In Loving Memory of Patsy… How do I do this?
I think the most profound thing that is coming from the in-depth study of posthumous portraiture, is that I have had to ask myself the question, “Am I communicating with the deceased?” It sounds too eerie, too strange, and too off the wall, but as I am taking a closer look at the entire thing, I believe something is happening. I spoke to my mother about this subject. I really trust her judgement, and she is not only my physical mother but a spiritual mother as well. She believes that The Holy Spirit inspires me to do what I do. Either way, I know it brings healing. There is often healing of family members through the process of posthumous sculpture.
In Loving Memory of Patsy… The Pose
I spoke to Howard, Patsy’s husband, and asked him for as many photographs of Patsy as possible. These photographs are necessary for me to obtain a likeness of Patsy, but more than that, sometimes I think I can “feel” Patsy through these photographs. I have been trying to pay close attention to this study and the sculpting of Patsy. I search for who she is in everything. Howard brought by Patsy’s shoes and dress. This is an incredible thing for me to sculpt from. On my first day in the studio, before beginning to sculpt, I sat alone with Patsy’s dress and shoes, and I thought a lot about her. There are several of the photographs that Howard has given to me of Patsy that when I look at them they just really get to me.
If you are a friend or family member of Patsy and can post comments and feelings about Patsy, I would greatly appreciate it. If they are personal, please e-mail them to me and put “Patsy comments” in the subject line. All of these comments help me to know Patsy better.
Patsy, My Newest Project
I am utilizing my studies at Vermont College and incorporating this semester’s work into my newest projects. One of which, is the lifesize bronze sculpture of Patsy. I have decided to take a very close look at how I create posthumous portraiture. People always say that my sculptures are so life-like and have such spirit to them. It is easy to say how I do that with those who I have met and come to know, but in this study I am not only going to document the process of sculpting, but I am also going to take a very intimate look at how I do this sort of thing. How do I capture the sprit of a person I have never met? How do I capture the spirit of the deceased? Why do I love doing posthumous portraits? What are the psychological aspects of this type of work for both my client and myself? As I journal the process, I am intending to make it a book, “In Loving Memory of… Capturing the Spirit of the Deceased, a Sculptor’s Journey.”
If you are following the sculpture of Patsy, you will quickly be able to find posts that are about the sculpture. They will start with, “In loving memory of Patsy…” You can also search Patsy in the categories.
A Perpetual Learner
As if my life is not full enough, I am also back into school. At my age, who would have thought? It feels strange but very natural, and I would not have been able to do it were it not for the residency program at Vermont College Union Institute. (As of 2020, Vermont College does not exist as it did in 2005. Goddard College however has the same program.) It also feels good to be stimulating my brain. The college utilizes what I am doing in my art as a part of my curriculum. So other than reading and documenting my progress, which I do already, I don’t really have a tremendous amount of work. I don’t necessarily need the degree; I just want to add it to my list of accomplishments. I have; however, entertained the idea of teaching art or writing at a college level, and as one college said, “I can see you are a master artist, but do you have a masters degree?” And like anything else, I’m blogging about my adventures of returning back to school, at my age. If you are interested check out the Perpetual Learner blog.
I have written two articles about going back to school. The first, “Returning to College” was in the March 2005 issue of the Houston Tribune. And, “Past and Future in the Green Mountain State” was in the May 2005 issue of the Houston Tribune.
Distractions
I have a few projects in the studio; however, I am terribly distracted by the building of a new art studio. After over 16 years of working at 1048 West 25th street, my art studio is being torn down. It is sad to see it go, as it has been a part of my inspiration and artistic growth, as well as containing an incredible amount of memories. I wrote about it in the April issue of the Houston Tribune 2005, “Life is Full of change”
It is; however, time for a change. We have decided to build a new studio, which has all of its own ways of distracting and diverting my attention. We expect to be moved in the first of July.
Welcome to Creative Endeavors
I am thrilled to finally have this blog in place and to have it working on my server. I so enjoyed sharing the creative process of the Newsboy sculpture created for the Texas Press Association and intended for the state capitol in Austin.
I had wanted to have a regular newsletter, I hope to get that going. Or, if you would like, you can come back to this blog regularly. It has; however, been a huge task to keep a journal or newsletter in html and archive it myself. When I was introduced to blogging I was sure this would solve the problem. Thanks for your patience in waiting for this creative endeavor.
Please feel free to comment and add suggestions.
Bridgette
(This entire website has been updated and this blog has been updated three times since this launch in 2005. When it was begun “blogs” didn’t even exist. I’m delighted I still have these posts and remembrance of a career and a life. Thanks for reading. )
Past And A Future in the Green Mountain State
Houston Tribune
May 2005
Bridgette Mongeon © 2005
I just came out of the science lab, one of the only two places that I can e-mail things here on the campus of Vermont College of Union Institute & University. Walking up to my dorm building at Dewey Hall I watched a half a dozen people outside, playing music talking and smoking cigarettes. These students are not your typical eighteen to twenty year olds. No, in fact they are students of all ages. The door to the dorm hall seems to be in perpetual motion. Someone is always coming or going. I can hardly believe I’m forty-four years old and having a college experience. I’m on my first intensive week residency in a very progressive sort of program. In this program at Vermont College of Union Institute each learner picks a faculty member to work with. The learner also picks what they want to learn. Ah, what a wonderful idea for education. Tap into the passion of a person, give them guidance and watch them grow. I know the program sounds new and inventive, but this program has been around for almost forty years.
If the program in itself isn’t stimulating enough, there are all these learners (students) around me that are so impassioned with this past semester projects that they will present throughout the week. I am a newbie, one of only three new people, trying to make my way through the maze of buildings and schedules. I’ll stay here for a week; design a program of study, according to the program is dubbed” twenty-forty-twenty. I have to spend twenty hours a week, write forty papers through the semester and read twenty books as a part of my project. Luckily I’m using my sculpting work as my project, so the actual work won’t take any additional time away from my life. And I’m journaling most of my projects on my web site as well, so I am hoping that will work into the writing portion of the program.
This week I will also watch a hand full of people from this incredible program culminate. I can’t help but envision my own graduation eighteen months from now.
My future is in Vermont, but it is not my only ties to this wonderful “Green Mountain State.” In fact it is amazing that of all places I would choose to go to school I would end up here.
When I was little girl, every year in the spring, usually around Easter my parents would take the long drive to Vermont. Our first leg of the journey was 300 miles from my hometown in Buffalo, New York to Troy, New York where we would spend time at my aunt Bea’s. I loved aunt Bea’s. The meandering creek held my attention for hours. The large pine tree in the neighbors yard held the biggest pinecones I had ever seen.
From Troy, New York Mom and Dad would load us all up into the car and head off for the additional 150 miles to Vermont to see Meme (French for grandmother) and Pepe (French for grandfather). The trip from Troy, New York to Burlington Vermont always held the special attraction of visiting the maple syrup manufacturer. I only remember really getting the grand tour once. When you are six years old watching how the maple syrup is tapped from the trees, poured into huge steaming vats and turned into sweet syrup seemed like magic. As a family ritual, on each of our Vermont trips we always stopped at the maple syrup manufacturers gift shop. Each child, my brother, my sister and myself were allowed to get one thing from the shop. I always bought the same thing- a small rectangular package that contained an entire maple syrup sugar candy family. The joyful family stood glistening at attention under the cellophane wrapper. I watched my brother and sister devour their candies. If I was lucky mom would have bought a small package of maple syrup candy pressed into the shapes of maple leaves and I could taste that sweet sensation, which was preferred by me over moms favorite gift shop item -peanut brittle. I would however leave my little candy family intact for as long as possible, sometimes even the entire trip. They were much too special to eat.
Meme’s house smelled like old people. The thing I remember the most about it was her walk-in pantry. A room filled with cabinets with glass doors that contained canned food of all sorts of pretty colors. I would sit at the table and color in my coloring book while I watched the women bustle about. Every now and then someone would ask Meme, “Where is the…” and this was always followed by Meme’s comment, “… in the pantry.” I would look around the kitchen and though it was a nice size I wonder how my father and his twelve brothers and sisters could all eat at the same time in the same small room.
I thought that when I grew up Vermont would be just a memory, but a few years ago I began to research my family Genealogy. Until six months ago my search ended in all places –Wanooski, Vermont. In my own search I could not get past the five generation that ended in Wanooski. Then upon opening an e-mail that had a subject line that read …Mongeon genealogy, I was able to put all the pieces together. Or should I say a distant cousin was able to put them together. He sent me an old photo and the research that he had done. My great, great, great grandfather was in the bottom row; his was in the top row. This photo was of the generation that came to the United States, to Vermont. The sender of the e-mail gave me the rest of the genealogy all the way back to the sixteenth-century in France.
There seems to be quite a few things in my past that link me to Vermont. Who would have thought my future would be linked there as well. Here I sit in Vermont typing this article at my dorm room at Vermont College of Union Institute. I decided on this college less than two months ago. I know it will be a lot of work, but I am thrilled to be here.
It is hard to believe that at forty-four years of age I am sitting in a dorm room, away from home and in eighteen months after three more residencies, I hope to be graduating. Even though it has been over thirty years since I have been here as a child it still feels familiar. Not only is my past and my roots touching deep within Vermont history, but as the college experiences prompts me to reach higher than I have ever tried to before, this lovely state of Vermont also holds my future.
Bridgette Mongeon is a writer artist and now student of Vermont College of Union Institute. She works and studies in her Houston home.
All written work is copyrighted and cannot be used, whole or impart,
without the written consent of the author.
Newsboy- Life Size- The Editions
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon documents the creating of a limited edition, bronze figurine and life-size Newsboy sculpture for the Texas Press Association. Bronzes are available for purchase in both sizes.
First Edition- Texas Press Association
The sculpture was originally commissioned by the Texas Press Association and intended for the State Capitol building in Austin, Texas. For the sculpture to be placed at the capitol building it must first pass through legislation. Until then, it presently resides outside of the Texas Press Association building. If you would like to see the sculpture it is located at 718 W. Fifth St., Austin, TX 78701.
Second Sculpture In The Edition-Tabor City Tribune
The Meyer Gallery in Utah contacted me about the edition of the life-size bronze Newsboy. Their client wanted to buy one in the edition to honor the Tabor City Tribune and the former editor/publisher Walter Horace Carter. They inquired to see if the Newsboy could be recreated with a replica of the Tabor City 1953 newspaper announcing their winning of the Pulitzer. That is where the idea of changing each newspaper for the rest of the newsboy life-size bronze edition came from.
According to the 1953 Tabor City Tribune newspaper that was sent to me, they were the first weekly paper to receive such an honor and shared it with Whiteville News-Reporter. Both papers were chosen for their crusade against the Ku Klux Klan, quite an impressive and courageous accomplishment, in this artist’s opinion. I am thrilled to be a part of this place in history.
The client sent me a copy of the paper. I had to modify the design of the newspaper so that it would translate to bronze, but was able to keep the look, headline and masthead of the paper. To recreate this paper for the bronze a wax is poured for each of the papers that are a part of the sculpture. There are some under his arm, one in his hand and some at his feet. Each must be carved in the wax to represent the new paper and headline. Here you will see the copy of the newspaper, my marker layout, the wax and how all of that transferred into the details of the bronze papers. Of course the back of the paper remains as I created it with the tribute to Skinney and others based on the historical article written by history professor Vincent Digirolamo.
I am still waiting for photographs of the placement of the sculpture and official comments. You can follow these links to read more about Horace Carter, Tabor Tribune and Tabor City.
The Purchase of A Newsboy Sculpture
Bridgette Mongeon created a Newsboy Sculpture for the Texas Press Association. It is a life-size newsboy hawking papers. A small table top version is also available. This is often used as awards or recognition for those who are in the industry.
The Life-Size Newsboy:
An edition of 15 the cost for your bronze is $20,000. plus shipping. You can have your masthead and headline in history reflected in the newsboys bronze papers for an additional cost of $3,000.
The Small Newsboy:
An edition of 100 the cost is $1,350. plus shipping.
You can read about the entire process by following this link of posts.
Newsboy-Completion Of The Newsboy Sculpture
by using chemicals on the heated bronze.
May 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we found out about putting a sculpture together in metal and what can happen.
If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.
foundry on how to create
the color on the bronze
sculpture. She lets him
know what areas she wants light
and what areas she wants
dark. It is a bit of a process,
but, like the rest of this sculpture
process it is worth it in the end.
It has been almost eight months since the beginning of the newsboy sculpture. We are now in the final stage of the process- the patina. Putting different chemicals on the hot metal so that they will cause a reaction creates the patina. The part of patina is a true art. I wish I knew all of the different chemicals and what they can do. Often, I’ll just ask them, “A little more yellow here.” The patina that will be put on the newsboy sculpture is a traditional patina. Traditional patinas don’t have any stark colors, no blue, green or white. The patina on this sculpture may change over time. Chemicals in and pollution the air can make a patina turn different colors. Water from a nearby sprinkler can also have an affect on the sculpture. The sculpture is heated with a torch and chemicals are sprayed or brushed on the hot metal. It is interesting to see the steam rise off of the newsboy. Sometimes the sculpture will be rubbed back using steal wool or brushes. This brings the metal back while allowing the color to set into the crevices.
I typically like to have lights and darks; the hat will be dark, his shirt lighter, the suspenders darker, pants dark, socks lighter. The difference between the light and the dark helps to make the sculpture look more striking. The different textures I have added to the outfit seem to add color by the affect the patinas have on the textured areas. This adds color without really adding anything.
When I am asked for my opinion of the patina it is always hard for me to see what it will look like when it is waxed. To get a good idea they quickly spray the sculpture with water so that I can see what it will look like with the wax on top of it. I give my final approval and the sculpture is complete.
She wanted movement and passion.
She wanted to remember boys and
young men that were a part in history.
NOTE: Much to my dismay I have learned that the sculpture did not get through the legislature process at the state capitol. There were some stipulations that the capitol did not want sculptures by individual organizations. In other words, would be appropriate to have a war memorial, but because this sculpture is by the Texas Press Association, a group, that is not acceptable.
That is a shame, because in my personal opinion the newsboy represents more than the Texas Press Association. It represents how children had a profound affect on our history, and the importance of the news throughout history.
I have been told that if it cannot be placed at the capitol as of yet. Until the political details are resolved The Newsboy will be installed at the Texas Press Association building just south of the Capitol at 718 W. Fifth St. in Austin, Texas.
Sadly, this ends the newsboy journal. Two sections that were not covered in this documentary was Installation and Dedication. Those are featured in the process pages of John Turner of this website
The rest of the links on the main link chronological page are either news concerning the newsboy or about purchases of other pieces in the editions
DO YOU WANT A NEWSBOY SCULPTURE?