Tag: sculpture parks

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

I created this sculpture with the idea that it would be an entity that you could come upon outdoors unexpectedly on a walk – some kind of unfamiliar plant or other living object. Because it is large and has an organic form, it relates to you standing there. Your height, your weight, your being alongside it being there. It is a bit mysterious but not nefarious. If you do return, it is like visiting an old friend.

A Definite Presence was designed for a specific location outdoors in a wooded setting. It never got placed there, but instead it was installed at my father’s accounting office where it served as a landmark for 20 years. The urban setting had great visibility by the community, but two sides were hidden from view. It also suffered from vandalism several times.

This sculpture was carved at Bradley University (Peoria, IL) where I was studying with Nita Sunderland. I was very interested in Georgia O’Keeffe and she was a big influence.

Completed:	1981
Dimensions:	4′ x 3’x 2′
Materials:	Bedford Limestone
Location:	Josephine Sculpture Park Frankfort, KY