Notes on Sculptures

 

The earliest work shown is a wood piece done in England in 1951.  I was drafted shortly after and served in the infantry in Korea.  When discharged, I attended Cranbrook Academy of Art for one and a half years.  During that period I did a number of pieces and some painting.  In 1955 I was  hired to by  the Art Department at the University of Michigan where I taught sculpture and basic design.   Teaching took a lot of my attention and left little time to make sculpture. I left the university in 1959 to  pursue an independent career in sculpture.   Only two sculptures are illustrated from this period: the “Dancer” and the “Heroic Figure.” 

 

                                                     Sculpture - THREE DIMENSIONS

Bronze - other metals - mixed media 

The bronzes were made by an ancient casting system known as “investment casting” or “lost wax   casting.” A wax sculpture is encased in a clay type mold; then under high heat the wax is burned out of the mold and melted bronze is poured in the void. Thus the phrase "lost wax casting.”  I modeled some of the sculptures directly in wax  but If the sculpture is made of something other than wax, a mold is made of the piece, usually of rubber, and wax castings are made from it.  I cast the early bronzes myself.   After 1980 they were cast  in a foundry specializing in investment casting.  The aluminum, stainless steel and iron pieces were cast in industrial foundries using  sand mold systems.    The sculptures in the mixed media category are made of various materials such as wood, cast urethanes, fiber reinforced epoxy resins, and fiber reinforced very special hard plaster.  If painted, lacquer or latex paint was used.   


SCULPTURE IN RELIEF

These sculptures were first carved in thick and dense styrofoam boards; sometimes  with a clay overlay modeled on the surface.  A plaster mold is made from the styrofoam sculpture in which the final form is cast in fiber reinforced special plaster which has a hardness similar to concrete.  I cast some relief sculptures in fiber reinforced epoxy or polyester resins.  The castings are then finished with sharp tools and sand paper prior to painting.  In some works, cast aluminum  shapes are attached.


MONUMENTAL IDEAS

Several ideas for large scale works in various media are pictured.  The twenty foot high precast     concrete tower was commissioned by Wausau Tile of Wausau,Wisconsin and cast in their plant.

  

PRECAST CONCRETE PLAY SCULPTURES AND SITE AMENITIES

In 1960 I established Form, Inc. to manufacture concrete play sculptures and site amenities of my design.  By 1970 my company manufactured products in Michigan and California and delivered them with our own trucks nationwide.  Some products were shipped overseas.  In 1981 the business was sold to Wausau Tile Co., a leading precast concrete company in the U.S.  They continue to make many products of my design.

Drawing

Various Media

I have great respect for the broad tradition of drawing in western and other cultures. Drawing has always been a source of exploration and mostly pleasure for me and is essential in developing ideas for sculpture.  I especially like drawing from nature. It forces one to really study its infinite complexity.  Trees, rock formations, animal forms and the human figure have become part of the vocabulary of forms used in my sculpture.

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