Artist Jeanne-Claude Dies But Projects Live On

Environmental artist and sculptor Jeanne-Claude died Wednesday night. She had suffered a brain aneurysm and died from complications.

While it is always sad to learn of anyone's death, it is also wonderful to know that someone has been able to spend their life filled with passion, doing what they love to do.

Jeanne-Claude's husband, fellow artist and collaborator, Christo will continue with the projects that the couple planned. One of those projects is a piece that will span the Arkansas River here in Colorado, near Canon City. It is estimated that this project will be completed in the summer of 2013. Federal approval is still pending for this project; Colorado officials are working with Christo's team to get "Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado" actualized.

Jeanne-Claude was 74 at the time of her death.

To read more about Jeanne-Claude and her husband Christo, click here and you will be taken to their bio page on their site.

Street Painters Amaze Me

Maybe because I am a sculptor not a painter, but these guys who paint 3D images on the street just amaze me!

I had seen Julian Beever's work before and he is fantastic. He works in pastels so his work is, temporal, shall we say.

Recently I was shown some images by another painter who actually paints on the streets and his work has survived rains, but apparently the weather still is the biggest challenge he faces.

Anyway, his name is Edgar Mueller and you can can his work here and also here

I found it really fun to watch the video of the making of one of his pieces, The Crevasse

Environmentally Friendly Art

Being environmentally friendly is important to a lot of industries.

For one artist, his steel sculpture which is petrochemical and VOC free, not only is environmentally friendly in and of itself, it symbolizes the changes made in the industry that commissioned the work.

Mark Leichliter took two years to create a 25 foot tall sculpture that represents classic symbols for electricity (lightning bolts) and water (rain drops). These two pieces now adorn the City of Loveland's Service Center--the home of the Water and Power departments.

The artist admits there were other options that would have been even more environmentally friendly, but they would not have stood up to the strenght and durability requirements that are also emblematic of water and power.

In addition to the sculptures, Xeriscape gardens will be planted and portland-cement-based stucco for finishing the walls that embrace the sculptures, all designed to lower the impact on the environment.