The Understanding
Although this sculpture is now in a beautiful sculpture park, it was originally created for a home in Syracuse, NY. The space was a shelf between two rooms and was elevated to just a bit above “couch height”. Although it was visible from many angles, it was framed by the shelf and pillars proscenium style. Now unencumbered by architecture, the outdoor setting allows the viewer a more fluid experience to walk the piece.I had to work outside on this sculpture because of its size. Living in Wisconsin limited the work to “the warm months”. Little did they know that it would take me 5 years to fill their request. In that time I had to acquire tools and built carts to accommodate working on large stones.The two blocks of stone arrived at my home studio in Madison, Wi on a truck and weighed 1 ton and 1.5 tons. They were moved with a fork lift onto wheeled carts which I made; luckily my fear of them falling apart with the weight of the stone was unfounded. It was glorious when the fork lift put the stone on the cart and it didn’t collapse!
Eastside News Article (2000)
Syracuse Post Standard Article (2009)
I sculpted the stone on the 2.5 ft high carts and moved the sculpture to the shelf in the home. Thus and so the piece was always elevated until it was installed in the sculpture park. A friend of mine said “I hope you finished the top as well as you did the rest of it!”
I had a bit of the visiting artist experience while working on the piece outside in my neighborhood. It is rather a busy corner and people would stop by to look or to ask questions. A road worker decided that my backyard table would be a great place to eat lunch. He sat down with his lunch box and watched as he ate. One day he brought me a welder’s sponge to go under my full face shield mask to aid as a sweat band since it was so hot working out there in the summer. Another day I was working with a power tool and not aware of anything around me and I turned around and there were a class of students (who walk by to use the park for the ball field) were surrounding me and they had lots of questions – instant field trip I guess!
This sculpture is about a relationship. Two entities in close proximity show evidence of compromising with the other. Conflict and embrace can look similar as in the sport of wrestling.
| Completed: | 2000 |
| Dimensions: | 3’x6’x13″ |
| Materials: | Bedford Limestone of 2 different colors |
| Collection: | Donna Z. Ferne and family Installed since 2009 in: Stone Quarry Hill Art Park – New York Youtube: Art Park Setting |
