Sharon Que’s Musically Inspired Sculptures

Ann Arbor’s own Sharon Que is an American hybrid artist. While being a patron of music and specializing in violin restoration and repair, she finds herself creating a number of assemblage sculptures in her spare time. With her musical background in mind, Sharon bridges the gap of media and goes even further with her pieces. She tackles imagery in her work by mixing forms pertaining to issues of spiritual, secular and mathematical relation. The Detroit Institute of Arts acquired and displayed some of her works as well. She’s had various solo exhibitions in Ann Arbor, Birmingham, and recently in Fort Masin Center (San Fransisco) in 2005.

 

 

Sharon’s deep, yet industrialized compositions speak of her mind’s conversation with the world, addressing her own thoughts as a person facing every issue we all face today in a modern society. Some of her public sculptures blend well in their own hybrid forms due to Sharon’s knack for texture manipulation. Combining smooth surfaces with natural roughs and concrete allows one to fully appreciate the contrast within her artistic works. In 2008 Ann Arbor featured some of her works at the Gallery One in Washtenaw Community College together with some works by Tom Phardel.

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The Walk of Ideas Sculpture in Berlin

Six sculptures were designed by Scholz & Friends for the 2006 football world cup (FIFA). These six sculptures were set in Berlin and made a part of Germany’s Idea campaign; “Deutschland – Land der Ideen”, and were named “The Walk of Ideas”. They were put up for a certain period of time, but made a big impact on tourists who visited the nation for the big event. Among the sculptures, there were many that conveyed thought, idea and innovation throughout the country’s history. These sculptures cost about 300,000 euros each from start to finish, and were made with a new kind of material called Neopor. The sculptures consisted of these designed subjects: A series of books with names of German poets and writers, a giant tablet signifying the milestone of medicine, a few huge musical notes to symbolize bach, beethoven and the rest of their musical prodigies, a silver car signifying contributions in the automobile discovery, A modernized foot ball boot, and Einstein’s equation: E=mc squared. The feedback from the worldwide community was simply astonishing. The British Times, CNN and many other coverage media companies broadcasted positive clamour for the overall success of the campaign.

They also said that Germany was turning away from pessimism and starting to convey the fact that it was lead by people with vision and a sense of national innovation.The only downside to this series of sculptures was the fact that some people complained that their artistic value was compromised by the “platitudinous advertising”. Examples of these complaints were the fact that the football shoes had stripes that pertained to the Adidas brand and the silver car looked almost exactly like the new Audi model of the time. Some people thought that corporations were behind these seemingly innocent discoveries within the artworks. Despite this, the event was a good thing to have for Germany, and the world appreciated this well-prepared acceptance of the 2006 football world cup. For a land with its history, Germany has really grown into an excellence of creative minds and great thinkers. (Picture Accreditation: Walk of Ideas (Berlin) + Photography by Lienhard Schulz)

The Metal Sculptures of Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson sculpted giants. His passion for huge sculptures made of metal brought his artistic career to great heights. If you’ve been to the Ironworld Discovery Center near Chisholm, Minnesota, you may come across the Ironman statue that stands 11 meters tall as a figure alone. The entire work is 25 meters into the sky (This is not the Ironman from Marvel Comics mind you, he’s a lot smaller.)

 

Many of Anderson’s sculptures  reflected on a type of realism that was  fairly popular for creating commissioned works of famous personalities. They did have a sort of mannerist style to them in the sense of facial structure and anatomical perspective. One of his famous clients was the well known Bishop Frederic Baraga, whom Anderson sculpted a shrine for. Entitled the “Snowshow Priest” in the late 1960’s as a religious monument. The statue eventually stood over ten meters tall and was made out of brass. Baraga was depicted holding a seven-foot cross in his right hand and an 8 meter long pair of snowshoes in his left hand.

Anderson’s many sculptural masterpieces still exist on display today as monuments to remember the lives and influences of his patrons. because of the high durability and lasting strength of his materials, aging did not destroy much of his hard effort. He died on December 5th 1993 in Chassel Michigan, however his legacy stands tall on the shoulders of his metal giants and the memory of his artistic talents.

 

William Pye’s Charybdis Sculpture : A Contained Natural Phenomena

We all know William Pye to be one of the innovative minds behind several out-of-the-box designs like the Antony Cone water sculpture at the Antony House in Cornwall, but this is something even more depth defying than many of his other creations.

Behold Charybdis, a whirlpool vortex contained within an acrylic polymer composition that matches curiosity for awe. Located in Seaham Hall, Sunderland, this magnificent artwork was inspired by Homer’s tales of Scylla and Charybdis, the two sirens whom Zeus had struck to become inhuman entities. Charybdis became a massive vortex that swallowed up ships that strayed too close to her gaping mouth.

You can find his website will all his amazing water sculptures right here.

Acrylic as a Sculpture Media

Acrylic is an industrial material that has several visual properties. Its good durability, coupled with its clear and transparent orientation makes it a good candidate for artistic endeavors. Through the years, people have been upgrading technology to make the usage of acrylics suitable to every household artist. Because of the toxicity in its casting process, it wasn’t widely adapted as a media until now. Acrylic was an intriguing material explored by the great Alexander Calder (inventor of the mobiles). Frederick Hart attempted to first cast it in the 1970’s. He joined with Robert Chase, Sr. and formed a company known as Chesley LLC, which was meant to create acrylic sculptures. Hart finally succeeded in 1982 with his piece “Gerontion.” This brought good news to the art community.

Clear acrylic sculptures are often coveted for their ability to shape light beams. Similar to the properties of glass, acrylic’s physical properties allow a playful distortion of light to shine through it clear interiors. Many acrylic sculptures have trained for more than several years practicing and mastering these unique traits of the medium. Such artists include Vasa Mihich of Vasa Studios, Paul Sable and Melanie Hope.

Colored acrylic sculptures are also a big hit at some places. Shlomi Haziza produces vivid creation of colored acrylic and her works are prized by dozens of patrons coveting her designs. Another artist, Shahrooz Nia has developed a technique for hand-painting acrylic sculptures and giving them the feel of a traditional artwork. Acrylic artists, though in tune with mastery of the media, often report of the difficulty involved with using it. Many galleries that sell pieces made from acrylics offer them at a high price, usually over 2000 US dollars for a standard sized piece.

With technological advancements fast approaching, one may wonder if in the future, more and more innovative artworks will be seen in this ever-curious novelty medium.