Almost done with the maquette

Just found out that my previous blogger name sucked....Thanks, Steve Banks

So being very new to both reading and posting in blogs, I found out that I need to do a more generic blog and then put the projects within that blog.  That will be my approach going forward.  Also, is it ridiculous to assume that people care about what I have to say?  

I consider myself a sculptor struggling to become an artist.  Being a sculptor in Iowa has let me know that most people consider those two things to be mutually exclusive.  To quote a friend at our gallery opening for David Zahn last Friday - "Sculpture is that thing you set your drink on while looking at art".  I have a long road ahead of me.  :-(  But I'm willing to put my big boy pants and my welding sandals on and get rockin'.

"The Desecration of Adam"...On to the next obnoxiously big thing for me.

So I am moving on to the next sculpture.  I have been busy doing other art, but I didn't feel motivated to do this blogging thing until today.  I just found out about an hour ago that I received the Iowa Arts Council Grant.  So I figure today is as good as any to get back into it.  Here are the starting images for the maquette that I am working on.  I am glad that I have already started it as my grant requires that I finish by June 30.  So I need to be hammering it right now.  The big sculpture will be about 10' wide by 7' tall.  I will be doing it on a trailer so that I can drive it to different events and work on it in public. Here is a description of what the piece is about as well.

Desecration of Adam:  From beauty to tragedy

With this work, I challenge the viewer to confront issues of both human rights abuses and religious persecution using a widely accepted example of religious iconography.  One of the most famous paintings in history, Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam,” depicts the beauty of man brought into existence by his creator.  While the creation of man is a wonderful thing, the subsequent abuses we inflict on each other are a tragedy.  From slavery to genocide, from retaliation to persecution, we have come up with countless ways to inflict pain on our fellow humans.  Whether we do this in the name of religion or nation-building or self-preservation, it is still an abuse of the opportunity given to us by the Creator. 

Wrapping up "Gravity" before I move on to the next blog

 
So I obviously finished the sculpture and delivered it to Grand Rapids, MI.  It was a ton of fun and I had a great showing.  The first pic gives an example of what it looked like around my work most days.  I was in the courtyard of the Gerald Ford Museum.  One of the best outdoor venues for the whole city and the best location on the courtyard.  These guys were wonderful hosts.  My host family was also wonderful.  3 weeks at their house and they are willing to have me back.  Crazy, right?
 

Nighttime was great.  There is always a lot of activity and it is fun to talk to everyone in a more casual atmosphere.  Being outdoors was great to allow people to see the work longer than just business hours that the other venues had to offer.  My host even provided me lighting.
 

Pics 3 and 4 were actually taken by a viewer.  She really liked the piece and came back a few times to take different pictures.  She even printed them out and brought back me the prints.  Man has it been a long time since I've actually held a photo in my hand.  Ha.

Wrapping up.  Here is where the piece finally landed.  This is a pic of the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Rivercenter in Downtown Davenport.  I will give a brief description of the show so that you know what happened and why the sculpture was still in my possession after ARTPRIZE because, had I won, they keep the artwork in Grand Rapids.

I had a great location and great weather.  I was talking to hundreds of people a day and thousands came by to see it.  Public voting happens in 2 rounds.  The first round is 1 1/2 weeks and the second round is 1 week.  I was in the top 25, out of 1500 artists from around the world, for the greater part of round 1.  But two days out from the final voting for round 1, the weather turned REALLY bad.  I went from talking to hundreds a day to talking to 6 people.  Anyway, I fell out of the finals just before the announcement on Sunday.  Very bummed.  As an aside, out of all the outdoor pieces in the top 25, not one went through to the final round.  The weather killed all of us.  Gotta love Lake Michigan and Michigan weather in general.  So I have to decide if it is worth the risk for me to be outside again this year.  Oh well, I had a great time and it was a great learning experience.  ON TO THE NEXT ADVENTURE.

Back in the saddle again.

 I moved the sculpture back to the Figge and am working on it when I can.  They have been very accommodating to my schedule.  I took the last week off in order to get ready for my show at Quad City Arts.  The opening was last Friday and it was a lot of fun.  But now it is time to get back on track with Gravity.  I have started to request housing for when I am up there.  I am looking to stay on 9/20 and 9/21 in order to install.  I am then going back for the next 3 weekends in order to meet people and discuss the work.  That connection with people really helps them understand your thoughts about the work and may help get them to vote for you.  In addition, it is good exposure for me as an artist in general.

This is what it looked like when I came back from the shop and reinstalled it at the Figge.  There were many re-works and I am at about 120 cans of spray foam at this point.

This is Sunday afternoon just before rolling it in to storage.  As you'll note, he has a sweet goatee and afro.  I don't think I will keep those but don't rule them out.

Change of scenery

I had to do it.  I am now at my shop working again.  The foam mess was too much to deal with at the Figge.  In addition, my wimpy little canopy that I set up was ripped down Friday.  So I went back to my shop in order to get through the foam stage.

Tuesday last week.  This is the process.  Nothing fancy. 
 

Friday before I bailed.  Note the lack of a canopy. 

This is where I am as of Sunday.

 

Doing things in public places

Alright, we are live!  I am at the Figge and getting it going.  You really find out if you have any friends when you need someone to get up at the crack of dawn to help you get loaded.  Turns out, Greg is a friend.

 

 

Here is the setup I have in front.  Please note the sweet sign with sponsors on it.  They have been a big help in me being able to do this.  If you are local and want to support them, that would be great.

 

 

 

Starting to finally take shape.

 

 

 

 

After I cleaned up the site at the Figge, I went back to my shop and finished one of the wings.  This is the vertical wing and it is about 15'.

 

 





 

Starting to take shape

 

I think you can see that this is starting to look like the small study.  The wings are installed but not permanently.  They can be removed for travel.



 

All I have left to do is adding detail to the wings.  Once that is done, I will start to build out the sculpture with foam. 

"HE'S ALIVE!!!!" (said in Dr. Frankenstein's voice)

So I am finally starting to see the figure.  He may be missing a head and an arm, but that is no reason to discriminate.  And for those of you who are discerning souls, you may notice that he is outside now.  Alas, this is his new home because he is too tall and too heavy to get in and out of the shop.

Ok, so I underestimated the height...

of the piece by about 4 feet I think. 

I have finished the base and the wing stand. So I started on the wings and finished the"spine"of the wing. After calculating what I wanted for the height in the figure, I found that that same calculation took my wings to about 15 feet by themselves. So I'm looking at a finished sculpture that will be about 20+ feet tall. Maybe I need to rethink this.  

Here are the legs and they need to be very, very strong due to the tension that will be on them.  And welders that know what they are doing want to volunteer their expertise?
 

 

On your mark...

 

 

 

We're off to the races...

...now that we are mobile. And I knew this would happen:  as soon as I started on the welding I would want to work on the sculpture nonstop.  But alas, that is not to be.  I have a lot of work that I need to be doing.

My platform has wheels and it is ready for me to start building the figure but I was by myself tonight and couldn't lift that baby to turn it over without passing a kidney stone.  So I built the stand for the wings and started on them.

I think they will be really cool.  There is a lot more welding than I thought in order to get them curved.  And for those of you who KNOW how to weld, don't start.  It isn't pretty but I guarantee that they are strong and will hold.  More tomorrow.

Starting the burn

I finally started welding.

It's hot and dirty but somebody's got to do it (that's what she said).

 
So you want to be able to sculpt like me?  Please note the very appropriate welding attire.  OSHA flip flops are required while shorts are optional.  

And let's just say that every time I do the "Ooh, Ooh, the hot embers are burning me alive" dance, my wife gets really turned on.  That dance is second only to my sweet yoga moves.  As for the duct tape, mind your own business.


Anyway, I started welding the base.  It is almost done but my back is killing me. 

I am happy to finish the base because it is the part that I dreaded the most, due to it's boring quotient.  No one oohs and ahhs over the base.  Now, on to the figure.

Getting "Gravity" off the ground

Ok, so this is my first attempt at blogging.  I have had some requests that I blog the creation of my newest sculpture.  So here it goes.  

ME:

First and most importantly, a little about me and my family.  I have a wife, Marybeth, and two kids, Ana and Eli.  My wife and I are getting ready to celebrate 20 years of marriage.  Both of our kids are in college and that makes for an interesting change in our lifestyles.  So about 3 years ago, I told Marybeth that I needed to start taking art more seriously.  I graduated with a BFA degree from Western Illinois University in 1995. I then started a design / build company that focuses on Modern architecture. This was a good outlet for my creativity but it didn't replace my need to do art.

MY ART:

I have a website at www.deankugler.com that will give you an idea of what my work looks like.  I work in quite a few mediums using the figure as my primary subject matter but I prefer sculpture.  I have always been interested in the interactive nature of large scale sculpture that is available to the public. So, after I completed my first small scale piece in over 15 years, I decided to go big. I entered a public art contest and won a grant to build the piece titled “Powerless”. I am grateful to that committee because I had no history or experience. I basically submitted the maquette to them along with a proposal and, based on those two things, they felt that I could complete a large scale project. I loved the experience—both in the construct and in the viewer/sculptor relationship—and plan on continuing to pursue large scale work.

GRAVITY:

Overall, my current series of sculptures deal with the dichotomy that exists within us.  Primarily as it relates to strength and weakness.  The figures are presented as healthy, strong and graceful; in control of their environment.  It is when their vision is compromised that the piece is no longer in harmony with the figure as depicted. This series also presents a duality of interpretation in that the loss of vision can be seen as strength.  When we lose the external distractions we are able to look inside ourselves and potentially grow.  So along comes my most ambitious large scale work to date, Gravity.  In addition to the warring issues that this series represents, this new sculpture speaks to the tenuous nature of man and the earth.  People are enamored with the idea of flying and no longer being tied to the ground.  Our dreams are about flying and our technology strives towards it.  The strength of this winged figure is compromised by the cloth on his face.  The cloth reminds me of a hood like the falcon wears.  It also appears to be in the process of falling off and freeing the figure to his flight.  The large piece will also have tethers that pierce and restrict his wings.  When it is complete, I want it to appear that there is tension on the wings such that he about to break his bonds.  Gravity will be about 17' at the wing tip when it is complete with the top of the head of the figure at about 7 1/2'.  I am going to do the greater portion of the sculpture in public at one of the courtyards in downtown Davenport.  I love the idea of creating work in public.  I will offer a few set dates and times that I discuss the work as well as the process.

So here goes nothing.  Stay tuned if you want to see me make a spectacle of myself.  :-)


Dean.

Some different views of the study for the finished piece.