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Coming Soon (~12" tall/bronze)
What comes to mind when you think of the Caribbean? Warm sand and sea turtles? Long walks on the beach, breathtaking turquoise water…tiny umbrellas? For me it's wild goats.
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(Please note: These images depict the original wax prototype shot today. Metal images will be uploaded once it is molded and cast.)
Power. Agility. Stamina. Independence: Thunder through the tundra this winter with a striking abstraction of one of Earth's most inspiring creatures. Available exclusively @ the Sculpturezoo Gift Shop.
Sculpturezoo is the crowdfunding platform for The Acrobat Project, a public (bronze) sculpture exhibition by NYC sculptor Dave Stevenson. All proceeds from Sculpturezoo go towards covering the production and installation costs for this special exhibit juried by NYC Parks' Art in the Parks program.
Still nursing! (Available for adoption on Friday, October 27th.)
Boomer takes a seat on the bench next to one of my favorite vintage tools in the studio (updated Nov. 21/2017).
tiny BOOMER basking in the sawdust inside a vintage belt sander gear at StudioDave
NEW tiny bronze dog (1.5"h) atop "NEW" giant vintage black & decker drill press
Measuring. Measuring again...was it 17 and a half, or 18? I had arrived at the foundry thinking cylinder but returned 4 hours and 3 arguments later to my studio with a trapezoidal shape in mind. Pictured here: Brad Conklin of Polich-Tallix (side note: Brad is a master wood sculptor and jack-of-zillion-trades, so I often seek his opinion & expertise). Alas, Peter Ross (also of PTX and possessing of a font of experience & practical know-how-it-all) officially won the unofficial "what base shape?" contest. Cylinder, schmilinder. Thanks Pete!
I cobbled this wooden base together with scrap wood at my studio, even going so far as to lather on a faux patina to double check the scale against my bronze sculpture. It will be fabricated in bronze next week and eventually surfaced with a REAL, stunning patina.
See that tiny little black magic-marker circle? There are a few more of those just out of sight. They mark the final spot-welds I need welded-up and chased. After that, we'll crane-walk it into the patina room!
I drove across the NEW Tappan Zee bridge--just three days after it reopened--on the way to the foundry (& my studio) today. Not exactly the most aesthetically exhilarating experience, but still kind of exciting because I have enjoyed watching it rise S L O W L Y from the Hudson River since the project began.
Once at the foundry, I approved the weld-up for the two sections of Acrobat--making sure both pieces matched perfectly before sealing them together for eternity. It's a symmetrical piece, so sure, I took a few measurements, but mostly it's just done by eye. The "Boomerang" video below shows us preparing to assemble the sculpture using a forklift as a crane.
What's next? I'll grind out and polish the welds tomorrow, and after the holiday weekend I'll map out the final design for the base--then, patina time!
Spot-welding (Thanks, Bob!) some of the small imperfections that occur naturally during the casting process. Afterwards, I ground them down and polished the surface smooth.
Getting close! I finished polishing the two sections of Acrobat @ Polich-Tallix Foundry on Wednesday at their expansive, new location in Walden, NY. Next week we'll weld it back together, make sure the edges line up right, and complete the final tune-up: grinding out the new welds, and giving the entire surface a once over to clear up any remaining imperfections. I haven't finalized the base design, but likely it will be cylindrical and add somewhere between 9-12 inches of height to the 7'3" sculpture.
>in this photo: Artist Dave Stevenson grips his (favorite) formidable 3M, 5" air disc sander...lightweight, tenacious, indefatigable...Almost makes polishing fun!
>"Half-crobats" today @Polich-Tallix Foundry (NEW location) Walden, NY. Polich Polish Punishment Progress?
ACROBAT is Bronze! Now let's see how long it takes me to polish it smooth...
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The Artist & his bossypants Abysinnian at home in "The Chelsea Treehouse", NYC.
This Spring add some Zing to your: lunchbox, skateboard, dumbphone, notebook, litterbox, birdcage, briefcase, suitcase, tacklebox, grandma, sewing machine, guitar amp, forehead, harmonica case, water bottle, learjet, jet ski, wait…you have a jet ski? Put a sticker on it!
Available exclusively from the Gift Shop @ Sculpturezoo.com.
Sculpturezoo.com is my crowdfunding effort to raise a massive bronze sculpture above Tribeca concrete for NYC Parks'/Art in the Parks by summer, 2017.
It’s no secret I hate wax. I should replace hate with loathe. Despise? Maybe detest is better. Except that sounds too academic. Oh, I #^%@&*^ wax!
Chasing, in case you're wondering, is the innocuous term for smoothing out every single unsightly nick and scratch of a wax prototype, and filling any untoward dips and undulations that deviate from or threaten the integrity of the original sculpture. Any imperfection undetected during this stage will show up in bronze, where the labor to rectify it is increased by a factor of 3. Hence the endless mind-numbing pursuit for flaws in the wax. Since the material is inherently soft, repairing one side of a form invariably nicks the opposite side. Pete & Repeat ad nauseum.
The tedious, interminable, agonizing wax stage is a necessary phase of bronze casting. To get through it I take constant breaks. For water. Coffee. M & M’s. I read inane celebrity news. I hang from the rafters. And blame my apathy & indolence on undiagnosed ADHD.
But I'm almost done! Next week we’ll weld up “Acrobat” to set the mounting angle, and cut it back up into 4 sections for final gating to prep for casting. Wax, schmax. Grinding, filing & polishing bronze? That’s The Part I am Looking Forward To!!!!!! I think it’s safe to say everyone in Polich-Tallix’s wax room is looking forward to that too.
Acrobat, wax prototype, 7'3", by Dave Stevenson, Polich-Tallix Foundry
....round & round & round it goes, where the tail will end up, nobody knows...
NEW iguana sculpture by NYC artist Dave Stevenson
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This Winter: Tiny Bunny traps Giant Dog in a perilous game of hide-and-seek. Will Bunny elude Dog in perpetuity, adroitly balanced, fiendishly close, just out of reach? Bunnydog playfully reminds us how often the thing that we’re looking for was actually right there the whole time. Sculpted in resin & finished with a dry-brushed patina. Now available for purchase in the Gift Shop!
Sculpturezoo.com is the crowdfunding site for The Acrobat Project, my public art project for NYC Parks' Art in the Parks, 2017. All proceeds from Gift Shop sales and donations go directly towards production & installation costs for this special exhibition.
Stoked to finally finish this commission, a great "warm up" before tackling the BIG version this winter.
Sculptor Dave Stevenson inside his Chelsea studio with commissioned bronze, Acrobat
Sculpturezoo is my crowdfunding effort to raise an 8 foot tall version of this sculpture above Tribeca concrete, for NYC Parks' Art in the Parks program
This Summer, a satellite swallowed Dragon, the cat nipped our Zombie Pellets and my Kickstarter project…
Pokémon No
Pokémon No: A few weeks ago, one of my outdoor bronze sculptures unceremoniously popped up—without attribution or permission—in the new smartphone gaming phenomenon, Pokémon Go. Flattering isn’t quite the right word to describe this experience, especially since players have been tramping uninvited through my collector’s property to “capture” cartoon monsters. An errant baseball knocked through a window would be preferable to the harassment the game has inflicted. The name of my sculpture is Dragon; if only I could animate it to fight back!!
My portrait of NYC dancer/choreographer Robin Cantrell
Cantrell (14”, steel wire) is a new portrait of the powerful & inspiring NYC dancer/choreographer Robin Cantrell. The first in a small series I have been working on for about a year, it will be enlarged to 8/9 feet high. Ms. Cantrell choreographs and performs with her own company, Indelible Dance (upcoming performances: Sept. 8-10.) and is a member of the globe trotting Battery Dance too. Click the link above and join me in the audience!
Thank you Again to everyone who participated in my summer Kickstarter campaign. Together, we pledged an impressive $16,880 to realize Acrobat in 700 lbs of bronze. Unfortunately, we fell short of the $25,000 target, so according to Kickstarter's rules (ack!), none of your generous pledges can be collected. Remember, you can still visit the Gift Shop here in the Zoo to participate in this cool public art project, or make a direct donation by clicking on any of the Sculpturezoo donate buttons. Projected installation in Tribeca's Finn Park is this winter. As always, feel free to drop in to The Chelsea Treehouse, or come visit StudioDave in the Catskills!
Acrobat (21”) set sail for Galerie Les Artisans in St-Barth today with this pair of troublemakers. Dog-speed!
Thank you all who made it to my last reception by braving that insane weather on the 19th!
SABINA’s LOFT: THURSDAY night, NOV 19, 6-9 PM. 447 W. 36th Street, 4th Floor, Manhattan. Sculpture (bronze/ stainless steel/resin) + Chocolate (bourbon caramel/anise bark/hazelnut torte) + Jewelry (sterling silver/bronze) + Champagne Punch (classified)
