Thursday, May 28, 2009

National Sculpture Society Meets in Loveland, Colorado

Approximately 140 sculptors from around the USA are in Loveland, Colorado beginning today through Sunday for the National Sculpture Society meeting.

NSS is a nonprofit organization of professional sculptors, and they are holding their annual meeting in Loveland--a town well known for it's sculpture parks, foundries, large outdoor shows every summer, and the numerous sculptors who reside her.

One of the topics of discussion at this year's meeting will be submitting proposals for commission and some of the challenges that may arise during the commission process.

In addition to the discussions, there will be tours of studios of several of the Loveland area sculptors, including Jane DeDecker, Kristen Kokkin, the Lundeen family, Herb Mignery, Rosetta, Mel Schockner and kent Ullberg.

Saturday night they will have an honors and award dinner.

Sculpture conservation will be the topic for the panel discussion on Sunday. Included in this discussion will be conserving the integrity of your work, selecting materials etc to maintain the quality of the sculpture over a long period of time.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Oldest Sculpture Ever Found in Germany


Read a cool bit about potentially the worlds oldest carving being found in Germany.


World's oldest carving of a human found in German cave

A carving of a human figure has been found in Germany that is said to be 35,000 years old - which would make it the oldest such sculpture ever discovered.Scientists unearthed the piece - in the shape of a woman with XXL breasts and mega-hips - in the town of Alb-Donau-Kreis in Baden Württemberg.

The woman is carved out of ivory and is at least 35,000 years old, according to archaeologist Nicholas Conrad who writes for ‘Nature’ magazine.

It is a potentially crucial find which gives an entirely new look at the development of art in Europe and the whole world.

The six cm-tall statue has a large bust and enlarged vulva and was found in September 2008 during a dig at a cave in Schelklingen.

It has been described as extremely detailed but bizarre - the sexual organs are exaggerated and the legs and arms are shortened. It is thought to be an artistic impression of fertility.

Perhaps the cave was a sexual hiding place. In 2005, researches found a 20cm-long 28,000-year-old piece of stone shaped like a penis in the same cave.

The new discovery - dubbed Venus - will be on display in Stuttgart from September 18 2008 until January 2010.


Source for this news is Bild.com a German news agency...click here to see original article or to find related items on Bild

Friday, May 8, 2009

Stone Sculpting Workshop May and June with Stalin Tafura

Those of us who live in the Denver area have been very fortunate to have numerous master sculptors from Zimbabwe provide workshops--thanks to the Chapungu Sculpture Park, whose Director is Roy Guthrie.

I am proud to call Stalin Tafura friend...he comes from a long line of talented stone sculptors. While you can see the family style reflected in Stalin's work (he is part of the famous Nyanhongo family)he has forged his own style that embraces his heritage while setting himself apart.

I am thrilled to share the news that Stalin will be the Master Carver at workshops sponsored by Chapugu this summer--the first workshops begin next week...so don't delay. There are only a limited number of workshops and one of the best things is the groups are always kept small. You get lots of attention and coaching. These workshops are great for beginners with no experience and also for sculptors with experience but want to have a different perspective.

You can book online at Chapungu Sculpture Park

You may have seen exhibitions or participated in workshops either at the Denver Botanic Gardens or in Loveland...Chapungu has also had exhibitions and workshops in England and across the US, but Loveland, Colorado is proud to claim them as "ours"...

If you aren't from Loveland, be sure to come and experience why we are received the Governor's Art Award for 2008--be sure to stroll our sculpture parks and see our many fine galleries!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Local Church Discovers Stained Glass Window

I drove by a nearby church the other day on the way to a meeting. I noticed there were giving the old girl a facelift. Seems like I've been seeing that a lot lately.
I was in Denver a couple weeks ago and saw workers restoring a wonderful old Victorian. Driving through Loveland I saw at least three major restoration projects underway.

I love that people care enough to preserve these beautiful old buildings where are really works of art.

The local church announced today that during their restoration process they discovered a beautiful stained glass window. Possibly covered in 1914 when a pipe organ was installed…hiding the window…and with no records that the window was even there, it remained hidden until now. The theory is the window was covered to block sunlight and heat which would have come in through the window, possibly damaging the organ.

Art comes in so many forms…interesting that to preserve one piece of art (the organ) another was covered (the window)…it was deemed less important…so unimportant in fact that no record was kept of its presence.

Sometimes we treat our art as being less, or more, important than another art form. This story reminds me that all of our art has a place and deserves to be honored. That might create some challenges in how we can honor them all when it may appear that by doing so sets up a conflict.

Maybe that is when we (or someone else) can be most creative and by being aware of the beauty around us already and collaborating with it we can create something even better than our individual efforts would have been.