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A Celebration is a commemorative work, designed to honor the life and spirit of a beloved relative. The family wanted a work of art that captured the joyful and larger than life persona that he embodied. They provided photographs, recollections of his life and insights into his character and personality.
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At the family's suggestion, one of his prized possessions, an antique brass ships bell, was incorporated into the sculpture. The bell has both personal and symbolic significance. He spent much of his adult life on oil rigs and pilot boats. |
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Lighthouses and nautical buoys, with their robust skeletal structures, bells and rhythmic motion, were relevant and appropriate physical and visual symbols of his personal passions and life experience . |
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Images of these navigational icons were the inspiration for the sculpture. Based upon my analysis of the subject's character and these visual precedents, I then created a preliminary design for the sculpture using sketches and scale models. The form is abstract and geometric but has identifiable anthropomorphic features.
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I constructed a full size mockup of the sculpture which confirmed the appropriateness of the work's scale and placement on the site. |
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The sculpture is fourteen feet high, ten feet wide, weighs three thousand pounds and is supported on a concrete foundation. With the exception of the brass bell, it is made completely of recycled steel. All of the surfaces are left untreated, allowing the work to weather, over time, to a consistent rusty patina. The work's visual appearance varies throughout the course of the day and seasons with the changing light. |
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A Celebration was conceived as a dynamic interactive experience, not as a passive monument. The subtly arching arms rotate in response to the wind. Visitors walk underneath and up to the torso where they feel literally, and symbolically, embraced by the sculpture. Visitors are able to announce themselves, and engage the subject, by ringing the brass bell. |
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The bell, iIluminated by concealed torches, is the visual and emotional heart of the work, as it glows in the dark, siloetted against the night sky. |
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A Celebration is not merely a work of art, but a destination where family and friends can come for remembrance, reflection, and emotional and spiritual rejuvenation. |
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