Recently I came back from beautiful Wisconsin where I delivered three of my life size bronze sculptures to clients who are building a large veterans memorial along the Eau Claire river. I have been working with the foundation since late 2019 to create sculptures for the Veterans memorial and this past week I finally got to see the site where it will all come together.

Below are the first three sculptures that were delivered and temporarily installed last week. I met with the foundation members over dinner on Wednesday and got a tour of the site the following day, after we delivered the sculptures to nearby veterans organizations (who are holding the sculptures until the site is further along). The sculptures that I delivered are two Honor Guard sculptures, also known as Sentinels, and a third sculpture of a Gold Star Mother with poppies. These three sculptures will be the first grouping and will be permanently installed sometime next spring 2021. Details in the coming months.

 

Honor Guard, presenting arms

Present Arms, Honor Guard was first designed to guard the entrance to a 1/4 acre veterans park in West Point, Nebraska. American Veterans Park is a tribute to all veterans from across the United States and recognizes the service and sacrifice of all U.S. servicemen and women. As a real Honor Guard guards National Monuments and provides military funeral honors, this life size bronze sculpture guards the entrance to a veterans park in a small town. In 2021, an additional bronze casting will be created and permanently installed in a large veterans park at another location. Details in the coming months.

In the beginning…

The sculpture first began in 2017 when I was asked to provide concept sketches for a United States Army and Marine Honor Guard presenting arms. Presenting Arms has been used since the 1700’s and is a common command in all branches of the military all over the world. The command is a show of respect and honor when presenting their weapons. 

The initial sketch, although rough, represents an Honor Guard from the modern day War on Terror. The eight inch tall sketch was enough to get a green light to create the life size version. Since my clients were familiar with my work it wasn’t necessary to create a small maquette or more detailed 2D renderings. Generally, these are necessary before beginning a large sculpture in order to illustrate how the finished artwork would look.

Before I began the full size clay original I studied the “inspiration photo” for posture and general anatomy as well as how the uniform fit the soldier. The photo was also heavily referenced throughout the claying up process for accuracy and was initially provided to me by a member of the planning committee at AVP. Since there are always questions that arise during the process having this handy was essential.

I also received the jacket, trousers, gloves, shoes, cap as well as a replica firearm in the mail from the same committee member. A model was hired to pose in the uniform, photos were taken in-the-round and I began work. After five weeks and 200 hours of careful clay modeling the 5’ 10” tall sculpture was completed. 

There are some artists who have told me that this sculpture is too technical. Or that it doesn’t leave enough room for interpretation. For me, I get satisfaction when there is less margin for error and perhaps even less room for expression in a sculpture. In my mind, if you can pull off a very strict pose and give the sculpture energy, life and maybe even make it identifiable to your past works then you have success. 

For a more detailed description of the process from finished clay to bronze casting please visit my YouTube video. This video highlights the bronze casting process under five minutes using another of my sculptures.

Below are photos of the sculpture in various stages of completion.

Globe Refiners installation

On September 28-29, 2020 the Globe Refiners installation took place in McPherson, Kansas. My installation team consisted of Johnson Granite Supply, West Point Monument, myself and Jessica. We coordinated closely with Hutton Construction and CHS Refinery from Kansas.

In the beginning

The project got it’s start in July 2019 when Jessica and I met with McPherson Mayor Tom Brown and the Mingenback Foundation. We met at the McPherson Museum and afterwords got a tour of the newly renovated community building where the Globe Refiners played from 1933-1936. The foundation and Mayor Brown communicated that they wanted a sculpture to honor the whole team.

After a couple of weeks of sketching out ideas I submitted my design. In September 2019 I got the green light, signed a contract and began work. I then gathered up my team which consisted of nine businesses from six states. And these businesses were all with companies I had done work with previously.

The finished artwork

After 13 months of hard work and close attention to details (and plenty of measuring) the project was finished. The monument consists of a curved bronze relief mounted to it’s core stainless steel structure. This stainless cage holds 8000 lbs. of laser etched black granite walls and 8000 lbs of pre-cast concrete for the roof. Three benches of black granite and pre-cast concrete house three different ceramic tiles representing the Olympic Gold medal, the Globe Refiners logo and the Berg ball used in the Olympic finals. To mimic the hardwood floors on a basketball court we used linear pavers. Up-lighting provided the final touch for viewing at dusk.

Thank you to all involved in helping to honor the McPherson Globe Refiners basketball team and for the smooth Globe Refiners installation. Without all of those passionately involved there is no way this project could have happened. It was a labor of love for me and my team as it was for the Mingenback Foundation and the mayor of McPherson who spearheaded the project!

The Globe Refiners story will continue on for future generations to come. And now “The Tallest Team in the World” and the first basketball team to win Olympic gold has a permanent bronze sculpture to tell their story.

Photos below highlight the installation process

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINISHED!

 

 

Nurturing Our Future, philanthropy

Dan Glanz and I installed our sculpture that honors Colorado Springs philanthropist Julie Penrose at the Penrose House on July 14, 2020. The project started on August 20, 2019 after we submitted and presented our clay maquette that we titled “Nurturing Our Future”. The title is a fitting tribute to Julie’s life as she helped shape Colorado Springs into what it is today. Her many philanthropic endeavors towards education, healthcare and the arts was great and she also helped in building the Penrose hospital, the Broadmoor hotel, the Broadmoor Art Academy and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.

Catholic faith

The life size bronze sculpture shows Julie seated comfortably on a bench overlooking the gardens in the plaza where she used to live which later became a retreat center for catholic sisters for 50 years before being handed back to the El Pomar Foundation. At her left side are the architecture drawings for the Broadmoor hotel which is located nearby. In her left hand she clutches a cross necklace which represents her devotion to the Catholic Church and also reflects her promise to God that she would build a Chapel in His honor in return for protecting her family in Belgium during WWI. Pauline’s Chapel was completed in 1919.

Abraham Lincoln

One of the more common subjects in sculpture that I’ve seen from figure sculptors of today and of the past is of Abraham Lincoln. It’s no surprise as he represents so much that is good even by todays standards. From his poor upbringing he learned humility, defending the defenseless and the value of hard work. As he grew older these qualities defined him and helped lead him to becoming the 16th President of the United States. They guided him as the nations leader through the civil war. They also guided him as he helped free the slaves of the South first with his Emancipation Proclamation and finally the 13th amendment.

In addition, and just as important, he was thoughtful. A great example was how he responded to an 11 year old girl’s letter, written to him just before he was elected President. In it, the girl said that he looked too thin in the face to be voted President. And anyways all the ladies preferred bearded men and that he needed to grow his beard to help him get elected. Some of her brothers, she said in that letter, would vote for him if he did so.

To grow a beard or not to grow a beard, that is the question

It’s hard to imagine any Presidential candidate actually reading a letter such as this let alone listening to it’s message. But that is what Lincoln did. He not only grew his beard out just before being elected President (of which he kept for the entirety of his Presidency until his death 4 years later). He also wrote her a thoughtful letter back. Although he didn’t promise to grow it out he did address it. “As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a silly affectation if I were to begin it now?”

History now remembers Abe Lincoln as our first bearded President and it was one little girl’s idea. How humble of a man and how generous he must have been. It is these qualities that I think all men aspire. To have wisdom and respect yet gentle and thoughtful. 

The bust I created of Lincoln doesn’t show him with his beard, but rather just before he was elected. At the time that he would have read the letter from the little girl. Abe Lincoln, beardless. To me, that was the moment that best captures one of the most influential men in our nations history.

It’s busy-ness as UNusual (for me)

Just a week or two before the Corona Virus took over our lives, demanding Coloradoans to stay at home, my sculpture business was it’s busiest it had ever been in the past twenty years.

To give you an idea of what was going on in my studio in early March 2020; I had finished prepping waxes for 29 sculptures to be cast in bronze for various projects (one of which was honoring Colorado Springs philanthropist Julie Penrose) and I had just finished sculpting my monument honoring the McPherson Globe Refiners, which had taken me about 6 months to sculpt. I had finished two of my larger scale garden elves for a couple of very good clients and was metal chasing trophies for the Western States Endurance Run in California. There had been a couple of potential projects in the pipes, one of which I thought would start in the coming days of finishing the Refiners project and, then finally, I had a life size clay sculpture to finish and cast in bronze for a Recreation Center in Fraser, Colorado.

It was a busy time and it was only a few weeks ago. All of the sculptures had significant deadlines so I was working long hours and 6-7 days per week, multi-tasking on the various stages. I was EXHAUSTED but I was moving forward and chipping away.

Light (and uncertainty) at the end of the tunnel

While I was working on these various projects, I got an email from a wonderful lady named Sally, the daughter of Joe Fortenberry. Sally lives 10 miles from my studio and contacted me to ask if she could see the sculpture of her dad and his teammates. I had just finished sculpting her dad so the timing couldn’t have been better. My jaw dropped to the floor, in all honesty! I remember standing in my studio smiling and marveling at how the universe works and how connected we all are. Naturally, I invited her to the studio.

Sally’s dad Joe Fortenberry was the top scorer in the Gold medal Olympic basketball game of 1936, the first year basketball became an Olympic sport. The US basketball team dominated in Hitler’s Olympics and during the final Gold medal game on August 14, 1936 Fortenberry scored the same amount of points as their rivals from Canada.

Her dad inspired the term “Dunk” to refer to the method in which a player scores a basket (written by Arthur Daley about Fortenberry in the NY Times in March, 1936) and he was the prime example of why the defensive goaltending rule was adopted and the “jump ball after every basket” rule was rescinded. Sally’s dad was probably one of basketball’s biggest game changers throughout its long history.

On March 4, Jessica and I had the honor of welcoming Sally and her family to my studio to show the sculpture in clay before it went off to the mold maker to start its transformation into bronze.

The days following their visit saw a dramatic slowdown; projects were delivered to the foundry (and off my plate), the corona virus was changing our lives and projects fell through or were put on hold because of it. Basically, my life changed instantaneously to a snails pace. In a matter of days I was staring out my living room window (like the entire world) and wondering what was about to happen with our economy and with our lives. Now, under a stay at home order for at least a few more weeks, it is evident that this will be a long, hard fought battle. But I am and always will be grateful for the month of March 2020.