The McPherson Globe Refiners history is unique and not very well known. I designed this monument to tell their story. 

In 1936, Jesse Owens dominated the track and field competition in the Berlin Olympics. Most of us know that story. What most people don’t know is the story of a basketball team from central Kansas that won the first Olympic Gold medal in basketball… In the same year that Jesse Owens shined. It’s part of our American history and this monument to the McPherson Globe Refiners will shed light on their forgotten story.

At 11 feet wide and 8 feet tall the curved relief sculpture is a portrait of the Globe Refiners who were active from 1933-36. On the backside of the relief will be eight foot tall granite tablets will tell a brief history of the team and their Olympic gold medal dominance in Hitler’s Olympics.

The sculpture will be permanently installed in September 2020 outside of the community building where the team practiced. Here is a link to read more about the Globe Refiners: McPherson Globe Refiners basketball

 

 

 Philanthropy

Julie Penrose was a philanthropist from the early 1900’s in Colorado Springs, CO. She is credited with building the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the Penrose Memorial Hospital and the Broadmoor Art Academy. They founded the El Pomar Foundation on December 17, 1937.

Julie and her husband Spencer were the catalysts for a large number of projects in Colorado in the 1900’s. It was her and her husband’s construction of The Broadmoor Hotel in 1918 that is their most well-known creation.

“Nurturing Our Future”-honoring Julie Penrose by Sutton Betti and Daniel Glanz

In September 2019, El Pomar Foundation commissioned “Nurturing Our Future” to honor and remember the life and contributions of Julie Penrose. The life size sculpture will be a realistic likeness of Julie in her mid 40’s. The age she was during construction of the Broadmoor Hotel.

In our sculpture, Julie is wearing an Edwardian era dress and holding her hat. We designed her facial expression as one she might have during a conversation while seated in the gardens. In her right hand she will hold a cross necklace, symbolizing her catholic faith. Rolled up construction documents of The Broadmoor hotel will be at her side. These documents will represent her involvement in building the famous hotel as well as to represent her philanthropic nature.

Installation for the completed monument will be in June 2020.

Inspiration

My birthday was a few days ago and every year around this time I contemplate my direction and goals as an artist. One of the things that I enjoy doing is stay home, drink warm coffee and daydream. Yes, that’s right-daydream. Eventually I’ll think about what I’d like to sculpt next. Usually it’s a grandiose idea that gets scaled back to more of a realistic size.

The idea to sculpt a portrait bust of Babe Ruth came while I was sitting at the drawing table and looking out at the falling snow. During the weekend I had watched the Sandlot for the first time. Jessica recommended the movie and although I was at first reluctant soon I realized that it would be good. The movie was centered around baseball and had the Great Bambino as several talking points throughout.

Art

What I’ve learned about creating art is that the more one thinks about something the better it will turn out. A good example of this is my bust of Babe Ruth. The idea came to me on Monday (4 days ago). By Tuesday I was snowed in with 20 inches of fresh snow and couldn’t leave the house. I spent the day thinking about creating the clay bust and studying the subject. I gathered up several digital images on a thumb drive knowing that Wednesday I’d be able to bust out of the house for the studio (which is less than 2 miles from my home). On Wednesday I setup a digital camcorder to record the sculpting process. 10 hours later I had a finished portrait bust and the film to make a time-lapse video of it being created.

The portrait took me 10 hours to create. The reason that it went so well was that I took the time to study images and read about Babe Ruth. I also had thought about the sculpture and its various angles in my head. So that when I began working on it, I felt like I was sitting in a drag racing car.

The 15 inch tall bust will eventually be cast in plaster or bronze and added to the studio collection. Here is a youtube video I made of its creation, 10 hours squeezed into 2 1/2 minutes Babe Ruth portrait bust time-lapse

Since the end of December 2018 I’ve been working on this bareback bronc sculpture for a wonderful client out of Pueblo, Colorado. The initial plans were for this 1/2 life size sculpture to be placed at Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo. But my client decided to instead have it placed in downtown Pueblo right next to a local business on a plot of land she purchased. Of course, to have any sculpture permanently installed anywhere is a great privilege, but having one installed in the heart of a downtown and part of their scene makes it so much more special. This 300 lb bronze sculpture will be mounted on top of two tons of sandstone which is quarried out of Masonville, a 10 minute drive from my studio. The project honors my clients husband from when he used to bareback bronc ride in the 1950’s and was inspired by a photograph from that time.

Since 2017 I have been filling my time between making small maquettes and large monuments by creating portrait plaques. This all started when I got an email from a woman in Southern California who lost her son and wanted to honor him with a bronze plaque. She had seen some of my reliefs on the internet and had decided to reach out to me. And so began my journey creating bronze portrait plaques.

Although I had been sculpting in relief for many years I had only started to really “get it” in 2011 when I began pushing the boundaries with what I thought possible with relief. Most of this new discovery was playing with techniques I’d learned from when I was learning painting in art school and applying them to relief sculpting.

When sculpting in relief you are dealing with such a flat surface that the differences between 1/16 of an inch or less can make or break a likeness. There needs to be a steady hand and a critical eye and for the 6-8 hours it takes me to sculpt a likeness I am fully focused on the task at hand. No phone calls, no internet time, very little interruptions and full throttle on the challenging task at hand.

There are many little tips that one day I will teach to those interested in learning. But, in short, good relief work is done from practice, practice, practice. 

 

In late 2005 I made the decision to move from beautiful Santa Barbara, California to be in the well known arts community of Loveland, Colorado. I had visited Loveland a month before deciding to move here and I immediately fell in love with the Colorado outdoors, the smiling faces (something that is a rare sight in Southern California) and importantly the close knit and well known sculpture community that is Loveland. I continued doing work for a sculptor in California by creating clay sculptures in Loveland and delivering the originals to her home in Santa Barbara (yes, that was a long long drive). But this quickly got to be a difficult working relationship and so I had to say goodbye and I began to look for work in Colorado. My very first job was helping a sculptor finish a large scale monument that the artist had been working on for 14 years!! I then found work as a lead sculpting assistant in downtown Loveland for a well known sculptor. For the first time as an assistant I was responsible for just about every task in an artists studio; clay enlargement, mold making, wax pouring and chasing, welding, metal chasing, patinas, keeping the shop clean, meeting and greeting clients, mold storage count, making sure the swamp cooler worked properly for the upcoming hot season (which in Colorado is nothing compared to where I was from). Although the pay wasn’t very good, I took tremendous pride in my work and the opportunity to learn so many aspects of bronze sculpture. I was very happy.

 

Although I had been working as a sculptor’s assistant in California for different artists for about 9 years, I had not been trained in so many different aspects of the business until moving to Loveland. This was an experience that was fairly new to me and I fell in love with sculpture all over again. Within 2 years of working in Loveland I was handed an opportunity for a public art competition by my boss. The city of Boulder City, NV was looking for a life size bronze sculpture that could tell a visual story about Hoover dam. The sculpture would be a part of their collection of public art relating to Hoover dam. I took this opportunity to heart and researched my next sculpture. I posed for photos myself as I couldn’t afford a model and created a small maquette that I titled “Puddler’s Lunch Break”. The sculpture was designed to break the myth that workers were buried alive during the building of Hoover dam, which was only a myth. Two “puddler’s” are on a lunch break exchanging stories and the message that I hoped to get across was that although Hoover dam was built during the Great Depression, these two men were happy because they had work unlike most people during this time. The small sculpture landed me my first life size outdoor commission. Something I had been trying to do for the past 9 years but to no success.

 

Since my first commission in 2008 I have had many highs and lows of being in business as a sculptor, but I have ALWAYS been grateful for this community. The openness of artists and crafts people that are here has been an absolute treasure that makes this town unique. There are three foundries within 10 minutes of each other and a handful of “independents” that specialize in each step of the casting process. I know just about everyone of them and have given just about every one of them work. Everyone I have encountered and worked with has been tremendously supportive and helpful. It is a town that has art pulsating through it’s inner veins and it’s unique history as an arts destination makes it one of a kind throughout the world. A place like no other because of the people that are here. The artists, the foundries, the craftsmen and women, the lovers of art and the younglings who aspire to be an artist. It is this attitude and uniqueness that was shown to me when I first came here and I hope that Loveland, Colorado continues to be the unique arts community that most people know and love for many years to come.