Behind the Scenes @ the Foundry w/ Griffon & Crazyhorse

It’s been fantastic to spend so much time in cool Colorado while overseeing the casting process for these two beasts. My dear friend and long time collaborator, patina artist Karl Reichley (CA), will join me in Colorado soon to help complete these four new works (the first two of each edition) with stunning finishes.

Griffon, 45”h—bronze, limited edition of 5; Crazyhorse, 45”h—bronze, limited edition of 5. Call or Email for more info and current pricing.

Wintry Mix of New Maquettes, Somewhere Out West...

Cooking up NEW work while Griffon & Crazyhorse are “cooking” at the bronze foundry. I feel good about how my wire drawings scaled-up, but I know from experience that once I start to add mass and articulate the negative space(s) each piece often changes significantly, and therefore has about a fifty percent chance of success. So let’s see how they shape up…time will tell!

Griffon Lands in Bronze this Spring

Officially, I am spending the winter/spring out West (again) to supervise my bronze castings. Unofficially, however…

I signed the waxes for four new bronze sculptures last Friday: Griffon (44h x 32w x 12in), & Crazyhorse (45h x 28w x 13in). Currently in the gating stage of casting, the first two of each of these editions (limited to 5 each) will be ready by April. Meanwhile, it’s great to be out West—catching up on a bit of climbing and snowboarding!

Introducing: Fugue #2/5, Bronze

The original Fugue—painted magenta—featured in Love Life/S1 E8 Sara Yang (2020): Shown here with scene partners Syrinx (yellow/an early work) & Anna Kendrick. I love the visual punch of the bold, opaque colors I use on all of my original steel & resin works, but the surface and molecular characteristics unique to bronze make it the preferred final medium for my sculpture. Ideally suited for articulating my signature compound curves and dagger-sharp edges—most importantly—this radiant, ancient alloy has a limitless capacity for expressing beguiling, translucent patinas!

Fugue, bronze #2/5 (36h x 12w x 7in) by Dave Stevenson. Contact for purchase info/availability.

Year of The Griffon

Chimaeras have been haunting artists' portfolios since antiquity. Now they've infiltrated mine! An enduring symbol of courage and protection, the Griffon is an apt mascot for 2021. Six months in the making, this has been the most challenging abstraction I have tackled to date. I am currently enlarging my original sculpture from 44 inches to seven feet high in foam & resin by 3D scanning/CNC milling. From there it will be molded and cast in bronze. Fortify your dominion with a pair of Gothic Chimaeras! For pre-sale details: call or write

3D scan digital rendering: life-sized scaling of Dave Stevenson’s new Griffon sculpture.

Mirror-image digital rendering of new Griffon sculpture by New York sculptor Dave Stevenson

And Then the Tiny Elf Clutched His Tiny Tools...

…with His Tiny Hands to Make a Tiny…

Cabri (wild goat), in-progress. Inspired by the impish little beasts that frolic among the hills of St-Barth, F.W.I. (Pendant available in sterling silver, & 18k gold.)

SHARK!

I’ve always wanted to abstract a sleek and fearsome shark, so this is my first stab at the stunning Caribbean Reef Shark, created during the wintry mix of sleet n snow that pounded the City today. The next step is to enlarge this 12” wire drawing to my normal “working scale” of about 2.5-3 feet, then add mass to the wireframe with foam and resin. If I manage to capture the formidable power, speed & beauty of this graceful predator, I’ll mold it & cast it in stainless steel! 

So this is the part where I'm supposed to just add my second photo, the side B if you will, of the same sculpture depicted below. But somehow in the midst of photo-editing I was overcome by an inane will to compose a childish rhyme to go along with it. One silly line led to the next until...well, there's really no fair excuse for it all. May I blame it on a recent weekend in CT with one children's book that could not be put to its fair, final resting place no matter how many pillows we buried it under, repeatedly!? 

I certainly don't want to overwrite the fine song already in your happy head so lets just say the book dealt with one particular redundant BUS ride and its incessant, screeching, howling, desperately in-need-of-oil (and a god-help-us how about a flat tire?) wheels...But jest, do I. My friends have an adorable daughter who I love spending time with. Maybe next time she will have moved on to trains. Trains are good. Trains are fun plus they're a lot faster than buses and... 

P.S. I just wrote a book for Foster (i.e. Annette & Matthew & their Tenacious Bus Song Loving Crew) at the rest stop where I pulled over for coffee on my way to the studio today. I'm about to start the drawings/story-boarding. It's about my beloved kitty Mischka of course...in no small part inspired by conversations with Bunny and our hilarious weekend experiencing Annette's SNL-worthy speed-reading juxtaposed with Matthew's Broadway-beating performances.