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The Beginning
In June of 2015 Shirley and David Griffin contacted me about creating a possible commission of John Turner. There are always many things to figure out at the beginning of a commission. What size sculpture does the client envision? What is the vision of the possible client and then, once these are decided, it is important to get prices from my foundry so all of the costs are known. Meanwhile, my client searches for the proper spot to place this tribute and, if I am not installing the sculpture then they will need to figure out who will install the sculpture. Needless to say, there are lots of details to figure out before things are settled, before I can think about sculpting.
|While Shirley and David where working on these details, I was signing one of the biggest commission of my career, a monumental sculpture of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party for Evelyn’s Park in Bellaire, Texas. ( You can follow along with this job on the Finding Alice Sculpture Facebook Page. ) Though this sculpture is not as large as the Grambling Tiger sculpture at 15’ tall, it is the largest in scope as it contains an 8’ mad hatter, Alice and March Still, Shirley said she knew I was the one to create this sculpture. She felt we clicked, and when all of the other details were confirmed, we signed a contract. It was a lovely Christmas gift to get the contract the day before Christmas. I’m delighted that this contract holds a place in our studio schedule and we are all excited about starting the project.
Hare, along with a 10 foot table, and if that were not enough to sculpt, there is a plaque and 150 elements that I am trying to hide in the scene. I knew this job would take a big chunk out of my schedule for the 2016.
A Sitting For Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Cont.
Dedication Of A Tiger
The Grambling State University Tiger has been installed by Bridgette Mongeon. It has been a long process. The process is documented in this blog with the category Grambling Tiger or the artist has kept a project blog for the client. You can find it at http://gramblingtiger.blogspot.com/
The Tiger Arrives Home!
On December 2nd the Tiger left NM to be driven on an open bed semi to Grambling, Louisiana, and Bridgette Mongeon, the artist, left Houston on that Tuesday to meet the tiger.
A long drive later, early on the morning of Wed the 4th the artist and tiger are united once again. Now for the installation.
I love that he/she high fived everyone as he/she went across county.
Patina
The patina is the coloring of the tiger. The color is created by using chemicals and heat. It is a very dark cold and long day/evening when we figure out the patina. Once we decide on the color it will take several days to complete the patina.
Going High For Detail
Once the Grambling Tiger sculpture is sandblasted, I must check it out to be sure that there are not corrections. I walk around the sculpture or in this case, climb around the sculpture looking for places for them to fix. I mark them with a marker and then the foundry men work their magic. I have a very intimate relationship with this height and this tiger head.
A Cat Finds His/Her Rock
The foundry works diligently to meet the deadline. Each of the many pieces of metal must be welded together seamlessly. Once the cat is almost finished, it is moved from one side of the foundry to the other.
arm. It is a tight fit.
Wrestling The Tiger
I’m headed to the foundry in New Mexico very soon to monitor the rest of the progress and to do the final coloring of the Grambling State tiger. Then we will load it up on the flat bed and watch for it to arrive on campus. Not sure how much posting I’ll be able to do while there. You will get glimmers of the sculpture in the snap shots that I take. Not until the great reveal will you be able to see the entire sculpture complete. Unless… you are in NM on November 16th. I’ll be giving a lecture on “Taming the beast” at Shidoni Foundry. The lecture will culminate with watching a bronze pour. (Not the tiger as it will be complete.) We will also be able to take a look at the finished tiger. I can hardly wait.
I’d be happy to repeat this lecture at Grambling for those who are interested. Looks like we are leaning toward delivery of the sculpture in the first week of December.
Rocking Out Again
The rocks in this Grambling State tiger sculpture are just as massive as the tiger itself. The many, many pieces of the sculpture are being welded together. The foundry will match my sculpted textures. It is a huge puzzle to figure out where everything goes. There will also be an internal structure inside the sculpture to give it support.
Removing The Ceramic Shell From The Tiger Head
In the post we saw some the process of pouring the head of the tiger. Now that the head is poured, the ceramic shell must be broken off of the metal. This is called divesting. I asked the foundry to take a movie of this part. It looks brutal, but it is important. If you watch the entire thing be sure to look at the how they also much take the shell of the inside the sculpture.
The second part of this video shows them taking the metal spurs off of the sculpture. I especially like the look of this video. Seeing the light from the torch shine through the holes in the sculpture.
Now, this piece will need to be sandblasted to get all of the ceramic shell off of the metal.