It had not been much more then one year in it’s new home when “growing” got caught up with the wrong crowd. He fought a hard fight, but in the end needed to come to “spa sandy” to rejuvenate. Don’t you worry dear friend, this time I will reinforce you. Those guys can jump on you all they want and only get bruised ribs..
The Cork sculpture was an exciting project created for the Pennsylvania Wine association unveiled at the Farm show in Harrisburg, January 2012. The concept was to create a piece that incorporated corks from several different Pennsylvania vineyards and wineries in the Association. The theme of the installation was “there’s a story behind every cork”. The effort asked wine lovers to share their Pennsylvania wine stories and read some of the many tales submitted by other wine lovers. For every story submitted, the PWA added another cork to its growing collection and donated one dollar to the NCFL, an organization that inspires and engages families in the pursuit of education and learning together. In the end they mailed me boxes of corks they collected and I turned them into clusters that were hung off a sculptural vine structure.
After creating two bike racks for the NKCDC, I fell in love with the concept of creating this kind of function art. I started to seek out other areas that might want an artrack. At this time, The East Falls Development Corporation (EFDC), in Philadelphia, PA sent out a call to artists to create several eco-art fish to install through out the area. This made me immediately think BIKERACK! I called straight away to see if a bike rack would fit into the criteria of the project. They loved the idea so I started plugging away to get a proposal together for them.
Catfish bikerack proposal: to create a linear sculpture that incorporates a variety of scrap metal pieces, including farm equipment, pipe and rebar.
Like all of my work, Catfish is about creating a fluid movement with lines that directs your eye around the sculpture. My goal is to not only to be a source of function but my hope is that I might show people, children especially to recycle. I also secretly dream that catfish will entice the people of East Falls to ride their bikes to work or to the park so that they can use something that I made just for them. I envision kids chaining their bikes and climbing on him. (please don’t fall, ok? i only want happy smiling people around catfish.) I love the idea of beauty found in the mundane concept of a bike rack.
One hot summer day in July, Peter Peacock was born. Penelopy Peahen was created right after making Peter to woo his lonely heart. A scavenged blade guard off of a sickle bar mower was the piece that inspired the creation of Peter. The sickle guard had been filed away in my scrap pile (titled bird beaks) for several years. I randomly came across the part and just knew it needed to become a Peacock. One sickle guard is ceremoniously cut in half to make Peter and his mate Penelopy. I love the ironic symbolism! In turn it makes it very difficult for me when people do not buy them as the life mate pair that they were born to be.