More on a foundry visit

While at the foundry and making sure Lucas was going together correctly I had this picture taken of the two of us. He is still all glowing from the raw metal. Soon he will be ready to patina and to go home.

The winners of a student art show that I judged

I am very involved in Culture shapers. It is an organization that has been put together by some of the businesses around Houston. They award very wonderful cash prizes to art students. I have judged in Culture Shapers since the beginning 7 years ago and love it. The prizes are pretty hefty $5,000 being the top prize. I judged over a month ago and the banquet was last night. Students and their parents were fluttering around wondering who had one what. Here are some of the pictures I took of the some of the winners in my sculpture category. I always tell the students that judging is subjective. What one judge may put as number one or move up, another might not. If you did not make it into the top 10 of culture Shapers, don’t be disheartened. Try again, maybe another contest, another area, but most of all keep creating!

The first picture is of of Sheri Balsara, the first place winner. You can't really see her wonderful piece, but I have a link to the first place sculpture below.


Daphne Dodd', second place winner also had a wonderful piece.

Christopher Rahlwes piece made me sick. Seriously. To be around it caused an emotional reaction, and that is just what he wanted to do. I have been studying emotion and art and I saw this piece at a prime moment. It is difficult to see, but he creted it with socks and coffee, it looks like snkes and depicts the horrors of Cthulhu. Great job, terrific emotion. I can't help but wonder if he brings that type of emotion in all of his pieces.

To see all of the sculpture winners http://www.cultureshapers.com/visual-arts/sculpture-winners-06.php
First place piece http://www.ratemycultureshapersentry.com/index.php/main/photo/show?id=2378574
Christopher Rahlwes piece http://www.ratemycultureshapersentry.com/index.php/main/photo/show?id=2378576

What I would change about Culture Shapers or my wish list.
A. The student work must show. I would love to see all of the winning pieces hang in a gallery for a while.

B. I would love to see a judges night, where the judges could display their work- real professional artists, and students could come and view it. A panel of judges would also be available for a question and answer period. ( this is important to encourage and motivate the students and to give them more exposure to the real thing)

C. There are a few things I would change about the judging, but I’m working on that

Another Newsboy to be created

Many times when I create a sculpture I reserve the rights to pour additional castings of the sculpture. That is the case with the newsboy. I had a client that contacted me and asked if they could purchase the sculpture and could I change the newspaper.

I think the idea is marvelous. Each newsboy with the headline and masthead of the newspaper that is pertinent to their history. I am sorry I can not reveal the purchaser or the headline, though it is fascinating. The sculpture is a being created as a gift for someone who used to work in the publishing industry. Just in case that person happens to be surfing the net and finds my litte obscure blog, I'll hold off on the details until the gift is presented. I am thrilled that another newsboy is being cast. It is at the foundry now.

If anyone is interested in one of the life size newsboy sculptures, the price, at this date is $20,000. If you would like the newspaper changed to fit your headline and masthead there is an additional $2,000 charge. To do this I hand carve each of the papers, and there are many. There is one in the newsboys hand, one under his other arm, and several on the ground. My client sent me a copy of the newspaper that they wanted to produce and I created a mock up to show them what it would look like. OF couse we can't put all of the copy, there is greeking or scribbles where the body copy is. There is however the masthead, the headline and the look of their paper.

I also won't change the back of the paper. The copy reads "in memory of Skinney and others" If you are interested in the history and the hidden meaning behind the back page of the newspaper check out this part of the journal http://www.creativesculpture.com/texaspress_aug27.html, and then read the link to the death of a newsboy.

The newsboy placed

A couple of months ago my husband and I were in Austin, Texas for a wedding. While there I had the opportunity to see my sculpture of the newsboy that was installed at the Texas Press Association. It was created to be placed at the capitol grounds in Austin, however it must go through legislation to do so. Until it is passed it will reside at the Texas Press Association building. You can read about the process of this commission at http://www.creativesculpture.com/texaspress.html.

The Texas Press Messenger covered the story of its placement http://www.texaspress.com/messenger/may06/newsboy0506.htm

Lucas is flying like batman!

I love it when the foundry calls and says that a sculpture is ready for completion and can ship home to its rightful owner. I especially love it when it is a posthumous sculpture. I have worked for months trying to find and get to know my subject. Once found the sculpture must go through the bronze process. This means that the work that I labored on and enjoyed for so many months is now cut into pieces. When those pieces finally come back together in bronze and I see it, it feels like seeing an old friend.



Today I went to the foundry to look at Lucas. I still need to go back in the next week for one final look over. The foundry is checking out all of the final details. We decided that this sculpture should have a base, especially because the client wants to put it in their home. Though it would be best if they secured it to their floor just to be sure that Lucas does not "run" into anyone. The base is created and engineered to accommodate the weight of the sculpture, the cape and the action of the piece.



A bar was welded on the back of Lucas so that he could be hoisted in the air. It will be cut off after the foundry is done with the sculpture. Miguel takes a piece of wood cut in a shape for the base and shows me what that same piece, created in metal will look like. As he hoists Lucas in the air, I can't help but think, "he really is flying like batman!" I know it is strange but I can feel Lucas with me when we are at the foundry looking at the piece. I took a wax replica of that wooden piece back to my studio to put a sort of grass texture on it. Now that will be cast and everything will be welded together.

Introducing Dick Hathaway

Another project that I have in my studio right now is of Professor Richard Hathaway. He was a teacher at vermont College Union institute, and Goddard College. He passed away not long ago. I am working on a sculpture of him to be placed outside the green on the Vermont College Campus. The keeper of the Dick Hathaway sculpture is officially the T.W. Woods Gallery. They are also helping to raise some of the money that is needed for the casting of this sculpture.

My apprentices

I wanted to take a moment and introduce you to my apprentices.


Jennifer worked in the studio through the summer. She was an incredible worker and on the ball. So dependable! Unfortunately she was a high school student and her job is now to study and get ready for graduation. Jennifer helped me with the beginning of a life size sculpture and making the mold of Lucas.

Florencia is Jennifer's replacement. An aspiring artist and mom she enjoys getting away from the house and getting her hands in clay. She is a great worker. Florencia is learning to work on the waxes, work on a life size sculpture and help me with other things.



Miguel is a constant in the studio, helping with waxes and mold making.



The job of an apprentice... prepare armatures, put clay on armatures, help keep the studio clean, help make molds, clean waxes, and lots of the time they pick up after me. I work late into the evening. My intimate alone time with my subject. I scrape on the large pieces and add to the sculpture. When I am done the apprentice comes in and cleans up all of my mess from the previous nights scraping and helps to smooth out the clay. Smoothing the wax base clay is a physical undertaking. Without the help of these people my arms and hands would not be able to withstand everything I put them through. It probably does not help that in my off time from the studio I do carpentry work and work in the garden. I guess the apprentices help to give my hands some rest.

It is a great opportunity to work with an artist in the studio. I wish I would have had it when I was younger.

Much thanks to the people behind the artist.

My dear one -Jeanine

Jeanine is the third posthumous commission that is writte about in the book "Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased—A Sculptor's Journey" I learned a tremendous amount from this commission and she helped me with my ephiphany! Thank you Jeanine

Jeanine is also at the foundry and is expected to go home before Christmas. It is a life size bronze bust

I have also been asked to create a casting of Jeanine's face from a life mold that her mother had created when she was young.

Precious Lucas

Lucas is the second commission that was created for this book. Another posthumous sculpture this piece is a life size bronze of Lucas running with a cape. I could not find a model to work with for this, or should I say it is hard to get a 5 year old model to run and pose at the same time. My husband was kind enough to help me with a 3dimensional version of Lucas. Which was approved by the parents. Lucas is presently at the foundry and should be going home before Christmas.

Update on Patsy Sculpture

Patsy was approved and completed. I have not yet seen her placed yet. The project became part of a book that I have been writing in conjunction with my studies at Vermont College Union Institute. The book title is "Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased—A Sculptor's Journey"

I began the book with the question of "How do I capture the spirit of those I have never met?" Many people comment that my work has a tremendous amount of emotion and spirit in it. Is this just because I am highly trained? Or is there something else? I know many sculptors that have the mechanics of the work down, yet their pieces seem hollow-soulless. How do I do it? That is the question I asked myself at the beginning of the book and I have found some incredible answers.

The book is the personal journey of the artist and the documentation of 4 commissions, Patsy being one of the first. I am finishing up the book now and hope to have it to a publisher within the next 6 months. I am indebted to my clients for allowing me to be a part of their lives and the lives of their loved ones. I have learned so much through this journey.

Trying to catch up!

It has been a tremendous amount of time since I last posted on this blog. Mostly because I had several other blogs and journals going at the same time, and returning to school I have been a full time student. The perpeutal learner blog is a blog on going back to school. It can be found at http://www.blogger.com/perpetuallearner.blogspot.com

I also have another project that I am working on. The blog for that project can be foundat http://www.dickhathaway.blogspot.com