Barnboard Marquetry

I used to argue that monumental sculpture was artistic hubris. Blow it up and call it art. What could you say in 18 feet you couldn't say in 18 inches? Then I was offered a barn wall to play on. Now I see blank walls begging for wooden compositions.

Bird Island


Portrait Mural
No sooner do you create categories than the work eludes them. This double portrait mural hangs between the monumental and the intimate.

The Owl and the Pussycat

Click for blowup

Tom and Tina Edwards are collectors of art, and have taken to calling their new house "The Catbird Seat." When they decided to beautify the old garage in their side lot, they commissioned me to illustrate the idea. Tina works as a water-safety instrutor, and Tom is a school principal, so the Owl and the Pussycat came together on a pea-green boat/swing. Of course no one calls it the "Catbird Seat."

Before
 These beasts are pieced up out of weathered lumber (and a touch of stain for the vest and boat). Their appearance is intended to evolve as the wood ages. The figured ash should be quite exciting in a few years.

After

The Moose and The Sternmaid

The Moose and the Sternmaid were conjured up as gates for the Maine Festival (RIP), and later installed 8 times in various locales. I never did get a decent picture of them.

The idea was to mock the Maine State Seal, with it's brawny farmer with sythe and the little sailorboy with his anchor. Nowadays you're more likely to encounter some moose with a chainsaw, and the fleet is full of sternmaids, flippers and all.
These color snaps were taken by Susan Drucker at the Festival, and you can (sort of) see the effects of weathering -- at least on the colors -- by comparison. My attempt is to put together enough textural and grain contrasts so when it all goes gray the images still work.
My favorite part of this piece is the Sternmaid's face. Oh, and those knotty breasts.

The pair stayed out at the town landing for the winter of 2001-2002, but when the frost came out of the ground in a rainy gale that spring, they both blew down. The Moose took a header on a boulder and was fragmented. Now the whole scene is in a pile behind Seven Eagles. They really need a permanent home on some wall.