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Wishbone House was chosen, by the joint 'Art in America' and Corcoran jury, as the winner in The Corcoran Gallery's School of Art's National Playground Sculpture Competition which was partially funded by The National Endowment for the Arts. Six feet high and eight feet long, this six thousand pound concrete sculpture logically fell, or grew outside of my exhibited work since it was specifically designed for playground use by children and was made during the period when I was producing the large glass constructions. Wishbone House was recently represented in the Museum of Modern Art exhibition |
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As noted in 'Art In America': "the visual and philosophic concerns of the glass sculpture were replaced with other considerations: site, playground, sculptural integrity, appropriate scale, tactile response, climb on, climb in, sit on, shade incorporation, and creating a non-limiting "platform" for children's imagination." The essential ingredient with which I started was an intuitive, varied, playful "S" curve which was repeated with spacing related to the likely movements of children. I was most pleased when my artist friend Jose Bermudez and his son Alexander visited the studio just when an initial full scale section was completed. Alex and the sculpture seemed to fit each other exactly.
The piece was chosen, by the joint Art in America and Corcoran jury, as the winner in The Corcoran Gallery's School of Art's National Playground Sculpture Competition which was partially funded by The National Endowment for the Arts.
Footnote: The prize included installation of one cast in Washington, D.C. When I learned that the cast was to be installed in a wealthy section of Washington, I called the White House to note my degree of unhappiness with that choice. First lady, Mrs. Johnson, who did much to enliven the District's environment, kindly arranged for a second cast to be placed in a less fortunate part of the city. I'll always be greatful for her sensitivity.
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All art, whether it conveys joy or sadness, is a visual symbol of the depth of the human spirit. No human mark is without meaning; nor is the flag. A flag may carry a historical connotation and a visual one. My sense of what our flag should be changed on September 11, 2001; but that story begins on the 10th of September, 2001. On that day my neighbor came over after a call for help and surveyed the problem.... He went down to NYC that afternoon to his job. As a member of Rescue 1, NYC Fire Department, he was one of the first to respond to the World Trade Center call. He died on duty. I thought the only fitting memorial to his courage and proven kindness would be to...more... |
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Cloudlines
In 1964, while my 8 year old daughter was a student at the Langley School in McLean, Virginia, I offered to create a work of art for the school so that students would have the experience of living with art. Langley accepted my idea and helpfully funded the costs. Below is that installation of cast aluminum birds on a 300 square foot exterior wall, later necessarily demolished. In 2008, when Langley was building their new Sherman Art Center, they commissioned a work for the Center that would incorporate new anodized casts of the birds. With more than 1000 square feet of wall space to consider, the new sculpture adds contrasting linear elements - cloudlines - which suggest both cloud formations and sky. The below images represent the process of planning, fabricating, and installing the new sculpture completed in 2009.
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