Recent Media on The Newsboy Sculpture
‘Newsboy’ sculpture unveiled
By Dori O’Neal, Herald staff writer -September 4, 2009
When it comes to hawking newspapers, the first thing most people think of is the paperboy from yesteryear.
You know the one. He sported a Gatsby hat and wool knickers and stood on street corners waving the latest edition while hollering, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”
The Downtown Kennewick Merchants Association thought the same thing and paid homage to that historic newsboy by adding its latest public sculpture — aptly titled Newsboy — to the corner of Dayton Street and Kennewick Avenue.
The unveiling was Thursday and kicked off Kennewick’s monthly art walk festivities.
The 4-foot-tall bronze was created by artist Bridgette Mongeon of Texas. She has two other similar newsboy sculptures on display in Austin, Texas, and in North Carolina, said Tim Dalton, executive director of the merchants association.
“We wanted to add a piece of public art like this to our collection because of the historic aspect the newspaper has played here for many, many years,” Dalton said.
The statue is a block south of the Tri-City Herald which has been in downtown Kennewick since 1948, when it moved into a former cannery.
The sculpture depicts a young man holding a newspaper high over his head. The newspaper’s flag reads “Tri-City Herald” above the top story about a Grapefest celebration.
“Grapefest started in 1910,” Dalton said. “It’s not the most continuous festival in the Tri-Cities but it is the oldest so it seemed appropriate to have it be the lead story on the newspaper.”
Several dozen people gathered Thursday for the unveiling as Mark Blotz, president of the downtown association, touted the volunteerism that went into the planning of the project.
Nicole Stewart, 33, lives across the street from the sculpture’s new home and likes the idea of having a piece of art to look at from her kitchen window each day.
“It’s truly awesome,” she said. “Not many places offer this kind of outdoor art.”
Brothers Daxton, 6, and Clayton Doty, 11, thought the sculpture was cool, but didn’t find it inspiring enough to sign up for a paper route, they said.
The sculpture cost $22,000. About $10,000 was raised by the merchant association through fundraisers. The Herald donated $3,500 with several businesses and private citizens donating the rest, Dalton said.
Blotz hopes to see every corner in downtown Kennewick with a piece of public art one day. The downtown area now has eight pieces.
“To have one on every corner would be wonderful,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
My Precious Mom and Cohost- Now Resides in Heaven- Press Release for God’s Word Collectibles
We are saddened that Barbara Ingersoll, one of the cohosts of the Inspiration/Generations Podcast that was known as Graham and was mother to cohost Bridgette Mongeon, grandmother to cohost Christina Sizemore, has gone to be with the Lord. Barbara was getting quite a following since the conception of the podcasts in 2008. The podcasts were born out of fervent prayer between the three women.
Barbara reports in one of the first podcasts, “Four years ago I fell and broke both of my hips so that has put an end to physically active ministry for me, but though I am in my 70’s and disabled, it does not put an end to the work of the Holy Spirit through me or through anyone really. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to do this podcast because I can’t do active ministry, but I can do this, talking on the phone and that is easy for me.”
Barbara suffered from osteoarthritis and several other ailments through her life. She lived almost every day of her life in pain, yet God sustained her and strengthened her faith. The three women discussed just before Barbara’s death that the Generational podcast can continue through the many journals that Barbara has written over her lifetime. In one of the last entries Barbara states, “ I proclaim to all the earth and all powers and principalities that these are healing podcasts —no matter where you are in your walk with the Lord… However far you have come in your journey.”
Before her passing Barbara participated in over 38 podcasts. Her last interview was with Ruth Graham, together they talked about healing hurting women. That was a yearning for Barbara throughout her entire life. In her younger days she developed support groups for hurting women and then trained leaders for support groups. She did this throughout western New York and Canada. The transition from life to life everlasting held its own blessings and are recorded in a podcast titled “What happens at Death.” Where the two cohosts report on the conversations and visitations that their mom and grandmother had from those who went before her. This part of death was a touching and healing process for all. On Thursday Augusts 20, 2009 a memorial service was held for Barbara. This too has also been added to this list of podcasts as her life and ministry were celebrated by many.
There is nothing more honoring for Barbara’s life to have her ministry continue to help women. To have her past, her fortitude and struggles make a difference in someone else’s life. We ask that you continue to pray for the Inspiration/Generations podcast, become a regular listener and share the links with others.
You can find the podcast at http://www.godsword.net and read the bios of the hosts. The site tells you how to subscribe in Itunes. You can also find the podcasts on the Gods’ Word Facebook Fans page.
If you would like to make a donation to the Inspiration/Generations podcast ministry you can do so through the secure servers at Pay Pal or by sending a check to God’s Word Collectible Sculptures Inspirations/Generations Podcast PO Box, 10562, Houston, Texas 77206. We would also like to encourage you to support our sponsor. God’s Word Collectibles.
The Newsboy Will Ship in The Morning!
Today was the day that we put color on the life-size newsboy sculpture that is headed to Kennewick, Washington. As I mentioned, the shipping company is picking it up in the morning.
The color on a bronze is referred to as the Patina. This sculpture has a traditional patina.
The client asked to see all of the papers that we created representing the Tri City Herald. There are some under the newsboys arm, one in his right hand and a stack at his feet. All have the headline and masthead of the client’s newspaper.
Upon arriving the sculpture has been sand blasted. It looks less shiny than it did when we were here just last week. The sculpture, once sand blasted is ready to receive the patina.
To create the patina the foundry man first heats up the sculpture and then sprays and brushed on different chemicals. He will rub back areas that are supposed to be lighter. I like to alternate color, shoes dark, socks light, pants dark, shirt light etc. Though once placed outdoors the traditional patina will continue to darken. The foundry puts a protective coat of lacquer on the sculpture one the entire patina is complete.
I’m including some close ups of the detail in the shoe. Yes, it is a sculpted shoe. And my signature and copyright on the piece is in the inside of the newspaper that the young man is holding under his arm. Of course there are other things in the newspapers that carry a story, but that is for another post.
Tomorrow the sculpture is crated and shipped. I can’t wait to see the newsboy placed.
What is a Metal Check?
In the very last stage of the foundry process the foundry will call me in for a metal check. I go over the sculpture looking for any imperfections in the metal and marking them with a marker. Of course the Foundry does a wonderful job. Miguel is a great worker and I trust him with my work implicitly. But I still give a once over. The next step is to patina or color the metal. That is scheduled for Tuesday and then the sculpture is off to Kennewick Washington through my shipping company. In 6-8 working days it will be there. Here are some photographs from today’s visit. One of the best workers in the foundry industry Miguel and his boss and owner of Fine Arts Foundry of Texas, Scott Yoast.
Newsboy Commemorates Journalism…Again!
Another life-size newsboy bronze has been sold! You may remember it started with “Dusty” in Austin, Texas, and Then “Billy” in Tabor City, North Carolina. Now another young boy will be hawking papers in the North West. The third in the edition of 10 has been sold to the historical town of Kennewick, Washington Delivery of this third newsboy is expected in August. We have been working on him diligently and thought I would show the progress.
The Foundry is working diligently to get this young man together for shipping to Washington. Legs have been chased and put together, as well as upper torso. A few more pieces to weld together then it is off to Patina. Looks like we are inline with our delivery date. So exciting. I can’t wait to see him installed.
Mud.. What?
What is Mudbox? It is a digital sculpting tool. Just in case you have not deducted that from my previous posts. Yes it is like sculpting in real physical form, but… it is in my computer.
here is a photograph of what the program looks like. You can see the sculpting tools on the bottom and you can work in layers as well. There are also textures that can be used. I wish I could write more, but for now I hope this suffices. I’m on a deadline for writing this Mudbox book and need to get back to my chapters.
Check out the gallery on the Mudbox forum to see some spectacular work created in Mudbox.
Check out Bridgette’s book Digital Sculpting with Mudbox
A Few Questions Answered
Someone who was reading my posts and may be interested in Mudbox had a few questions. I thought I should probably answer them publicly. If he had a question than others may as well. The questions are as follows.
“You mentioned having problems with Mudbox and your Mac. You added RAM, changed the graphic board, and then said something about the problem was the OS version 10.5.7. Were all these necessary to have the program run correctly or was it just the OS? If so, were you able to go back to 10.5.6?”
I suppose I should mention some of the history of Mudbox. We should go back to late 2007 when Autodesk, one of the leaders in 2D and 3D design and engineering software purchased Mudbox from the New Zealand company Skymatter.
The biggest competition for Mudbox is Pixologic’s Zbrush.Z brush Demo came out in December 2002. It is a good program but in my opinion, not as intuitive or easy to learn as Mudbox. Even so, once I have tackled this book project I do intend to devour Z Brush as well.
Autodesk is a big company and having Autodesk behind a program is a huge thing. Both my co-author and myself feel that Mudbox is something to watch. I’m thrilled to be in on the ground floor with our book. Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques For Artists Publisher Focal Press.
I have to give Mudbox commendations for quickly making a Mac version. It took Z brush a long time to come out with a Mac version. It was released in June of this year. Mudbox mac verions came out in May.
Needless to say there will probably be some bugs in a new version, but really there has been very little. My biggest difficulty was a graphics card. There seemed to be little suggestions offered on the Mudbox site concerning a desktop computer running mudbox. But finally, I changed my card and feel confident.
Unfortantely the biggest problem with my card seemed to have nothing to do with Mudbox. But may instead be something with the operating system, as another person reported that the same thing happens with him using different software. The problem when using another program, say photoshop or and clicking on that with my mouse, and then going back to Mudbox and turning my model which is a option>left mouse key, the model would flip upside down and my other program would hide. It was infuriating at first and when I got my new graphics card and it sill happened I was so mad. But the work around is simple. I just need to remember to tap on the Cintq tablet anywhere before pressing down the option key and turning my image. Once I do that, No problem!
Much has transpired in the last few months concerning this project and working in Mudbox. We have a deadline with the publisher and no software. That was frustrating. How do you write a book without software for the Mac? For a while I was able to run Mudbox on the PC side of a Mac using bootcamp, but it was a little frustrating for me. Different keys etc. So, yes Mudbox is running fine on my Mac with 10.5.7
When mudbox for the Mac began to ship in May, I was elated. I’m not sure how many Mac users there are but there are definitely some at Autodesk as I have been speaking to them.
RAM
I didn’t really need the extra ram that I bought to use Mudbox. The specs say that Mudbox can run on 1 gig but 2 is recommended. It is very important for both my co author and I to be able to write a book with instructions on a program that any one can use. Sure everyone would like to ramp up their computers and push the program to the limits. But we are keeping the average user in mind. Not the studio designer.
My basic reason for getting more ram is that I am also doing audio and video, and really wanted to begin to do video tutorials using such programs as Mudbox or zbrush. with that… well I needed a little more.
Graphics card
Here is a stickler and there does seem to be more cards for PC’s than Mac’s. But this new card was not terribly expensive, and I am glad I got it.
I do hope that has answered some of the questions. Be watching for what happens with Mudbox. Thanks for the questions, and keep them coming.
For those interested my present configurations are.
Mac Pro Mac OS X 10.5.7
2 x3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
12 GB 667 MH DDR2 FB-DIMM
Was using ATI Radeon X1900 XT- it was buggy
NOW WITH NEW CARD ATI radeon 4870
Dual displays
20 ” display
20″ Cintiq tablet
A Sneak Peek To What Is in Our New Book!
Most of you know that I am writing a book with Miguel de la Flor called Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques For Artists.
We hope to make it a bit different than most digital sculpting books. I am so tired of seeing monsters and aliens in all of theses books and as one person recently wrote to me and said, “I am very excited to hear about your book and I definitely fills a gap. Most of the digital books I have found are for gamers creating characters.” That is so great to hear. I am thrilled about bridging this gap between digital and traditional and the new technology that is coming out is incredible.
So I thought I would share with you a little sneak peek of what is in the book. This is Amy. In the book I will be sculpting her both traditionally and digitally and giving the instructions on how to do this. Though she is not quite complete here she is.
Oh yes, and with this process you will be able to take any loved one and do the same thing. this is after all- portrait sculpting digitally!
Watch Out Digital Gamers- The Traditional Sculptors Have Arrived!
It is my personal quest to bridge the gap between digital and traditional sculpting. Technology is changing and new tools are available! Remember how photography used to be done? OK it is still done with film, but we all see the advantages to going digital. So it is with sculpting. That is why I am so excited about the book that we are writing. Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques For Artists. We hope it is not just another digital book showing a software, but that it is an art book as well. That people will buy it not just because of Mudbox, but because they want to have the resources that are in the book to learn from and refer back to no matter what program they are working in.
It is grueling work, and the publisher is breathing down our necks to get more in quicker, but there have been so many setbacks, as you may know by my previous posts. For example Mudbox was not available for the Mac until just a few months ago, and for me that was a huge setback. Then my graphics card did not work with Mudbox once I got it.
I can’t wait until it is complete but for now— back to writing.
I Know It Looks Like I Fell Of The Face Of The Earth
Yes, the posts in my blog have been scarce. I am still here, and have not fallen off the face of the earth. I’m just focusing on getting my chapters into the publisher. That is taking all of my focus and concentration.
Of course I have had other distractions as well.
* Bidding on new sculpting jobs in the studio
* Taking care of jobs in house, or at the foundry
* Visiting with my daughter and new son-in- law, when they came into town
* Taking care of elderly relatives- it seems like that is my other job. Yes, I am at that stage in my life.
* Working on my house, or portions of it that seem to be crying for my attention, and just won’t wait anymore.
But mostly it has been the book. Hopefully this chapter will be out this next week and I’ll be able to see straight. Of course it will be on to the next chapter.