Haiku Man by Glenn Zweygardt

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Cast Bronze, Cast Glass, Stone, 120" × 44" × 21"

EXHIBITION CLASS II, 2002-2004, Purchase Award Winner

Located in Sculpture Garden, Front Lawn of Bologna Performing Arts Center

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HOMETOWN:

Alfred Station, New York

FROM THE ARTIST:

"Finding ones place in a relationship with nature is the theme of my sculpture. While working with materials such as metal and stone, a relationship between nature and myself is formed. Further, I want to tell stories and comment on my collective life experience and my perception of a collective consciousness? Hopefully, these ideas and expressions will enter into human consciousness and the fourth dimension."

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The works of Glenn Zweygardt are simultaneously ancient and contemporary. With his use of diverse materials - cast bronze, glass, iron, marble, stainless steel, stone and granite - he creates complex media sculptures that exemplify a master of the three dimensional form. Zweygardt possesses an uncanny ability to fuse dissimilar elements and concepts, natural occurring and fabricated forms, into structures that command the attention if the observer. This interaction of artist, nature and technology has a unifying affect on the observer's imagery and psyche.

Duplication and relationship is a recurring theme found throughout Zweygardt's work. A carefully chosen stone, cast and duplicated in bronze, aluminum or steel becomes the basis of definite architectural themes that manifest in a range of sizes. Zweygardt's mastery of the building process along with his ability to create enormous works of art from materials of tremendous mass has gained him international recognition and membership to the Berman Group, a cooperative of sculptors whose collective work spans virtually the entire spectrum of possibilities of "traditional" modernist sculpture.

Kansas born, Zweygardt earned the BFA degree from Wichita State in 1967. He received the MFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in 1969 and is an emeritus Professor of Sculpture at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Zweygardt works independently in his immense workshop in Alfred Station, New York. Here his work continues to evolve-varied shapes and rich surfaces, transparent and dense forms, concept and technical relationships, personal and collective perceptions-into fine art of eminent legacy.

Stone Clone X by Glenn Zweygardt

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Stone, Cast Iron, Stainless Steel, 124" × 62" × 28"

CREATION DATE:

2010

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HOMETOWN:

Alfred Station, New York

FROM THE ARTIST:

"Science is great; mankind rises and falls from ideas and thoughts, the perceptions of a civilization. When scientists cloned Dolly the sheep, I felt impelled to "clone" a stone, thus, the iron casting of a stone. Be sure to walk around the piece and compare the cloned elements. Finding ones place in a relationship with nature is the theme of my sculpture. While working with materials such as metal and stone, a relationship between nature and myself is formed. Further, I want to tell stories and comment on my collective life experience and my perception of a collective consciousness? Hopefully, these ideas and expressions will enter into human consciousness and the fourth dimension."

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The works of Glenn Zweygardt are simultaneously ancient and contemporary. With his use of diverse materials - cast bronze, glass, iron, marble, stainless steel, stone and granite - he creates complex media sculptures that exemplify a master of the three dimensional form. Zweygardt possesses an uncanny ability to fuse dissimilar elements and concepts, natural occurring and fabricated forms, into structures that command the attention if the observer. This interaction of artist, nature and technology has a unifying affect on the observer's imagery and psyche.

Duplication and relationship is a recurring theme found throughout Zweygardt's work. A carefully chosen stone, cast and duplicated in bronze, aluminum or steel becomes the basis of definite architectural themes that manifest in a range of sizes. Zweygardt's mastery of the building process along with his ability to create enormous works of art from materials of tremendous mass has gained him international recognition and membership to the Berman Group, a cooperative of sculptors whose collective work spans virtually the entire spectrum of possibilities of "traditional" modernist sculpture.

Kansas born, Zweygardt earned the BFA degree from Wichita State in 1967. He received the MFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in 1969 and is an emeritus Professor of Sculpture at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Zweygardt works independently in his immense workshop in Alfred Station, New York. Here his work continues to evolve-varied shapes and rich surfaces, transparent and dense forms, concept and technical relationships, personal and collective perceptions-into fine art of eminent legacy.

Torso by Lynn Olson

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Fiber Cement, 42 ½”

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HOMETOWN:

Valparaiso, Indiana

FROM THE ARTIST:

“My sculptural work has developed techniques for making portland cement into a direct aesthetic medium. The direct modeling techniques that I have developed free cement sculpture from the limiting and restrictive constrictions of the casting process. These direct techniques now make it possible to build steel reinforced cement designs of any size and of any complexity. Steel wool fibers, carbon fibers and pigments in white cement matrix now make it possible to shape the most intricate surface details. This fiber-cement surface can be tool worked and polished to reveal rich and intriguing grain and color qualities.

My study of cement technology and steel reinforcement has developed procedures for producing durable, weatherproof and permanent outdoor sculptures. I have designed and built several durable, steel reinforced cement matrix sculptures that were commissioned and are now installed in both outdoor and interior locations. Stainless steel reinforcement is now used exclusively in all my cement sculptures.”

Tara Firma by Marie C. T. Lentsch

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Steel, 40" (three spheres)

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HOMETOWN:

Waterloo, Iowa

THREE STEEL BALLS, FIVE MISSISSIPPI BOULDERS

An Artist's Statement by Marie Camille Truscott Lentsch

MA THE MEDICINE BALL

This was the first one, female, how is that!?

Gentler, was the smaller one;

The medicine ball, full of wishes, half shiny, half rusty;

Some welds polished, some smooth.

Our eggs are round and there is an internal equator;

Longitudes and latitudes polished off,

Like peeling an orange apart, the segments go together.

When complete, I rolled it everywhere — across campus, up stairs and down, put it in my truck for a drive. It became an entity. I know it sounds silly to do that, but I did. It looked regal on some brick walls. But closer to the earth was best for this ball. Then after awhile, I got an urge to do two . . .

SUN BALL

The second steel ball;

Easier to form, firmer with convictions ping.

Ting into place, tack welded never a pop. Shiny, a companion bright.

I rolled it around, too. Sealed it so tight, it could actually float on water. Maybe it was left on the shore when the ocean changed its mind. The slag from the weld makes a sound inside, a metally tinkling sound, like those baby toys that tinkle when they roll in a zig zag. The second size was actually easier to weld, the gores went together with less force and weren't so spring loaded as the first ball.

They looked cool hanging out in the shop together, a couple! It was funny and fun to see them. Then...that's right, oh my, yes...a third one.

BAMBINI BALL

. . . was the third. How did the third ball get so big? It was just a baby!

How babies are bigger than all reality when they arrive and though they are tiny and precious; their entry and presence is immense.

Well, that is how it should be. And each generation gets bigger, expands larger and heals wider — forward and backward.

Look what we created!

How to be three was now the new form.

Where would they go and how did they fit? Compassion becomes curious.

Then I saw them amidst some large rocks, nestled in, as you see them now.

Generous memories in Mississippi boulders, solidified compassion that was once sand, from a river shore mingling nearing the ocean. The estuary of evolution — sourced.

Someone there found them for me, to complete this piece. That was nice, who was that, there are five of them and they did appear for Tara Firma to be placed amongst. Thank you to whoever did that!

TARA is the Tibetan Goddess of Compassion and Wisdom. TERRA FIRMA is solid Earth. TARA FIRMA is the family of solid compassion on Earth; set firm and tucked in with some other gifts of the Earth. Shiny bright, modern made, in complimentary contrast to solid stone of an earth from another time remembered, both together, like family, isn't it?

Guardian by Wayne Trapp

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Corten Steel, 156" × 46" × 52"

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HOMETOWN:

Vilas, North Carolina

FROM THE ARTIST:

"Space is a critical part of sculpture. If you agree that space exists and then break it apart by projecting into it, is that not a contradiction or a denial of the reality of space? How does one avoid the contradiction? Calder tried with his moving wires. Picasso tried with wire structures that one actually walks into--but they don't work. The moment you put anything into space you consume space and it no longer exists. Then again, there are Gabo's clear forms. They exist while giving the illusion of not consuming space. Perhaps that's the road to travel, but where does it lead? Perhaps it leads to 'nothingness' — just the mind imagining that something exists."

Equation to Intimacy by Marie C. T. Lentsch

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PIECE SPECIFICATIONS:

Stainless Steel, 120" × 50" 22"

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HOMETOWN:

Waterloo, Iowa

FROM THE ARTIST:

"Creating is great....intimacy. I wanted to go vertical in this intimacy, from being a painter to being a sculptor, from a flat canvas of color to a shimmery vertical canvas of shiny steel. It was a seemingly simple step.

Give back the SKY!

I took a piece of chalk, kneeled down on the floor of the shop and I drew a circle around myself as far as I could reach. I wanted to know what my 20 (plus or minus) feet of diameter looked like, was the original wonder.

I found the arc of my existence, my aura, my energy field — this I just learned from my studies in Kundalini Yoga, seven years later!

I did some math and figured out the degrees and arc of this circle that my arm drew. I took two small squares of steel and rolled them into the same degree, and that is when the two sheets of steel began to dance.

I saw the invisible overlapping of the arcs of two circles and this is where this sculpture called Equation to Intimacy II began.

That space where these two circles arc and overlap — the two circles' intersection, where the centers touch…exactly.

In Sacred Geometry — Vesica Piscis. (I found this word later, too.) This almond, eye shaped space is called this. It is the space created. It is the common ground, the shared vision, between equals called: UNION.

Well, I was very interested in that! I often drew these two arc lines overlapping that make a kind of a fish, kind of a cradle, a sliver moon, in all my doodles, and I always fill the arc, the cradle with hand drawn stars — another of my favorite themes!

Then I took two sheets of 10 foot high stainless steel, with a cardboard cutout of this arc I drew on the ground. I took it and got it rolled. A man named Troy rolled it for me on this big roller; we eyeballed it, and then measured it with the cardboard pattern. Perfect!

Then, I cut two long strips of stainless steel and drew into them the pictographs of my heart. These 2 strips were to hold the piece together, but mainly they were to be like two gills — a place to breathe, to send breath up and down and between.

The messages were inscribed on these panels. Not conscious or obvious messages, just what came out of my drawing. With the fire of the plasma torch, I cut these in. It is good to have space to breathe, and to breathe together, in union.

I polished the surface so it would be full of energy, to be sourced at all times, and it gives it a holographic feel and a depth of fascination. It is smooth to the touch, it is irresistible sometimes.

Call it a vertical river of dancing light. A commitment to do the equation, each side must do their own part of this equation, but it is all complete; whether one is doing it with a pencil in long hand, or is lightning fast and can do it with a couple of symbols and letters. Like Einstein decanted, it always all adds up to union and it is about equality."