Sculptural animals

 

A Roadrunner sculpture near Las Cruces NM, near I-10. Constructed of junk, the breast is totally made of shoes. 

Posted by Linda Bell of the American Southwest Group on Facebook. She told me "Olin Calk is the artist."

Detail of shoes as feathers on breast of roadrunner

The roadrunner is the official state bird of New Mexico, which explains why artist Olin Calk built a giant recycled roadrunner -- 20 feet tall and 40 feet long -- in Las Cruces in 1993. Back then it stood at the city landfill, and was made exclusively of items salvaged from it: Olin's way to call attention to what he called, "consumption, recycling, and just looking at stuff we throw away."

In early 2001, Olin stripped off the old junk, replaced it with new junk, and moved the roadrunner to a rest stop along Interstate 10, just west of the city. The roadrunner could be seen for miles, and gained a wide new audience of fans. Signs around the sculpture warned of rattlesnakes, but when we stopped by to visit people were blissfully trudging out to the big bird anyway, to pose for snapshots or examine the junk (We did, too).

By 2011 the roadrunner had deteriorated, partly from the elements, partly from grabby visitors. Olin stripped it down and brought it back to his house. It sat there for three years, waiting for the city to determine its fate. Wisely, they decided in favor of the roadrunner, and it was returned to the rest stop in June 2014. By then the landfill had closed, so Olin re-feathered it using thrift store rejects and scrap metal salvaged from the Las Cruces recycling center. It now has eyes made from Volkswagen headlights, as well as a body augmented with old sneakers, golf clubs, and plastic toys.

The roadrunner is now also perched atop a fake rock, which Olin hopes will discourage souvenir-hunters and the occasional idiots who in the past would "ride" the roadrunner. As far as we know the rattlesnakes are still there, too, so watch out.

SOURCE: Roadside America

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Bill Reid was born in 1920 in Victoria, BC. His father was an American of Scottish-German origin and his mother a Haida, born in Skidegate, and descendant of a lineage from T’anuu, Haida Gwaii.

While in his twenties, Reid spent time with his maternal grandfather, Charles Gladstone, a carver and silversmith, who was the nephew and heir of the 19th-century Haida artist, Charles Edenshaw. It was the work of these and other Haida artists that inspired Reid to build on their legacy.

Already working in Toronto as a CBC radio announcer, Reid studied European goldsmithing in Toronto before returning to British Columbia in the early 1950s. By applying these jewellery techniques to Haida art, he pushed the old forms in new directions. Later, when he became afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, he began working on a monumental scale, creating sculptures in wood and bronze with studio assistants.

Bill Reid was a pivotal force in bringing his ancestors’ visual traditions into modern forms and to a wider public. He died in 1998.

Source: Jenny Mendes Ceramics, Facebook

And another view of Raven and first man by Bill Reid. The glass above is from some military turret that was in a war.

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Made to honor all homeless cats...in Germany. At first I thought the sculpture was on the building corner, but it's free-standing on a pillar. 

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Sharing with Saturday's Critters

Oh look, a fairy that missed her post yesterday!

Spirit of the Night (1879). John Atkinson Grimshaw

Today's quote:

My pottery: A three-footed bowl

Nu... or Na...

I can't write out the words, because my dear Google watchers (HI Guys- though I know you have no gender, indeed, you're not even human) have banned me from watching a show, and then taken other actions.  Back up a bit, you say.

Nudes and nudity are ok...as an artist I've looked at a lot of models; and there are still nudist camps in Florida I'm pretty sure.  And when I took art classes with nude models, they are called figure drawing these days, it was an ok word.  We laughed at learning that naked meant what porn is all about...the use of sex objectified for pleasure of men and boys. (and maybe some girls and women, who knows...)

But last week, another potter blogger (and teacher) gave the link to The Great Pottery Throwdown, a Brittish show that is all about challenging potters to make things in competition with each other.  That week (episode 6) was to make a statue from a model...and they had a man and woman posing...in the Greek style.

I believe the editorial bots have no idea what Greek art was all about.  The YouTube posting had a disclaimer that it was ok for adult viewing.  I have trouble finding any photos of nude models (except athletic young men!) when I search for them. Apparently the beautiful females have been removed by some censors!

My friend in my pottery studio here in town, had watched several other episodes, and when I told her about this one, she went home and tried to watch it. Yesterday she told me it had been taken down. She couldn't get the YouTube show.  We laughed at how us senior women potters had now been marked as liking porn.

Ha ha.

Not funny today - when I went back to his blog (which I noticed hadn't been automatically added to mine every day as it had in the past...all posts missing for the past week!) and he had another The Great Pottery Throwdown link for YouTube. Yep, it came up fine. Fireplace tiles. Yep.

So I scrolled back to the one he posted last week, and sure enough, the link to that YouTube with Greek style statues of nude figures worked. I copied the link to share with my friend. Who knew what reason it wasn't working on YouTube for her, remember us laughing about it yesterday.

And my whole Safari program crashed.

Blink?

That's the Apple version of Chrome or FireFox on a PC.  The entire internet carrier was dumped. I still had internet, and the computer was running fine. But apparently it was a trigger to someone out there that I'd logged onto that site, and was copying it. Less than 3 seconds and it went off. Then I had to wait another 30 seconds of repeated trying to turn it back on. Click, click, click...been put on a wait, click click, click. (Yes that hesitation is something to watch out for ladies.)

So I finally booted my internet program Safari back up. And not to be paranoid or anything, wanted to tell someone. So I wrote an email on my gmail account and sent it to a friend...without either Greek statues, or naming the way the figures were dressed (or undressed, but draped).

Yes, big Brother is watching. I know google just sent out a new "terms of use" which probably has fine print somewhere that says, "we're monitoring the words you use, and the links you look at." I've just had that confirmed in a strange way.  I wonder what other lists I'm on. Definitely the anti-Frump one. And the matriarchy vs patriarchy one. And women's power, if that is separate. I don't use many swear words, so I'm probably not on that Christian list. Oh, I'm definitely on the "religions of the world vs. Christians are the only right people" list. And I like the idea of immigrants getting help to become US citizens (won't use the trigger word Sanc...ary.) I'm on a Roe v Wade list...and racial disparities. I hope that I'm on the list of good citizens who vote too. Watch out!

So now I'm not too happy about being watched. As a US citizen, where is my freedom of speech?  This is what happened when we changed something on internet a few years ago, remember folks? I just barely do. It was kind of warned against, then just happened.

Cue Twilight Zone music here.

Did I tell you about Fred?

Fred Feldman joined the clay studio, and is working on mixed media sculptures.  Some are entirely clay, which is what I posted over on my other blog, here.

But here are some of his extraordinary wood sculptures.  They remind me of Louise Nevelson's assemblages.

Fred Feldman and a wood sculpture outside his studio/home, Oct 13, 2012

Glass fronted sculptures of "found objects" are scattered throughout Feldman's home.

Even the  kitchen windowsill has some of Feldman's creatures growing spider plants.

This looks like a quite functioning throne, er chair.

This coffee table has definitely served as a conversation piece.  But all of this house is full of these kinds of pieces, inviting you to spend time exploring each one.

Not every piece has a price tag, but I'd dare say most of them do.

These are examples of his custom made speaker systems

The coat closet has a sense of whimsey.

A natural knot in the wood makes the eye here.

Again Fred found what the wood offered, and added to it.

And there are so many other pieces, this just is a hint of what you can see if you visit his studio/home. It's open again tomorrow (Oct 14) as part of The East of Asheville Studio Tour.

There are also refreshments, of course.  And Linda, Fred's lovely wife, will be there to talk about her weaving, if you're interested.

Bye for now.