APRIL 2011:  The French Waiter

This sculpture was my first experiment in a category of sculptures I really like to specialize in – “novel AND useful.” My parents have people over for yard and deck parties all the time, and they use the French Waiter to hold an ice-bucket for wine (or beverages), and he has a place to put a platter of hors d’oeuvre.  I imagine this type of useful sculpture would be out in people’s yards, or on their dock or patio, between their two favorite chairs… Somewhere that people might sit a while and enjoy a nice view, or conversation over a cold beverage.

This sculpture started with the two curled pieces of metal that form the waiter’s mustache. I picked them up one day and instantly imagined the kind of character that might cultivate such a mustache. I quickly found the shovel, which was the perfect scale for a head, and then I was off and running. The arms are tines from a piece of farm machinery – a hay rake. The body is a truck tire wheel hub.

Originally, I was going to donate The French Waiter sculpture to a fundraiser, but my mother fell in love with it and just could not bear to part with it.  (This has become a pattern! )

APRIL 2011: Vulture

This piece came out of my mother’s insistence that we make a “Wizard of Oz – Esque” sculpture to put on top of a large vertical standing rock that is beside our drive way. She was reminded of the scene in the witch’s haunted forest in the Wizard of Oz, where the sign said “I’d turn back if I were you.” This was a VERY complex project because I had to make it on the ground, yet it had to perfectly balance on the irregular surface of the top of the boulder. It took me several weekends to complete, and while mounting it on the rock, the sculpture fell 8 feet on top of my dad, who narrowly escaped major injury. He ended up driving himself to the hospital where he had 15 stitches. (Again… Don’t try this at home folks!)

DECEMBER 2011:   Bug Wine Bucket Holder

This sculpture holds an ice-bucket for wine (or beverages), and has a place to put a platter of hors d’oeuvre.  I imagine this type of useful sculpture would be out in people’s yards, or on their deck, between their two favorite chairs… Somewhere that people might sit a while and enjoy a nice view or conversation over a cold beverage.

This was the first piece that I ever made to donate to a fundraiser.  It was for an event to benefit the Humane Society, and our local Battered Women’s Shelter (Laurie’s House). The inspiration came when I found an old serving spoon that looked like an ant’s abdomen, and then the big truck spring reminded me of a stout bumble bee’s body.  On the server there is a bee, dragonfly and an ant. Originally I was going to donate The French Waiter sculpture, since the event was a wine and cheese festival, but my mother fell in love with the waiter piece and just could not bear to part with it.

The waiter and the bug server were first actually functional pieces I made and since then the idea has been a huge success!  I try to make most of my pieces novel AND functional.

OCTOBER 2011:  Sail Boat Hors d'Oeuvre Holder

This was my first privately commissioned piece. It was commissioned by the woman who was the highest bidder at the auction for the bug sever.  She liked the idea of the  wine and hors d’oeuvre server so much that she commissioned the sailboat as a gift for her father who was really into sailing. So I made the wine server have a boat on the back. The boat is even detachable if so it’s much easier to transport from palace to place, or if you wanted you could just hang the boat on the wall if you liked it that much.

DECEMBER 2011:   Raven

This piece came to me in quite a sudden burst of inspiration one fall afternoon, when a large raven flew right past my window. Coincidentally, I had been reading a book about the natural history of ravens and was marveled by their cleverness. I rushed out to my studio and as luck would have it I found the perfect metal piece for a raven’s beak. (This is a “tooth” from a cutting bar from a farm mowing machine). Then I found the tire jack that was the perfect scale for the body of the raven, with the beak as the starting point. The foundation pieces for the wings are cut lawnmower blades. The tail is a chainsaw blade. As with all my other sculptures, once I get the core “quintessential” metal pieces, the rest just seems to effortlessly put itself together.