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.

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

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.