Sculpture

I decided to scan John with a different scanner, actually a scanning company that has been working with me on another project will be scanning the small clay figure of John. I’m patiently awaiting the scan of the maquette. I have some things that I want to do on the sculpture in the computer.  After that, it will be sent to my enlarging company where they will enlarge John and his dog in urethan foam.  Here is a video showing the CNC milling on the March Hare for the recent Alice in Wonderland sculpture. It is fascinating to see  how it works.

Once milled the urethane foam of John will be shipped to my Houston studio, where we can begin the wonderful process of bringing the sculpture to life. Meanwhile, we have been dismantling the Alice in Wonderland sculpture so that we can repurpose the clay. You can say that John will have a little Wonderland in him. We now have room for John, and are just waiting on the scanning company. Can’t wait to get him here.

I have been working on the shape, form and movement of the John Turner sculpture. It is hard to get a lot of detail because this maquette is just about 17 inches high.  I am trying to do what I can in clay and then I’m scanning this and will do work on it in the computer before sending it to enlarging. A ways to go, but I can’t wait to get the large armature of both of them so I can really work my magic. 

I love hearing memories of my subject. For me this brings them to life, makes them more real and helps me to put life and essence into the clay.  This came from my client. Dave and John have been friends a long time. I’m sorry I don’t have photographs to go with this post.

 FRIENDS FOREVER

Friends from the first grade, but really good friends when David and John started playing sports. David, the mischievous one and John, was one who had to be convinced that skipping school was a lot more fun than going to school. Then when they would get to the train tracks, after skipping school, John would say…..”man, I can’t believe we just did that.” David would say, “well we did and now we are going to ride some horses! ” They would go get the horses and away they would go.

David loved having John as his catcher when they played on the school team for Frisco High School. David said John was a born salesman, because he would convince all the batters that they couldn’t hit, so it made David’s job easy. If they were out with a group of kids from school and if anyone from other schools said anything about Frisco…..John would come out swinging because he didn’t want anyone saying anything bad about Frisco, Texas.

David’s big brother, Bob and Johns bother, Bob Ed, were good friends, so David was always trying to be like Bob and John trying to act like Bob Ed. Bob Ed was both David’s and John’s hero, as he got a contract with the Yankees, but Bob Ed felt like he should be working, so he left the Yankee team and moved back to Frisco.

Joe Bailey, John’s oldest brother, always looked after John and David and ended up marrying David’s second cousin. David loved John’s parents….just hard working, salt of the earth people, who raised their boys to always do the right thing and work hard…..guess that is why John always felt so guilty about playing hooky.

After John lost his sight and all his friends were going off to serve their country, John even tried to enlist by telling them…..”surely there is something I can do to help our country.” John, to this day, worries about our country and the direction it is heading….and stays very current on the world affairs by watching FOX News.

When David came home from Korea, he picked up a few friends that went to school with he and John, picked John up and told him they were going to go to one of their old haunts, which was McKinney….BUT JOHN HAD TO DRIVE. John jumped right in and was ready for the fun. They would tell John where to turn….when to turn and when to stop. John drove around the square and honked and waved at all the girls. They had John drive to Dutton’s Drive In and all the guys in the car started laughing when they got there…..John said “what are ya’ll laughing about,” they all said….John, you just pulled up right next to a cop!!” They all had a ball and John did not even have a wreck!

The one thing that David always has admired about John was his determination to succeed and succeed he did and has always excelled at everything he has done…..David said it best….”John does not have any QUIT IN HIM…….HE JUST NEVER GIVES UP.” For all these years David and John have always called each other, to stay in touch and since about 1999, they have spent every New Year’s Day together…..really catching up….eating tamales and black eyed peas!

I have been spending a lot of time these days watching the seeing eye dog channel and watching the behavior of a seeing eye dog. Working on the small maquette and hope to show the client in the next couple of weeks. Even though it is a rough maquette to basically show myself and the client the position, pose, interaction etc. I feel I have the spirit of John in the piece.  Stay tuned.

I spoke with David Johnson of Seeing Eye Inc.  As I work with my own sculpture of John Turner I have many questions.

• Where does the dog face? 
• How close to the man is he?
• Where is he in association to the handler? 
• What is the hold on the Harness?

 David helped me a lot.  I am surprised at how much this  David spoke a lot about John turner.  HEre is his correspondence.

David told me about a sculpture similar to the one that I am doing. In fact I’m surprised that we have both come up with the same pose. According to WIKI.

” On April 29, 2005, a sculpture titled The Way to Independence was unveiled on Morristown Green in Morristown. The sculpture of Frank and Buddy, created by John Seward Johnson II, is made of bronze and painted in full color. It captures the pair in mid-stride, with Frank motioning his hand ahead as if he is giving Buddy the “forward” command. “

I wish I had a photograph to show of this sculpture. I was first motivated to create the type of work that I do because of a piece I had seen of Seward Johnson when I was young.  I like the work, but have always felt that the faces lacked something. Even with all of the detail and color, it lacked something. It is my own personal opinion and I still love the work, but that is my observation. Seward is noted for his full color patinas. I prefer a traditional bronze patina.

“Please find the attached photo of a photo of Morris Frank and Buddy III that was used for our sculpture in Morristown. It gives good movement and posture perspective not dissimilar to John Turner.

 As I mentioned earlier,

John is an honored and cherished graduate of The Seeing Eye. 25% of our Board of Trustees is comprised of graduates of the program, and John held a board seat for a number of years. John has been a huge advocate of our school for as long as I have known him, and I have had the privilege of being in class with him more than once. One of John’s hallmarks is that when he is engaged in conversation with you, you are the only person on earth. He is extremely sincere and a worthy opponent in debate. John has remained so close to The Seeing Eye that he opens his home to our staff any time we are in the Dallas area. Just last summer he, Linda, and Jessica entertained a dozen of us at their dinner table. John’s blessings before a meal in our presence always involve kind words and tearful emotion about his dogs, his instructors, and our organization. I am honored to call him a friend. One of the most endearing things about John is that we might not speak for months, and out of the blue he will leave me a message wishing me a good day and telling me how much our organization has meant to him in his life. He’s better than a paycheck.”

All of this is so inspiring, I can hardly wait to get back to sculpting.

One of the most important elements to a sculpture is the foundry. The foundry is what makes my work into metal. It is a very interesting process that I will be sharing on this blogs I create John. When an artist starts a project they must obtain quotes from a foundry. Then the job is awarded to a foundry.

Shidoni Foundry in New Mexico is working on my Alice in Wonderland Project.  They specialize in very large sculptures and are perfect for that job.

I am happy to be working a little closer to home with the sculpture of John Turner and delighted to announce that The Fine Art Foundry of Texas has been awarded the casting of the sculpture of John Turner.  I have a long working relationship with The Fine Arts Foundry of Texas and their main worker, Miguel is the best in the business. Miguel has cast multiple projects for me. Below is a sample of the many pieces of work that Miguel has done for me. Keep following along with this blog to see the foundry process.

I was delighted to be with John Turner and his family the day that city council of Frisco, Texas declared John Turner day. It appears, that John is continuously being honored for his accomplishments and contributions. 

 What do I know of John?

 He does not sit still. He told me repeatedly about the 80,000 miles he has taken on his journey with his dogs since 1953.

 How many dogs?

 Here is a list of John’s Seeing Eye dogs and the date he met his dogs:
1. Villa November 21,1953
2. Inky February 15, 1964
3. Pepper May 1, 1977
4. Gordy April 7, 1979
5. Steffie January 4,1989
6. Corinne September 20,1993
7. Robyn March 29, 2003
8. Eben May 23, 2014

 We are honoring each of these dogs by putting their names and footprints that are left in the sidewalk as John walks on. These dogs gave John his freedom.

 The sculpture will be of John at a quick pace. He is on the go. These dogs gave him that freedom. All of his guide dogs were trained at The Seeing Eye, Inc. in Morristown, NJ.

Their web site is www.SeeingEye.org. I have asked The Seeing Eye Inc for more information on their dogs and facility, perhaps they will give us some guest blog “dog” posts. It sure will help me. It will add more passion to the piece. I can’t help but wonder, what does the dog look like who is aware and walking and doing their job. Are their ears perked, tail high or low? I suppose each dog is different, but knowing dogs I would assume that a seeing eye dog has a certain personality. I can’t wait to hear more about it from the SeeingEye. This will help me with the sculpture.

 In an interview today someone asked me how I capture the essence of someone.

That is exactly what I am after. I don’t just want a likeness I want the spirit of the person. Often when creating a sculpture I don’t get to meet my subject. In this case I did get to meet John. I could see his spirit.  John Turner has a tremendous amount of spirit.

The essence comes from a few other places. The first is through the loved ones that know the person. That is why I ask you to send me your stories, thoughts and ways you have been touched by John Turner.

I received some photographs today. I’m thrilled to have them. The pose with John, his dog and his brief case is very similar to the pose I had in mind. I can’t wait to get started.