#762 "Orchard Porker"

 

"Orchard Porker"

14"H 21"W 10"D

Edition 50

5,400

   Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#539 In the museums: Prix de West weekend, con't . . .

The Prix de West weekend is over . . . my work was well received and sales were brisk.   It's a great feeling for an artist to see names pulled out of the box and sales posted!  Below, are images of three of the four works I exhibited.
"Requiem for the Fallen" can be seen on the previous post . . .  # 538.

 Falcon Flight

20"H 19"W 8"D

King of the Coop  

18"H 18"W 7"D

Ed. 65

Retail 4,200

 King of the Coop

18"H 18"W 7"D

Tethered and Tangled

7"H 10"W 7"D

This was my 26th year participating in the prestigious invitational at the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City.  Museum shows such as the Prix de West and the winter invitational - the Autry in Los Angeles - continue to play a major role in the resurgent interest and excellence in figurative and representational art.

Below, are images and memories of the 2014 Prix de West.

King of the Coop  

18"H 18"W 7"D

Ed. 65

Retail 4,200

Below, the light was beautiful on James Earle Fraser's "End of the Trail" at the museum.

Below, I'm with Greg Simon, chairman of the Prix de West Art Committee.

Below, the new incoming President of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum: Dr. Steven Karr.

Below, the sculpture, "Pigmalion" sold in the fun-filled Saturday night gala, sale, and auction.   The annual auction carries the festiveness of Prix de West into the Awards Banquet and provides important fundraising support for the museum.  

Pigmalion
18"H 18"W 11"D

To learn more about the subjects in this blog go to the links below.  

For a complete list of the blog index go to the Index Page and 

type the subject in the Search This Blog link on the right.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#501 Museum Shows: The Autry, con't . . .

The Autry weekend is over and below are

 images and memories of one of the most important
exhibitions of representational art in the country:
The Autry Masters.  
I enjoyed good sales, met lots of collectors and saw many old friends.






The exhibition is open Sat. Feb 1, through Sun, Mar 16, 2014

 more information start with post #498, Jan. 22 and go to

theautry.org/masters

Below, the high-relief sculpture, Hawkeye, is mounted for a wall hanging.

Below, Great Horned Owl, 5 x 7 oil on panel.

Below, are images of the new works that were introduced at the

Autry Museum's Masters of the American West Exhibition and Sale.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish Smith

#500 Museum Shows: The Autry, con't . . . "Pigmalion"

"The Masters of Western Art is recognized as the premier Western art exhibition and sale in the country," 
said John Geraghty, Autry Museum Trustee and Special Advisor to Masters.  "It has become the benchmark for 
each of the other major art events and has brought the nation's most prominent artists and supporters to the Autry.  
Our artists have provided an exceptional presentation of paintings and sculptures for the 2014 Masters.  In their capable hands, we can rest assured that the Western art genre remains strong and will thrive for many generations to come."

For more information start with post #498, Jan. 22 and go to
theautry.org/masters

Shown below, is another new work for my 2014 shows.
Pigmalion (18"H 18"W 11"D) will be introduced at the Autry Museum's Masters of the American West Show.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish Smith

#463 In the field: Buffalo Bill Art Show . . . Quick Draw

I attend several museum sponsored, invitational art shows during the year,
and the annual September Rendezvous Royale show in Cody, Wyoming  

is one of my favorites.  www.rendezvousroyale.org

Held at the prestigious Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and surrounded by the majesty of the Greater Yellowstone Region, the celebrated art show, sale, and quick draw is one of the west's most popular art destinations. www.bbhc.org

Below, collectors love the excitement of a Quick Draw, and the Cody, Wyoming show presents a fast-paced and popular event for art lovers.  Painters and sculptors are given one hour to create a work of art.
The rules are strict:  Painters start with a blank canvas, and sculptors start with a blank armature.

Fifty painters and sculptors participated in this year's event.
The horn sounds and the artists give it their best shot!

Below, I start with a lump of clay and a drawing of my idea for a one hour creation . . .
a functional art sculpture of a kitchen pot hook;  a pig portrait is my subject.

Below,  the horn sounds and work is underway.

Below, collectors enjoy seeing the process.

Below, my watch reminds me . . . I have 31 minuets to complete the work.

Below, is the work completed in one hour . . .  entitled Cocina Queen Pot Hook.  
 The sculpture was popular and multiple castings sold at the auction that followed the Quick Draw.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott

#444 In the studio: "Pigmalion"

No aspect of animal sculpture seems as misunderstood than the artist's deliberate humanization of an animal.
How often one hears, "Isn't that animal cute?" or "Look at the adorable expression on that critter's face."  Yes,
an animal can seem cute and adorable, and certainly, the goal of the artist is to evoke an emotional response.
However, the artist who truly knows the animal will avoid sentimentalism and the purposeful exploitation of emotion
by refraining from humanizing the creatures's expression.

The artist's dilemma can be confusing because the chosen gesture may be dignified, clumsy, intelligent, humorous, powerful, and so on . . . all adjectives that are associated with humans and all subjective!  What artist is not flattered when the viewer says "that animal has personality!" . . .  I certainly am!  At the risk of contradicting myself,
I've decided that whimsy should override sentimentalism!

Below is a closeup of a recent sculpture entitled Pigmalion.
It is a variation of an earlier, wildly popular work, entitled Eat More Beef.  

When the sculptor makes unbiased design decisions about what is considered important about the subject, 
when the artist is in touch with the reason or motive for sculpting the creature, 
when truths are understood about the animal, only then can the sculpture come to life.

Below are two images of Pigmalion in progress.

Below is Pigmalion cast in bronze.

Throughout the centuries, the pig has been defamed, insulted, and condemned as morally and physically unworthy, filthy, and stupid.  It's been my best selling subject.

All sculpture - copyright Sandy Scott

#335 In the field: Travel in October

October has been a whirlwind month of travel, work, pleasure and activity:  The month began at the Brookgreen Gardens, brookgreen.org, trustees meeting in Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina; later, an art show in Little Rock, where I revisited the Clinton Library “Presidential Eagle”, “River Market Pig” and received a wonderful commission to install a pelican monument in the wetlands project adjoining the Clinton Library.

Then, a fly in moose hunt north of Kenora, Ontario where I got the coming year’s venison for the freezer; and finally, I returned to my beloved cabin/studio on Lake of the Woods, Ontario Canada, where I will work and remain until the lake freezes and forces me to leave the island sanctuary.

Below: Top; Presidential Eagle, Clinton Library; Bottom; Eat More Beef

#269 Remarque: "Swine Song"

The associations people have made with the word "pig" are not glamorous and there are many negative connotations attached to the word.  Throughout the centuries, the pig has been defamed, insulted and condemned as morally and physically unworthy and stupid. However, pigs rank fourth in animal intelligence behind chimps, dolphins and elephants.

At right, Trish stands next to Swine Song at a recent Prix de West exhibition. Collectors love the pig image, and over the years it has been one of my best selling subjects.  

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals ...

They are brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, 

caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, 

fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.

                                                                                               - Henry Beston

Swine Song

40"H 40"W 26"D
Edition 75
33,000

#246 Functional art: "Pig I Door Knocker"

Over the years, I have designed many works that can be put to practical use:  Bookends, door knockers, fountains, wine buckets, sundials and hooks for horse bridles, dog leashes, kitchen pots, fishing creels, heavy hunter's coats, etc.

Pig I Door Knocker

10"H 8"W 5"D

For additional images see Posts #113, 114, 115 on December 20 - 22, 2011.

#217 In the field: Brookgreen Gardens

                              

Brookgreen Gardens, the first public sculpture garden in America, has in its collection more than1,600 works by over 350 sculptors. Exhibited within the gardens is the largest and most comprehensive collection of American figurative sculpture in the world, by sculptors who worked from the early nineteenth century to the present. Brookgreen Gardens is a National Historical Landmark, and is accredited by the American Association of Museums. Brookgreen offers workshops in sculpture by nationally known sculptors throughout the year. brookgreen.org  See posts  #'s 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49, starting Oct.3, 2011 for more information.

Last week was spent at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC teaching a bird anatomy and sculpture workshop, and in the field; researching and photographing birds and animals of the low country.                                                                            

Above right is the entrance to Brookgreen Gardens:  Fighting Stallions by Anna Hyatt Huntington

Eat More Beef, located in the Children's Sculpture Garden at Brookgreen,

is one of 4 of my sculptures in the museum's permanent collection 

#133 Remarque: "Eat More Beef"

Humans and pigs have a strong affinity.  People smile when they see a pig and often they are considered cute.  Yes, an animal can seem cute and certainly, the goal of the artist is to evoke an emotional response.

However, my goal while designing Eat More Beef was to avoid "cuteness" and the exploitation of emotion by humanizing the creature's expression.  I wanted to emphasize mass while portraying a typical pose and presenting a strong yet delightful presence.


Eat More Beef  has credentials and is in the permeant collection of two major American museums.  Shown is Trish with the monument in the Children's Sculpture Garden at Brookgreen Gardens, Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.  It is also in the R.W. Norton Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana.

Eat More Beef Monument

56" H

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#132 In the studio: "Eat More Beef"

This clay model entitled Eat More Beef  is ready to mold.
The image and design has been popular and has been sculpted and presented in several sizes including a 7 foot high Colossus.

The 18" high sculpture is a commission and is a mirror image of a previously cast same-size version.

I like pigs.

Dogs look up to us.

Cats look down on us.

Pigs treat us as equals.

                                      -Winston Churchill

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish