to Bellarmine College's art gallery to see the opening of Al Goreman and Scott Scarboro. Coincidentally, Al (who is back-to-back with his styrofoam guy) was exhibition currator at the Watertower for over 10 years. He and Scott filled the gallery space with form and color!

Saturday night, we were back in Louisville at the Bourbon's Bistro on Frankfort Avenue.

It was the 50th birthday celebration of our neighbor (and very good friend), Steve McMillen.

Steve likes coke.

Steve likes M&M's (well...anything with chocolate).

Meg and I spent most of our Saturday on this plaque for Steve and Alice's home that is on top of the cliffs behind our house. Making this plaque reaffirmed our position for not wanting to do hand lay-out and lettering. (It's not as easy as it looks, folks).
(all photos on this post copyright Meg White)

Hand Sculpture Installed at Purdue University

The main event this week was the installation of my monumental sculpture "Man and Technology" on the campus of Purdue University.

Dereck Sheroan from JBB Inc. on Hardinsburg brought their new 23 ton crane to our studio on Tuesday and loaded the sculpture onto the rented flat bed truck.

As soon as we crossed the bridge into Indiana, we found ourselves in the middle of a convoy of classic cars.

We got a lot of 'double takes' as we drove up the road with the 7 foot tall hand. But, ours was not the only strange load going up the highway that day. This is a German WWII era tank at a rest stop.

"Are we there yet?" It was a very long day before we got to Lafayette, Indiana for the night.

Early the next morning, we went to Picket Park on campus. Meg took this detail shot of one of their "Astrogummies" while we were waiting for everyone to show up. One of Purdue's alumni took seeds of Sweet Gums to the International Space Station with him. This is from one of those well-traveled seeds.

Purdue provided this crane and an operator for the installation.

I moved the truck and sculpture into position. This photo shows the Penske rental truck that we use for major installations.

While the crane was setting up, Meg snapped this well composed picture that features one of the other sculptures in the park.

I rigged up the sculpture for the lift.

On the left is Tom Eisman, a Professor of Aviation and chairman for the visual arts committee. Tom was my contact for the entire project. He put in a lot of time and effort to see it come to fruition.

This is the finished sculpture in its new home.

An alternatate view...

...and another view.

While there, I checked on "Flourish", which I installed at Purdue over 5 years ago.

Tom invited us to also check out their new Butterfield sculpture in front of the art building. In the background is a very large bronze from Spain.

Between those two sculptures is a large, temporary installation of willow and red maple saplings. I enjoyed walking through the maze of forms - an intense amount of labor went into the piece. (all photos on this post copyright Meg White)