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About the Artist
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor/author and public speaker. She has worked on various monumental sculptures over her 30+ years of creating. You may see her work in the Grambling Tiger in Grambling State University or the Prairie View Panther for Prairie View A & M. She has also been commissioned by Kindness Without Limits to create a sculpture of Neil Armstrong for Space Center Houston and Russia. She is most known for her monumental sculpture of Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter Tea Party in Houston, Texas.
Added to her credits are the author of 3D Technology in Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning, Sculpting, and Milling and co-author of Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques for Artists.
She was nominated as 30 most influential women in 3D Printing and enjoys lecturing to students and adults on the subject of STEAM- the interdisciplinary educational initiative encouraging Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. If you are an art teacher in Texas, you may recognize her as the keynote speaker at the Texas Art Educators Conference 2017.
As part of her sculpting the Booker T. Washington sculpture for Booker T. Washington High School, she has offered to create blog posts documenting her work with educational materials for teachers and students. Please follow along and share your thoughts.
Below Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Key note Speaker Bridgette Mongeon.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qhaP_GUmHM]
Author Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon
https://www.instagram.com/bridgettemongeon/
https://www.facebook.com/BridgetteMongeonSculptor/
https://twitter.com/sculptorwriter
Dallas Lighthouse For The Blind Honors John Turner
Delighted to see this wonderful tribute to John Turner from the Dallas Light House For The Blind.
Of course the unveiling of the sculpture can be seen at the end of the video at about the 3:30 mark.
It was so much fun creating this piece for the city of Frisco, Texas.
This is a sculpture created of John Turner for the city of Frisco. The entire project is documented on a project blog at https://johnturnersculpture.blogspot.com/
The Unveiling Of a Sculpture, Accolades Of a Great Man And The Appreciate Of A President
Here is the entire dedication and unveiling of the sculpture that I created of John Turner and his dog. Watching this you will learn much about the man and all he has done. I was delighted that presenters read a a letter from George Bush. The letter talks about all that John has done in his life . Laura and George W. Bush thanked many for honoring this man including… “Bridgette Mongeon” (5:29) Thanks President Bush.
It is Saturday night, I have sat with Norma’s head in my lap, flipping through images and trying to pull her into the clay. 4 hours later I mushed the clay around and finally said, “Oh, there you are Norma.” Now, I step away until tomorrow, to see how she will talk with me again. Finding the essence of Norma is a lot different than finishing the sculpture. There is SO much to do. We have actually just begun. But tonight I can sleep a little more at peace knowing that Norma is taking the stage in my studio.
This is the documentation of Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon who created the Norma Zenteno Sculpture and Kippy for Zenteno Spirit and Barrio Dogs. You can find the process blog for this project at http://normasculpture.blogspot.com/
Stepping Out
I love that this sculpture of Norma is starting with her feet. Whenever I create a sculpture I divide it up into pieces. Feet, hands, head torso- each are first roughed in, then put together and then detailed. I love working with the feet. Feet keep the rhythm they dance in times of celebration and they are raised when the day is done.
For me, right now, the idea of stepping out, moving forward and especially for strong independent women is important.
My personal journey of stepping out is stepping out to hike with other women in my hiking group and stepping out with helping others to learn salsa and bachata at SSQQ dance studio in Houston.
I see Norma as walking towards confidence, no matter what the challenge. I see her walking towards friends, to greet them, embrace them, to care. Stepping out… shoes are more than just an accessory.
Every piece of a posthumous sculpture is a connection.
For me right now it is the feet, and then I’ll move to her head and hands.
Other updates.
Along with sculpting of Norma’s feet, we have been preparing to begin the other parts of the sculpture. We need an armature for the placement of Norma which will be her seat. This was lovingly created by Johnny Rojas for me. We returned to the area on the East End of Houston, once again, to get a look at what was being done. It is fitting that Johnny would be helping with the armature. I’m not sure all the details, but Johnny recommended me to someone who I think recommended me to the family for this job. Thanks Johnny for bringing your energy into this project.
Whimsy into art. The clay that we used in each of the projects is reclaimed from previous projects. Interns have been busy on the sunny days, laying part of the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, and the feet of the mad Hatter, and the torso of a seeing eye dog for the last project of John Turner all outside on plastic. The sun melts the clay and the interns reclaim the clay for Norma. I love that the creative energy of the clay is infused and reused.
Another intern pulled together a very rough armature of Kippy- photos to come.
This is the week I being to absorb all things Norma. It is a strange process sculpting deceased loved ones. I really want alone time with Norma. No interns, no distractions— just Norma and I. But first, the grudging work of getting armatures and clay on those armatures. All part of the process. More photos to come.
This is the documentation of Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon who created the Norma Zenteno Sculpture and Kippy for Zenteno Spirit and Barrio Dogs. You can find the process blog for this project at http://normasculpture.blogspot.com/
Installation Of a Sculpture John Turner
The casting of John Turner is actually featured on Bridgette Mongeon’s main website. Check out
Preparing to Sculpt
Making a Mold
The Wax
Casting and Metal
Delivery and Installation
Also: This is a sculpture created of John Turner for the city of Frisco. The entire project is documented on a project blog at https://johnturnersculpture.blogspot.com/
We followed along on the prep of a bronze sculpture in the last post. Now, let’s see how this is installed.
On my second day of travel, the John Turner sculpture and I end our journey at Frisco Heritage Center. This is a charming place to visit with old buildings. I can’t help look at the area and dream of benefactors that will let me create period bronzes with the faces of their loved ones that will enhance the visiting experience. I see bronze sculpture of children from history gathering in the school yard, or a boy and his dog playing on the porch of the old cabin. A family, in period costume, running to catch the train at the Frisco Depot or a black smith working in the blacksmith shop.
I only take moments to see these creative, inspirational bronze apparitions as we must quickly get to work. I arrive at 10 and we estimate this will take about 2 hours. I’m happy to see strapping young men and art handlers of Unified Fine Arts. They will come in handy when trying to lift out a 350 lb sculpture.
We watched the prep of this at the foundry and on site in the previous post. Now, let’s look at the rest of an installation. Together Unified Fine Arts, Nouveau Construction and myself go over he plans for the installation. I can’t be at every install, as my schedule and the travel will not always permit me to be there. In those cases I have strong communication with my clients, delivery and installers. However, I’m delighted to have been able to be at the install of John Turner. The slab has been poured, cured and ready. After Unified Fine Arts carefully unwraps the sculpture we begin to look at placement. I’m thinking of many things when placing a sculpture. Some of these things I have taken into consideration all the way back when creating the sculpture in the studio. Design questions I ask myself are:
- In what direction is my subject looking?
- What are the elements surrounding the sculpture that may interfere with the visual design?
- How does the sculpture look when you are approaching it?
- Does the placement of the design look good in configuration with the slab?
The men at Unified Fine Arts are patient. I wonder if they think I’m like a woman moving heavy furniture in a room, “No, the sofa may look better over there, but I don’t know, can I see it again?” I am a visual person by nature and so I often will move and fudge a sculpture, try one thing and another until both I and my client agree. The added visual element we had to concern ourselves with is the dedication plaque. The plaque will rest flush with the ground. I’m concerned as to where it is placed if people are taking pictures. I know children will love to come and see the dog. Adults may want to pose next to or behind John. I’d like to see it not be stepped on that much. Once we have exhausted our option we vote for the plaque to the right in front, and John facing the parking lot as if he is walking to go home. I do wish this concrete were stained the color of the other pavement, or ideally I would have loved it if the pavement circled around or he was put in an existing walkway. But this is what we have to work with and it does look fabulous.
InstallationOnce we have the placement of all of the visual elements I trace the places where the sculpture touches on the concrete with a pencil. Then the template is set in place and the holes are traced so the installers know where to drill. They drill holes into the concrete a bit wider than the threaded rods that I have provided.
Dry FitOnce the holes are cleaned out with an air compressor the installers prepare for a dry fit. They lift the sculpture and place the sculpture with the threaded rods extended out of the bronze, and place the piece into the holes. This is where a sledge hammer may come in handy. If the person drilling the holes did not drill them perpendicular to the slab then the rods will not fit in properly or if the foundry did not weld the nuts perfectly perpendicular then this will also be a a problem. The solution is to lift the sculpture out and either drill the holes more, or bang the rods into place with a sledge hammer.
Securing the sculptureOnce the dry fit is complete the sculpture with its threaded rods is lifted out and then epoxy is put into the holes. Carefully the sculpture is set back into place. The epoxy will cure quickly and secure the sculpture. Once complete, I walked around the park to see how the sculpture looks from all directions. I am more than pleased. My work is done here. The sculpture is now covered with a cloth to prevent others from seeing it until the unveiling. I often like to attach a small note to the tarp saying what it is and when it will be unveiled. I think this is an invite for others and prevents curious eyes from being tempted to take the tarp off and look for themselves.
Now for my long ride home. The van feels empty without the 350 pound sculpture, but my schedule is now just a bit lighter as I move on to a portrait bust and the sculpture commission created in loving memory of Norma Zenteno and in support of Barrio Dogs. I’m also still monitoring the bronze casting of the Alice in Wonderland sculpture of the monumental scene of the Mad Hatter’s Tea party created for Evelyn’s Park called “Move One Place On.” I’m also writing a book about the creation of this sculpture similar to my last book.
I kissed the dog goodbye. I have a long and emotional creative process with him and I had no idea until I left. I was going through the loss of a family pet when my children lost their home in a fire in February. If you feel some extra emotion coming from this dog, it is that love and tears that were put into the clay. I’ll be back up here next weekend for the unveiling. I can’t wait until John Turner sees the sculpture. I know you will ask, “How can he see it? he is blind.” That is the thing about sculpture and 3D work, it is meant to be touched.