Making use of well worn skateboards- from their scuffed and shredded decks to the hardware that supports them. Betty Stafford’s art digs down through layers of rough use to find resilience, beauty and joy.
For more information, please visit bettystafford.com
In the not too distant past the lower Hudson River Valley was almost completely covered by dense hardwood forests, which in turn provided a suitable habitat for the solitary and majestic moose, the largest herbivore in North America. The Leonia Moose is made of tree limbs from the immediate area, and built onsite. It encourages visitors to reflect on our precarious natural world and to imagine it restored.
For more information, visit albertobursztyn.com
Dates:
Wednesday, October 7, raindate on 14th
Saturday October 17, raindate on the 18th
Time: 2pm. Meet at Sculpture Garden and proceed to the High School either by bus, or self transport by car. 10 person maximum. Masks required and only 5 people on the bus. Please indicate how you would like to travel. Duration is about 1½ hours.
Cost: $20 Mail check to Sculpture for Leonia, 200 Highwood Ave. Leonia NJ 07605 to reserve your space. Include contact information, so we can reach you in case of bad weather.
This “site specific” work expands beyond the individual pedestal piece and creates a space to be explored. The installation resides within a landscape measuring 150 feet by 60 feet. It consists of 87 6-inch round posts of various lengths creating a visual aggregate. The collective posts elicit a loose representation of various support or natural structures, but most importantly it is intended to create an environment without clear boundaries. The viewer becomes part of the work once they enter. The centered concrete cone welcomes the participation.
Allen Terrell spent most of his career as a curator in Los Angeles. He relocated to the East coast to work as a contemporary artist in 2016. He has exhibited extensively in Los Angeles and New York. Allen works with different types of materials. He graduated from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and received his MA from Fuller Theological Seminary.
For more information, please visit ajterrell.com or follow @ajterrellstudio
What is a “Scrapture”? An ecstatic non-static sculpture fashioned from scrap metal. Satyrical. Dynamicaly imbalanced engineering applied to antique steel implements with shapes that inspire visions. Recycled, repurposed, welded and bolted together. They move with the wind.
– Dave Channon
Dave Channon is a multi-media artist who began his career with an apprenticeship to Joseph Cornell when he was 17. He later collaborated with such important artists as Red Grooms, Peter Max, Keith Haring, Phillip Guston, Ralph Fasanella, Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Ron English and Robert Indiana.
Channon’s first show was in 1979 at Franklin Furnace, an alternative art space in lower Manhattan. His sculpture has been favorably mentioned in the New York Times (Grace Glueck) the New Yorker, The Village Voice, Art in America, and New York magazine. During the 1990s, Channon focused on video art and had 250 inventive programs on Manhattan Cable TV, satellite broadcast, included in a Venice Biennale, and screened in museums, clubs and galleries. His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in The New School, The Brooklyn Museum, Ft. Pierce Art Museum, and galleries in Manhattan and Brooklyn. His paintings have been used to illustrate ecological themes in Mother Earth News and other magazines and web venues.
Since moving to Shandaken in 1999, Channon has exhibited at the Rockefeller Stone Barns in Westchester, the Catskill Mountain Foundation Fine Arts Gallery in Hunter and the Erpf Gallery at the Catskill Center. His sculptures have been shown at Wards Island and Governors Island in NYC, Collaborative Concepts outdoor sculpture show in Garrison, NY, at 49A Sculpture Park at the Galli-Curci Mansion in Highmount and the public art park at the Catskill Interpretive Center in Mt. Tremper, NY. His work has been in three Kingston Biennials, CCAN outdoor shows in Red Hook, NY and North Bennington Vermont, and in the Westbeth Gallery in NYC. Channon has exhibited in the 4th and 5th Wilderstein Sculpture Biennials. Visit Channon’s new sculpture installations at Rail Explorers Train Station next to the Emerson Resort, and now at the Woodstock Art Exchange on Rt 28.
For more information, visit esopuscreek.com/
Read Dave’s article that mentions the sculpture in Leonia: Public Art in the Age of Plague
Gilbert Hawkins is a Leonia resident and has exhibited extensively in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the Connecticut area. He has taught in several Universities and schools, notably PACE and New York University. His work has clean lines that encourage the viewer to look beyond the space and incorporate the sculpture in its environment. The edited form and well crafted metal have a strong presence that impacts its surroundings in surprising ways. “Waldorf A”, in blue [powder colored steel, graces the front of the Annex Building.
Luther Hill 2 is an aluminum construction evoking the landscape of rural agrarian Sussex County, New Jersey. Luther Hill of Andover developed an early sweet eating corn relished by my father. Sadly, that farm and so many other farms have passed by the wayside.
Gilbert H. Hawkins is a sculptor, poet and environmental activist. His work is in many prominent collections including Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY. His poetry reflects nature and is influenced by his boyhood summers in Sussex County, NJ. He is a tirelesss advocate for the Hudson River and founded the Overpeck Preserve, an 85 acre wildlife preserve in Bergen County, New Jersey.
For more information, visit gilhawkins.com
The title “Waldorf A” relates to the social genre of New York City in the late fifties. I recall the uniformed doormen of the hotels and posh apartment houses on Manhattan’s east side, polishing the brass door decorations while patrons passed unnoticing. The search for a literal name is quite inadequate nomenclature for the sculptural expression. “Waldorf A’ is a constructivist sculpture composed of shapes and forms found in architecture or industry. The individual pieces are bolted together, rather than welded, because a union created by bolting is both difficult and expressive. In ‘Waldorf A’ the viewer’s eye is drawn to the bisected strong circle at the top of the monolithic construction with each individual piece adding it’s own character to the overall composition.
Though my work has changed from that 1980 purely constructivist period to a search for landscapes, it still remains minimalistic. No one element can be considered decoration or flourish. The only elements in the sculpture are the ones needed for structural composition or expression.
These sculptures were installed outside the new wing of Leonia High School in August of 2018.
Please join us for the 2019 Taste of Leonia
Sunday, October 6 from 1:00 – 3:00PM
Please join us for the 2018 Taste of Leonia
Sunday, October 7 from 1-3pm
Please join us on April 28th 2018, International Sculpture Day, to celebrate and to meet the artists whose sculptures were installed in Leonia last year. There will be a bus tour to visit the sculptures around town and to hear the artists speak about their work.
CONTRIBUTIONS MAY BE SENT TO:
Treasurer, Sculpture for Leonia
200 Highland Avenue
Leonia, NJ 07605
New for Summer 2020: Allen Terrell’s “Trailhead”
“Born in Louisville, Kentucky, I came to New York to work as assistant to the student advisor at International House. I received a B.A. Degree in political science at the University of Louisville. Dedicated to human rights issues as a Southerner, but equally seduced by the arts, I studied sculpture under Peter Agostini at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. I later received an M.A. Degree in Art Education from Columbia University Teachers’ College.
Although my earliest work was representational, I became an abstractionist under the impact of Constantin Brancusi, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. Small ovular and curvilinear forms gave way to more liberating, purely geometric structures that were free to move out of a central core in order to express movement, direction, space and scale. I work almost exclusively, except in works on paper, with curved planar forms and linear straight edges which suggest a more organic approach to form as opposed to the industrial purity of early minimalism. My materials are for the most part welded steel and bronze and I am drawn to both their particular energies.” – Nancy Steinson
For more information, visit nancysteinson.com
“Creating art is a combination of incredibly intense and sublime moments, none of which you control. It’s my job to show up every day ready to work and while it can feel like slogging through deep mud with only a vague notion of the direction you are going – continuing to plod is necessary to end with a result that I would call art. It’s analogous to fishing… you do all the things you’re supposed to do, like get up really early, sit quietly on the river’s edge, watch the water’s surface and with a leap of faith – cast your line. Once you have done all this, it’s up to the gods whether you catch a fish or a tire. If you’re good at your sport, you may be able to ‘feel’ what you’re coming up with, hence the Daimones. But a large part of the process is ‘doing the work’ and taking a leap of faith.
I often say- I’m not strong or courageous, but I don’t mind climbing out on a limb. In some strange way I’m comfortable there.” – Suprina
“Visually and conceptually, Color Field Sculpture® installations simultaneously present a dichotomy and an integration between the corporeal and the intangible – our physical and spiritual aspects. Monumental in size and visual impact, yet illusory, transparent layers play in the changing light to describe: material / immaterial, being / non – being, and the transitory nature of form.
From miniature interior wall pieces to large-scale installations, Parriott’s concept begins with our passage through existence: “existence is the medium through which every aspect of being is transformed.” Overlapping layers of experience translate into sheer sculptural layers that interact with each other, the participant, and the environment.
Largest scale site-specific configurations invite viewers to enter into and move through the sculpture – transitioning through time, space, prismatic patterns of color, blended tints, and optical illusions.
We question our conditioned perceptions and what seems to be, changes.
Color Field Sculpture® Installations Transform Space
Perforated heavy gauge aluminum is rolled, bent or folded by powerful presses as the sculptural concept emerges.
Permanent powder coated color is electrostatically applied to all components.
In a process of welding the artist’s vision to technical necessities, industrial materials are transformed from ordinary “workaday” existence into lyrical multi-dimensional expanses that immerse the viewer in vibrant fields of color.
As light passes through the transparency of the sculpture, the atmosphere shifts; shapes that at first glance appear to be solid and corporeal now elude definition. Mysterious shimmering nuances seem to appear/disappear, and take on an airy quality not usually associated with structurally sound large-scale sculpture.
Created in any size, shape or palette, indoors or out, suspended or anchored, varying hues enhance public spaces, interiors, landscapes, cityscapes, and private gardens – redefining the environment into a canvas of unlimited dimensions bounded only by the specifics of the site.”
– Shelley Parriott
For more information, please visit colorfieldsculpture.com
Large scale group of mushrooms, foam coated with fiberglass. Installed on the front lawn of the Leonia Library. More information coming soon.
“I am drawn to working in the six elements of stone, metal, wood, light, ice and water. It gives me the ability to work intuitively. All possibilities can exist briefly before I impose parameters with regard to my emotional and intellectual contexts.” The undercurrents of natural decay, unity, duality, symmetry, space, time and dimension are at the heart of Tom’s creative energy. “I work seasonally, tracking the weather. Different temperatures demand independent responses to materials and approaches. Ice follows the freezing mark of winter, stone and steel the exterior work space of summer. Spring begins the search for materials and fall settles all debts, emotional, physical and intellectual. My work is my life and I thrive on long days. There is only the transcendence of the everyday. Cooking, friends, love becomes the sublime witness of doing. Process for me is the essence of my day.” – Tom Holmes
For more information, please visit tomholmes.com
cement, stainless steel, paint, 2005
“In the never ending search for the meaning of life, the philosophical question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, suggests that a simple and definitive answer is at hand. Of course the simple answer is evasive and only generates more debate. It is generally assumed that the solution lies within a choice between one or the other proposed answers. I propose that the answer is not a matter of limited choice. The nature of life and art is ever expanding. Growth requires exploration into the undefined. Therefore, I would answer that it is not a choice between the chicken and the egg but rather a third, unspoken choice which is creation. When untapped knowledge (the egg) combines with inspired motivation (the feet) the possibilities are endless and the question of which came first is irrelevant. Creativity is life.” – Ed Benavente
Two life-sized turkeys made of found metal objects. Installed in front of Moore’s Hardware on Broad Avenue.
“Animal forms are central to my work. I find the commonalities of our coexistence a great mystery and comfort. Animals often help us visualize the paradoxes and pathos of our own lives, of our beliefs and philosophies; they reintroduce us to beauty daily, they remind us of fierceness and fragility, they are our boon companions both on earth and on the vast steppes of metaphysics and imagination.” – Hildreth Potts
For more information, visit hildrethpotts.org
“Especially when the environment is under bombardment, I feel strongly about sending a message through my art. For the 2017 Beacon 3D exhibition I have created a “snowflake cactus”, a large ferro-cement sculpture. It is mounted on a steel base and has three sections standing 8.5 feet high and 3 feet wide and long. The sculpture has embedded copper wire on its edges and is painted with ornamental cement stains, paints and sealer.
Cacti sculptures have interested me for the last ten years. One of my desert plant sculptures was modeled after an octoillo plant usually seen in the Southwest and California. I have also done a sguaro cactus, a cactus-cocoon hybrid sculpture, an enlarged ephorbia, an agave-like sculpture and a palm cactus. I enjoy placing these sculptures in northeastern sculpture gardens, courtyards and parks alerting the viewer of the inappropriate place to find these plants. My works are interactive attracting people to see if the sculpture is a real plant or not.” – Naomi Teppich
For more information, please visit naomiteppichsculpt.com
Please join us for the 10th Anniversary Taste of Leonia
Sunday, October 15 from 1-3pm
live music & silent auction from 1 – 4pm
“The totem, Ode to Ninja, is part of a body of work conceived to serve a variety of purposes in the future, and to illuminate the dangers of our current situation. In the mythology of this project, it represents the worship of the Ninja, a creature revered for its endurance, especially during the devastating flooding of the “Tidal Decade”. Ode to Ninja symbolizes my belief in the spiritual as an essential need in art and life.”
– Janice Mauro
For more information, please visit goodwoodstudio.com
“Evolution #1-6 is one in a series of sculptures fabricated in powder coated aluminum. I have been a builder and an artist for over thirty-five years. These works combine my history of working in three dimensions with my intense love of color and form. Each of the pieces in Evolution #1-6 contains the exact shape of its succeeding piece. In other words, each separate sculpture evolves from its previous companion. When assembled together they resemble a creature arising from the primordial ooze.”
– R. Douglass Rice
R. Douglass Rice, who has had studios in New York City and Stonington, Connecticut, has exhibited in the National Arts Club in New York, Mystic Museum of Art, Farrah Damji Galleries in New York and East Hampton, Beef Gallery in San Francisco, Avondale Arts Center in Avondale, RI, and others. He studied at Stanford University, from which he graduated with a BA, the Mendocino Arts Center, and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He currently lives in Stonington, CT.
New Installations: R. Douglass Rice, Evolution #1-6
“I salvage scrap materials and obsolete objects, repurposing and recomposing them as works of art, while combining previously unrelated elements in unusual and unexpected ways. My sculptures evoke the former times, places, lives, unique character, and embedded energy of their source materials. I tell their stories, as I explore and mediate the essential relationship between their form and content.
Ranging in size from the intimate to large scale installations, my sculptures are displayed indoors and out, often in spaces and settings of my own design. Individual works, series, and commissions are included in many private collections and outdoor public exhibitions.”
– Conrad Levenson
For more information, please visit conradlevenson.com
Saturday, April 29 from 2 – 4pm
in the Erika & David Boyd Sculpture Garden
live music by Carol Crittenden
Ulla Novina was born and educated in Sweden and studied sculpture in the studio of Minoru Niizuma. In addition to creating art, she also lectures on art and sculpture. She is a former board member of the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, and the president of the Art Center Sculptor Affiliates.
Novina is represented by Broadfoot & Broadfoot Gallery of Fine Art in Boonton, NJ and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Her sculptures are in many private collections in both the USA and Sweden.
Novina writes: “My sculptures are expressions of my love of and my identification with the stone.
I explore the stone’s natural state and strive to achieve an aesthetic balance between the stone itself and my carved form – a bold union. For me, the non-representational expressive form is truest to this idea.”
Ancient Vessel is installed inside Leonia’s Borough Hall.
For more information, please visit ullanovina.com
Ancient Vessel has been generously donated to the Borough of Leonia.
“Circles represent completion. The rough edges are gone. Peace remains.
50 years ago I started welding. First with cut nails, then stainless steel, in the style of David Smith. As color became available I used color to reflect a changing society.
Current Public Art Installations: Leonia NJ, Bethel CT Town Square, Greenburgh NY Library, Town Hall, Metro North RR Station.
I am currently working under the guidance of David Boyajian at the Sculpture Barn in New Fairfield CT.” – Murray Bodin
For more information visit MurrayBodin.com
Latest Installations: “Ancient Vessel” by Ulla Novina, “Circles XX” by Murray Bodin, “Heritage 2” by Insun Kim, “Moonrise” and “New Bee-ginning” by Bob Madden & “Metropolis” by Joseph Chirchirillo.
Charles Palminteri is a bold, abstract painter of the “action” school. Many of his works are purchased by architects for office buildings and executive homes in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Florida. Mr. Palminteri has exhibited at Foote Cone & Belding in Manhattan, rocheBobois in Estero, Florida, the Sweet Art Gallery in Naples, Florida, the Speak Easy Gallery in Boonton, New Jersey, and the George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University. Palminteri uses a variety of styles and approaches in an abstract expressionist framework. Some are large, gold patterns and shapes developed from Japanese Kanji and Hiragana calligraphy.
The start contrast of these shapes in their background sets up a tension between the negative and positive areas that demand attention from the viewer.
In other works, Palminteri’s lines are soft and flowing. With a series of undercoatings, he achieves a luminosity of color and light. His shapes lead the viewer into a maze of dreams and lunacy. No matter how soft the lines and shapes, the overall message is strong and clear.
A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Palminteri attended the Arts Students League and the Chinese School of Brushwork in New York City. Mr. Palminteri is also a well-known commercial artist and graphic designer whose clients include many Fortune 500 companies.
For more information, please visit artetc.net
“Stone sculpture allows me to speak in a universal language. Creating a stone representation of an idea, a concept, or a feeling for the viewer to interpret through their own experiences begins the unspoken dialog. Stone is my choice of medium because it is perceived as a hard, cold, and unfeeling material. But when stone is presented as a soft or complicated shape, a person will react with amusement and amazement that opens their mind to new possibilities and prompts them to reexamine their views on the broader subject matter.
Generally my work will alternate between two major themes; works which explore our place in the universe, concepts of space, time, destiny, and chance, and the second major theme of interpersonal relationships and the connections that bind people together. Keeping in mind the quote from Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living”, I strive to develop works which ask the viewer to look beyond themselves and see how they relate to the rest of humanity and where they fit in a larger universe. The underlying tone of any specific work may be designed to provoke amusement or serious reflection, but it’s during those moments that the mind opens up to new perspectives. This is the objective of my work.
Carving stone has been my passion for over 30 years. I think of carving stone as a negotiation with the universe; what I want the piece to look like vs. what the stone will allow me to do. It’s humbling to realize that the natural processes that create stone can take millions of years but if I’m impatient in my efforts I can destroy the natural beauty and character of the stone with a single careless hammer strike.” – Bob Madden
For more information, please visit rockandasoftplace.com.
“Nails are very important tools in terms of structure and stability. One nail by itself however can not hold too much together. Much of the time it is necessary for multiples to be used in unison. Each nail represents a person in my work. I use stainless steel nails for the clean and pure appearance. When each nail is welded to the ones next to it, it will visually have a bond specific to that set of nails. Every bond or weld is different which comes to represent the individual relationships between people on a grand scale. Each nail used differs in size from the ones next to it, below it, and above it in a way to simulate the variety found in nature and society. In this event when we take a step back we no longer see each individual nail, but one tree, one tree that encompasses thousands of smaller pieces each have their own bonds and relationships and ultimately play a much larger role maintaining stability and structure through their strength.” – Insun Kim
For more information, please visit insunkim.com.
“Over the course of my career I have been concerned with creating work that is drawn from elements found in nature, a and the mechanical world. My hope is to highlight the similarities and differences of our experiences in the world by creating a “false nature” or nature re-created .
I am interested in finding architectural order emerging from nature and translating that into sculpture. This examination of plant forms is a daily practice for me in the rural environment in which I live. I am amazed how their form and structure relates to man made objects oftentimes in terms of structure and the physical strength of the object.
My goal is to build pieces that are expressive, interesting and also have structural integrity and will withstand the elements.
I build sculpture with a degree of uncertainty and spontaneity. I see it as a conversation with the piece I am working on. I am very process oriented, and these pieces grow and evolve as I continue to work on them.” – Joe Chirchirillo
“Over the last 5 years I have been concerned with creating sculpture that is drawn from elements found in nature, architecture and mechanical world. Sometimes they strike me as parts of decaying buildings, other times as architectural order emerging from nature. There is an intentional vagueness about the visual imagery.
For me, sculpture is about creating what doesn’t exist as opposed to rendering what does. It is a conglomerate object created by someone who is having a conversation with the material and the world around them.
I build these sculptures by casting over steel structure into either molds or wet sand. There is a degree of uncertainty and spontaneity in each casting event. I am very process oriented and these pieces grow and evolve as I continue to work on them.” – Joe Chirchirillo
These sculptures are located on the corner off Fort Lee road and Station Parkway. Ewerdt Hilgemann, distinguished Amsterdam-based German artist is currently showing in Leonia, N.J. The sculptures, ranging in size from 8 to 20 feet in height, were created specially for a Park Avenue, New York City installation using a unique vacuum process, which “implodes” geometric shapes causing the material to deform according to natural laws. Hilgemann developed his method in the early 1980s after experimenting with white wooden wall pieces that captured light, influenced by ZERO movement. Hilgemann’s “implosion” process begins by fabricating perfect, geometrically pure stainless steel forms, which are meticulously welded and polished to satin gloss. After this part of the process is complete, the artist slowly pulls the air out with a vacuum pump, putting the natural atmospheric pressure to sculptural use and collapsing the forms into their final shape. In a delicate balance of planning and chance each piece acquires individual character demonstrating unexpected and striking possibilities of the material.
“To me the implosion represents the inward spiral of energy to reach the core and mystery of matter, the ultimate beauty of creation,” says Hilgemann.
Ewerdt Hilgemann (1938) was born in Witten, Germany and after briefly studying at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster, he attended Werkkunstschule and the University of Saarland in Saarbrücken. In the 1960’s he had residencies at Kätelhöhn Printers in Wamel, Asterstein in Koblenz and Halfmannshof in Gelsenkirchen, Western Germany, and started to exhibit his work across Europe before moving to Gorinchem, The Netherlands; and has had public installations from Busan, Korea to the City of West Hollywood, CA. Since 1984 the artist lives and works in Amsterdam.
For more information please visit www.hilgemann.nl
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This sculpture is located in the sculpture garden. Metal sculptor and multi-media artist Mark Attebery worked previously in stained glass, with over one hundred glass works installed throughout California. In addition to visual arts he’s had a busy career as a composer. He has received numerous music commissions from dance companies, including the Oakland Ballet & Malashock Dance Co. Mark received awards from the San Diego Arts Commission, the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation and Meet the Composer Inc. The American Ceramic Society included Mark’s recordings of experimental clay musical instruments in a CD & Book titled From Mud to Music. He teaches at Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. Mark fabricates his forged and welded steel sculptures in his Nyack, New York studio. His work is exhibited throughout the United States.
Artist Statement: As a sculptor I’m interested in depicting beauty, stillness and most of all a life energy coursing through metal. Flowing movement and sensuous growth observed in nature inspire recent sculptural work. While primarily abstract, these steel sculptures suggest natural phenomena and living organisms inspired by both botany and astronomy. Graceful gestures are forged using traditional blacksmithing, then welded and finished with patinas, electro-plating, automotive paint or powder coating. These are personal choreographic gestures in metal, aiming to capture moments of elemental grace observed in the natural world.
For more information please visit MarkAttebery.com
This sculpture is located on Broad Avenue and Magnolia Place on the Triangle.
“Like my idol, Hans Christian Andersen, and his modern-day counterpart, Walt Disney, I am a storyteller. As a child, I was entranced by Andersen’s Fairy Tales and the mythologies of Greece and Rome. In adolescence and later, as a literature major in college, I discovered the Norse and Druidic legends, and the folk stories of Europe and Asia. Above all, they struck me with their essential wisdom, so concise and profound – that life is what you make it, which is, of course, a function of how you see it.
What I want, more than anything else, is to make a difference in the way people see the world, so they can make a difference in how it is. Too many of our troubles arise from the fact that people view the world as a harsh, unfair place. I say it is a thing of beauty, which, we all know, “is in the eye of the beholder.” By being the “eye” of those who behold my sculptures, I have the rare privilege of sometimes being able to bring beauty to those who might not otherwise find it, and in places where it might not otherwise be found – maybe even creating it.
To this end, my aim, sculpturally, has always been to bring softness out of apparent hardness and harshness. In a sculptural sense, the labor of creating that kind of gentility from stones and bronze is a self-contained structural metaphor for the deeper meaning of my work. That, and the challenge of capturing the one “essential” moment of being that tells the whole story.” – Ailene Fields
Frog Prince has been generously donated to the Borough of Leonia.
Photo by Allan Cyprys
Sometimes my work can be quite literal, as can be seen in this piece. An apparent nod to Robert Indiana, O Sit is functional and not uncomfortable. There may be other meanings to this artwork, but those ar best left to the viewers Rorschach inclinations.
Nature is such a patient teacher. The more we try to emulate her, the more she teaches us.
Past Works
This sculpture was located on Broad Ave in front of the Leonia Elementary School. Artist statement; “Well, yes it’s a chair. What did you think it was? Often we think art is arcane. Sometimes it’s just as literal as the nose on your face. I spend most of my time as an artist solving problems. It’s like Jeopardy. The artwork is the answer to a question. Usually a question I have posed then answered. This time the question was to interpret a chair. Since we have become such a verbal species, language is integral to how we define and explain the world around us. So while you enjoy your surroundings, sit, assis. Seriously, try it out, take a selfie.”
For more information please visit www.von-schmidt.com
Artist statement: I’m a realistic figurative sculptor. I sculpt portraits, busts, &full figures, as well as animals. My inspiration is life, mythology and biblical stories. I enjoy creating a mood and/or capturing a movement. I model in clay and carve stone. I enjoy both mediums. Clay is immediate and stone takes patience.
“Dreams of Glory” is a casting of a original clay sculpture of a boy who has played the game of his life. He is dreaming of becoming a famous professional basketball player. This sculpture won first place in a Hudson River Artist competition.
For more information please visit the artist website: martinglick-sculptor.com
My art is first informed by the humanfigure, its essential vertical presentation with a focus on unique but relatedfrontal and rear views, and the gestalt of interconnected shapes that are bothlinear and volumetric. It is secondarily informed by totem poles of the NativeAmericans of the Pacific Northwest and other tribal cultures from around theworld, with their stacked and interconnected elements that may represent keyfigures or concepts in their myths and legends, combined to “tell a tale” orremind of basic cultural tenets. Though my sculptures do not represent anyspecific events, I imagine my pieces as abstract tales both of personal eventsor generally themes of human experience.
The pieces develop from gesturalsketches based on this visual language of interconnected forms merging anddiverging usually along a vertical axis. Most recently I have worked in forgedsteel which has fostered new gestural elements that this material inspires.
For more information please visit http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/d/dslombardo/
For more information and an excellent article please click link below http://www.northjersey.com/news/a-striking-horse-is-the-latest-example-art-is-thriving-in-leonia-1.1413806
The horse is now located on the Methodist church lawn on Broad Ave. across from the sculpture garden.
For more information on the artist visit http://adrianlandon.com/adrian/sculpture.html
The cow on exhibit in Leonia on Broad Ave. next to the post office, was painted for the CowParade 2007 West Hartford, CT. I call the cow Meissen Cow because the design was painted as exactly as possible to represent the Meissen Blue Onion Pattern. In essence, my vision was to create an image of a giant porcelain cow. The white background is the white of the material from which the cow was manufactured. There are only two added colors – gold and blue called Smalt hue. The blue paint is fairly transparent, and many layers were required to obtain a depth of color.
CowParade is and international public art exhibit that originated in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998. The first US CowParade was in Chicago, followed closely by an exhibit in New York City. Most of the artist for each CowParade are local artist, as transporting an adult size fiberglass cow over large distances is costly. Artist paint and sometimes re-sculpt or add sculpted images to their cows, and these works of art go on exhibit in different cities throughout the world. After being on public display for several months, the cows are sold at CowParade auctions; the money raised goes to a variety of charities.
I have painted three cows for two different West Hartford, CT CowParades. I do not intend to paint any more, as by profession I am not a cow painter. I am however a prize winning artist and mostly create pieces in mixed media. For now my husband and I live in Connecticut. In a year we will be moving to Englewood to live near our Leonia based son, his wife and their three children.
“I want my sculpture to create and activate space with a sense of enrichment. The value that I look for in my work is that it references the environment, giving it the presence of being an important entrance way that encourages a personal path that inspires the way we meet the day.”
– Richard Pitts
Previously instaled at the corner of Woodridge Place and Broad Avenue across from the sculpture garden, currently no longer in Leonia, for more informaton visit the artists website listed below.
“This group of sculptures was completed over a period of seven years. Through the process of fabricating forms in aluminum and completing many smaller sculptures, the larger works took shape. Most works started with brushed aluminum surface, later to be powder coated, a hard and weather-proof finish. Each piece was titled after its surface color.
At first each sculpture was made as an independent work. It was later, after they had been painted that I saw the whole group as one piece. The word “Crayons” was a serendipitous title that I liked because the colors of each sculpture reminded me of a box of crayons.
Crayons are one of the first tools we receive that encourages visual thinking.
These works are meant to activate the imagination, which is the main tool of our destiny.”
– Richard Pitts
For more information please visit www.richardpittssculpture.com
Bogdan Grom, who lived in Englewood and Slovenia until his death at age 95 in November 2013, defied classification as an artist. Born in Trieste, Italy, his artistic roots derive in color and form from the rocky landscapes of the Karst region of his origins. He survived Fascist persecution and came to the United States in 1957.
Mr. Grom worked prolifically in all mediums, from oils, aluminum, tapestry, mosaic, stained glass, fiberglass, paper, and wood. His work in painting, sculpture, print making and designs related to architecture have been recognized in private and museum collections worldwide. His most visible public art…sculptures and mobiles designed to beautify America’s earliest shopping malls…is represented by the two fiberglass seals now happily displayed in Leonia.
Sculpture for Leonia thanks Ms. Nina Woodrow of Englewood, New Jersey, for donating the seals to Leonia. Their whimsical grace charms all who see them. We are truly grateful for this gift.
For more information www.bogdangrom.com
This mosaic piece is located in the sculpture garden and named “Memory crystals” – after the crystals used as storing devices in the Superman films. Researchers now claim that using ultra-fast lasers, we can now encode a piece of quartz with 5D information in the form of nano-structured dots separated by only one millionth of a meter. It is made of painted tempered glass, cement and grout.
Barbara Galazzo’s award-winning creations have been featured in major galleries, museums, and commercial installations. Her work is part of the permanent corporate collections of Kaiser Permanente, Washington DC; Northwestern Hospital, Chicago, Il; Fairmont Princess Hotel, Scottsdale, AZ; the Mayo Clinic, MN; and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Knoxville, TN.
Galazzo is a curator, director and art promoter having created the ArtFull Living Designer Show House, Cold Spring Arts Open Studios Tour and is the curator/director of Gallery 66 NY in Cold Spring, NY.
For more information please visit www.galazzoglass.com
This sculpture is located in the sculpture garden. Motivated by his study of human anatomy and movement, Jack Howard-Potter works with steel to create large-scale figurative sculptures. His work has been on display throughout the world in outdoor sculpture parks, galleries and public art exhibitions.
Howard-Potter grew up in New York City where he was inspired by the public sculpture of Alexander Calder, George Ricky and various performance, dance, and artistic exposure. He earned a BA in Art History and Sculpture from Union College and has been making and displaying his original sculpture since 1997.
After college, Howard-Potter moved to Colorado and worked with a blacksmith creating furniture and learning about the properties of steel, the medium that he would eventually use to create his art. Howard-Potter also gained the skills to convey a heightened sense of fluidity in solid steel while learning about the commercial practices of metalworking.
In 2001 Jack enrolled in anatomy and drawing classes at the Art Students League in New York City to further his skills as a figurative artist and understand how the human form works and moves. Famed artist and instructor at the League for 40 years, Anthony Palumbo, selected Howard-Potter to work as his assistant and eventually became his mentor. For two years Jack immersed himself in the human form, sketching five days each week and completing thousands of drawings. It was this practice that gave him the in-depth knowledge of human anatomy that can be seen in his work today.
For more information or to contact this artist please visit www.steelstatue.com
I sculpt steel. Gas torch cut lines into solid steel releases urgency of my expression. Linear forms of metal stacked and wedged shapes are thrust, leaned, jutted, twisted, and radiate spatial push. Serrated cuts and solids of manipulated I-beams, channels, angles, rods and plate, climb and activate surrounding space. Energy is captured in negative space, mass and volume in unified form.
Mentored by Mark Di Suvero in a studio residency at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY, I refined my sense of large forms and furthered my commitment to sculpture in steel. Since that exploration I have installed many public art sculptures in New York City and vicinity including Long Island, the Tri-State area, the Hudson Valley, and western USA. Various environments, in which my sculptures are placed, transforms the location into a dynamic experience for the viewer.
The direct process of welding, and utilizing torch and flame for cutting metal, culminates through the beauty of smooth hard steel, juxtaposed in energetic angled patterns, releasing vigorous emotions and palpable impact. Steel, sourced for its warmth and structural strength, is transformed into sculptures of beauty, vigor, power and intensity of form.
“ZIG” installed on Broad Ave. in Leonia, New Jersey, is inspired by the famous early 20th Century sculptor, Constantin Brancusi’s “Endless Column”, in Tirgu-Jiu, Romania. The use of the zig zag pattern in the sculpture “ZIG”, stacked to the sky, painted in colors of blue, red and yellow, space is further expanded by the impact of visual color dimensions. Yellow expanding, blue receding and red hanging in mid-air, the piece radiates outward, incorporating negative spaces both within and around the encompassing space of the sculpture and suggests endlessness.
Michael Poast
The split wood and steel sculpture by artist and composer, MICHAEL POAST, is a manifestation that relates to his musical composition written and performed with the InterMedia Ensemble at Saint Peter’s Church at Citicorp Center, NYC, in 2013. Lumen De Lumine, meaning “Light of Light”, is part of the Credo section of the Latin text that Poast used to compose his Color Music Mass. Being sculpted at the same time, splitting wood planks with a sledge hammer and thrusting them ,one after the other, into the vertical steel tube, that forms the lower section of the sculpture, it was as if the split wood, the action of the splitting, if one could equate it with the splitting of the atom, released a bright light, an expansion of energy. The addition of the curved angle bars of steel, signifying this expansion, became the physical reality of this radiating light. Lumen De Lumine, incorporating steel and charred split wood, is part of a series of sculptures using these materials exclusively. A large installation, Fence Sonata (2014), newly re-composed for the Unison Art Center in New Paltz, NY, incorporates these same materials, while also using the 4th dimensional quality of brilliant color as spatial exploration.
Muse IV, installed at Station Parkway in Leonia, has been exhibited in the sculpture fields of Saunders Farm, sponsored by Collaborative Concepts in Garrison, NY, and in two locations in New Rochelle, NY, WildCliff Park, and Trinity Church. Muse IV, in reference to the mythological muses, is fourth in a series of muse sculptures, each representing a different category, such as Music, Poetry, Fine art, Dance, Philosophy, etc. Poast explains: “When I start a creative work, I wait for the muse to come to me, then I can compose or sculpt with intensified inspiration.”
MICHAEL POAST is on faculty of St. John’s University and Pratt Institute, where he had a solo exhibition of his Color Music Manuscripts in March 2014. Water Music, a large steel sculpture installed on the waterfront boardwalk in Yonkers, NY; the Unison Art Centers installation, Fence Sonata; and his piece, Atlas, that will be re-sited in Beacon, NY, are among his most recent projects.
For more information please visit www.michaelpoast.carbonmade.com
Wood, acrylic paint, 96” X 48” X 35”
“That’s the way it’s put together, flat planes leaning against each other, stable and yet not.” A metaphor for our lives, these painted wooden boards, cut into sweeping and angular shapes, lean and support each other into an interlocked form, stabilizing the other, yet acting in contrast. The brightly painted surfaces reach out towards the viewer, forms interacting with space, interacting with color. HOUSE of CARDS appears as an architectural structure until the viewer engages more closely, in which the solid shapes become more directional and vivid, painted, brushstrokes of color command the attention of space.
The artist, Beth Bailis, a native New Yorker, who lives and maintains a studio in Long island City, Queens, graduated from Maryland institute College of Art, and when returning to NYC, received an MFA from City College, CUNY. Primarily a painter, her work spans from landscape to abstracted compositions to mixed media configurations, entitled Fusion Paintings. Bailis is also a muralist, her most recent public mural is installed in the Roosevelt Island Motorgate Parking Garage in the entrance Atrium. Described by well known artist, Al Loving, whom Beth studied with, as “material madness”, her Fusion Relief Sculpture can be viewed currently at Unison Sculpture Garden in New Paltz, NY.
This piece, HOUSE of CARDS, has been exhibited at BWAC ( Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition), annual sculpture show at Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo, Saunders Farm Annual Sculpture exhibition with Collaborative Concepts in Garrison, NY, and Metalmen Sales in Long Island City, Queens, along with other Fusion works by the artist. Bailis’ art can be seen in the permanent collections of the City College Art Collection, William Whipple Museum at Minnesota State University, Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA, and long term loan at LaGuardia Community College, LIC, NYC.
For more information please visit www.bethbailis.carbonmade.com
Various Metals & Sapele Mahogany 10′ x 4′ x 4′, Located on Fort Lee Road on the Leonia Public Library front lawn.
Continuing my journey on technology and farming this sculpture was inspired by the evolution of corn. Corn is a staple crop that’s importance lies on feeding the world. As the human population continues to rise we depend on farmers to increase global food production.
Farmers have been selecting the most productive plants and seeds from their crops for thousands of years. In the last quarter century, scientists have begun selecting productive traits at the individual gene level to create new seeds. Science has become the new machine farmers use to increase crop yields. But with this new machine, scientists have created corn plants that are no longer self-sustainable. It is now believed that if farmers stopped planting seeds tomorrow, corn would cease to exist.
“Corn Fields” sculpture represents the force between nature and science. Cables with wood pieces are woven through the structure representing genetic modification of the seed. The wood pieces symbolize the original seed thus creating the web of life.
Metal, Sapele Mahogany & Glass 11′ x 2.5′ x 3′ Located in the Sculpture Garden.
This sculpture was inspired by Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, weaving the region’s history of folk tales together with superstitions. Sleepy Hollow is known as the region of shadows and for the witching influence of the air. The best known celebration of this time of year stems from the Celtic festival of Samhain, where Celtic people had celebrations to ward off wandering ghosts. In the 19th century, the Irish immigrants brought this festival to America, which developed into Halloween. “The Legend” represents the love triangle that was the core theme in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The shapes of the horse’s head and hooves symbolizes not only the horse of Ichabod and the ghost of the Headless Horseman but also the dichotomy of America and Europe, a correlating theme Irving used throughout the essay. The sides of the sculpture are woven with wood and glass. The wood representing the vine of the pumpkin and the glass representing the pumpkin, the same as the Celtic legends have been woven into our culture. “The Legend” stands upright allowing the viewer to see shadows through the openings created by the different dimensions. These shadows create the bewitching feeling of the legend. Your eye ends at the top of the sculpture with a reflective metal pumpkin head bringing to the conclusion the complexity of Sleepy Hollow.
For more information please visit http://sburokerstudio.com
Adrian Landon’s short story contest winners had the opportunity to meet the maker of their inspirational Dung beetles in person and visit his studio in Brooklyn N.Y. Ilta Rinne (under 18 winner) and Mika Cullen (honorable mention for her cartoon) were able to see first hand where the artist works and creates.
Adrian Landon is well known for his horse sculptures. His latest creation, one 4 foot dung beetle and recycle ball and a smaller copy, highlighting our need to protect the environment was located at Station Parkway. The sculptures have now departed Leonia. Sculpture for Leonia held a short story competition that announced their arrival. Writers could be as creative as they liked. Please find below the result of this inspiring contest.
MITCHELL DELMAR (Over 18)
About the Author: Mitchell Delmar grew up in Leonia. “I saw the world change through the prism of small-town eyes: A president shot. A moon-landing. A war. Woodstock. I write essays and short stories and post them online for anyone who cares to stop for a moment and read. Grandmother was a best-selling author, and I enjoy the idea that I might have inherited a little bit of her ability. My mother is still a resident of Leonia and I’m in town on weekends. My current residence is Long Branch – down the shore – where I enjoy my other life-long connection with the nearby, ever-engaging Atlantic.”
It’s not as unpleasant as it might sound, this life. Yes, yes, it’s all to do with excrement, as it were, but I’ll tell you this, you’ll never want for it. No sir, not a bit. There’s always food enough for the little ones, plus me and the missus besides. A fair dinner, some dung over your head and steady work is all one can really ask for. That’s how I see it.
My father was a Roller, and his father before him, so it was only fitting I carry on and join the Rollers, too. Local 472. Oh, yes, we’re union. You’ve got your Rollers, your Dwellers and your Tunnelers. “In Dung There Is Union,” that’s our motto. It’s honest work and, truth be told, the world would be even further up to its ears in excrement if it weren’t for me and my chappies doing the heavy lifting. As it were.
There’s hierarchy everywhere, no news there. Me, I’m happy in my place; rolling my ball of dung, the missus, my Gwen, ever-faithful, taking up the rear. I never wanted to be a Tunneler and certainly not a Dweller. Just not my cup, either having to haul my work underground or living amongst it. Honorable work, mind you, but Rollers don’t mix with Tunnelers, nor Dwellers either for that matter. It’s not that we’re elitist – they’re just not our sort. A different crowd altogether.
Now to the point – my eldest, Ernie, has been making noise about moving out, rolling his own way. I’ve nothing against the notion of it. Every beetle grows up sometime, and when Gwen and I began our brood we always knew the day would come when the offspring would leave and find a heap to call their own. Only natural. The damnable thing is, Ernie has taken up with a Dweller! A young thing with a shiny pronotum and a mid-leg that caught young Ernie’s fancy. I ask, how is THAT relationship ever to survive?
I can see it now: He’ll be out rolling all day, maybe two shifts at times, and what will she be doing? I’ll tell you what she’ll be doing – she’ll be dwelling, THAT’S what she’ll be doing. Sitting around, eating all day, her legs up!
I’ve nothing against her as a beetle, per se, but we’re discussing fundamental beliefs here, passed down through countless generations, entrusted by our forbearers for continuance. Breaking with tradition can be detrimental to our very existence! It’s no trifling matter. Dung doesn’t move itself, you know.
Now look, I’m a pragmatist. I understand times change. After all, who’s to say what’s “right” in this crazy, dung-filled world? Just because a certain way of life was right for me and my father – and his father before him – doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for Ernie.
Change can be hard to accept. It can feel as though everything you’ve worked for and believed in was for naught, but that’s negative thinking and I won’t be party to it. It only places one at a disadvantage in the modern world. You have to roll with the times.
Mind you, it’s not for me that I worry – I’ve lived my cycle – it’s for our offspring. They’ve yet to learn the lessons of the past. Too busy living in the moment, their heads in the dung. Perhaps that’s the natural order of things. What these young beetles don’t understand is that a bright future’s no sure thing. It wasn’t so long ago that our kind suffered deprivation on a huge scale. The dung lines. The riots. Don’t think it couldn’t happen again – that’s a classic lesson of history – you must keep one antennae in the future and one in the past. “Times may change but beetles don’t,” my father used to say. There’s truth in that.
You could work yourself into a right state over all the uncertainty. Thank goodness for the occasional moment of clarity. The other day, me and the missus were trying our best to roll a large ball up a steep hill. We were nearly to the top when, exhausted, I lost a handle on it and down it rolled to the bottom. “Dung!” I cried. Dutifully, we retrieved our ball and began the laborious process anew, only to repeat the same experience again and again! This went on all day, if you can imagine. Our energy and patience strained to the breaking point. Frustrating beyond words.
Towards sunset, we sat at the bottom of the hill beside our ball, absolutely gutted. I turned to the ball, about to hurl some epithet in my misery, when out of the blue I started to laugh. The missus looked at me as though I’d gone mad and I said, “Don’t you see? We’re being taught a lesson!”
She looked momentarily gobsmacked and then whooped with laughter, “Crikey, you’re right! Look at the two of us! All worked up and for what?”
I shook my head in puzzlement, “I don’t know, Gwen, but I do know a fool’s errand when I see one.” I extended my leg to help her up. “Come on, my lovely.” We both stood and walked away from our day’s toil. There’s always tomorrow.
Life’s as simple as you make it. It’s only dung, after all. There’s truth in that, as well.
ILTA RINNE (Under 18)
About the Author: Ilta Rinne is a senior at Leonia High School who hopes to pursue writing as a career. Ilta has had a love for writing since the second grade and recently completed the first draft of a science fiction novel. Ilta also enjoys art, botany, and film.
It was winter and the Hive Theatre was abuzz with people. Everyone found a seat. The crickets and katydids warmed up in the orchestra pit. Mae, trailing close behind her mother, felt a tickle in her clenched fists as they sat down and the music started up.
Mae recognized the mayor as he crossed the stage in long strides to the podium. Wearing a silk evening tux and a proud smile, he cleared his throat. The wings of the crickets and the katydids stilled.
“Welcome to the One Hundred Year Celebration,” the mayor announced. The crowd clapped and Mae’s mother clapped, but Mae kept her hands in her pockets. “Thank you, thank you. I am so very pleased to be here, commemorating how far we have come and the people that have led us to this day. Ladies and gentlemen, place yourself one hundred years in the past. Just for a minute. Picture a world weighed down by its own waste. A world suffocating on tainted air. A world in desperate need for change. Now, come back to the present and look around you with new eyes,” the mayor said, reading his words off paper that would biodegrade in a matter of hours. He gave the audience a moment to truly look.
All the honeycomb balconies that lined the walls were filled with people suddenly in awe. Mae met Shiva’s gaze. Both of them were on the floor level, sitting with their parents beside them. But the back door wasn’t too far away. And the rain had stopped as they’d hoped. The girls nodded at each other.
Mae had spent the better part of the week rereading all the books she owned. Even the ones she kept some under her mattress, though they were blanketed in mold. Between the fungi-infested front and back were pages upon pages of detailed diagrams. Clocks and carburetors and convection ovens. She was ready to see it all up close. She was ready for it to be real. Mae could hardly sit still.
“We must be grateful,” the mayor continued. “We were brought out of darkness into this new era. We have the writers of the Improvement Through Insects Proposal to thank. We have the scientists behind the Genetic Enhancement of Insects Project to thank. And of course, we have all of you to thank. Without you citizens—”
The mayor droned on and on, but as Mae and Shiva reached the open air outside the theatre, his words blurred into a low, inaudible murmuring. The girls darted behind a well-groomed hedge and Mae loosened her fingers just enough to show Shiva that she had come through with her part of the plan. The fireflies fluttered on her palm. Their light made her skin red and showed off the webbing of her veins.
Shiva pulled out the mason jar she was keeping under her folded coat. The fireflies flew quickly out of Mae’s grip, only tasting a tiny bit of freedom before finding themselves trapped inside the glass container. “Sorry about my sweaty palms,” Mae said, grinning at the little friends she picked up from the garden at dusk. Their tail ends glowed bright, almost blinding. “I can’t believe you used to flicker. ”Shiva rolled her eyes. “How inconvenient.” She slipped her jacket on and held the jar out like a lantern. “Let’s go. Adventure awaits.” Shiva’s cicada skin dress crinkled like dead leaves as they ran, but she loved it anyway. She would strip off the gown before bed tonight and sew it into a skirt. And in the summer, it would feel fresh and new.
The sky hummed with flies the size of human skulls, but the noise fell to the back of her mind. It never stopped, so they hardly noticed. Mae watched the fireflies bounce and hit the jar lid as she told Shiva about Styrofoam.
“That can’t be real,” Shiva scoffed.
“Well, if it is, it’s still here.”
As they reached the west bridge, they fell silent. The thick white mesh beneath their bare feet glimmered like sugar crystals. The gigantic spiders, daytime workers, clung to the sides of the silk tunnel, moving only with the occasional leg twitch. They knew the girls were there and they knew no one was to pass over the bridge without permission and identification. Mae was light on her feet, tiptoeing and breathing through her nose. Shiva dug her toes in because it was soft and spongy. Shiva knew the spiders didn’t care. Spiders don’t often care about anything.
Both girls plucked loose silk strands from the bridge. They were braided and strong. They wound them around their wrists and kept them for later. On the other side of the bridge, Mae and Shiva saw the bees were zipping around on their morning route, going from flower to flower in tedious order. They were massive, bigger than a full-grown man and fatter, too. Mae and Shiva ogled at the bees at work, legs thick with pollen.
“Did you know that flowers used to die for months at a time? For all of winter, the earth would just be bare; can you even believe that?” Mae asked her. She cupped a daisy in both hands and it smelled like spring, even though it wasn’t. “How do you know about all this stuff?” Shiva asked, her pent-up question finally coming out. She sighed. “How many books have you stolen?”
Mae almost blushed. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know because you lost count?” Mae’s bed at home was a good few inches higher than it used to be, propped up with a plethora of banned novels. “Maybe.” “You shouldn’t be snooping around the school at night like that. The basement’s restricted for a reason. I don’t think they should be keeping all that old clutter around in the first place, but still. If I can catch you in the act, anyone can. And they won’t be so nice about it.”
Mae and Shiva started walking again, heading into the wheat field. Aphids leaped out of the knee-high grain like overjoyed salmon. Mae remembered Shiva’s face when she found her stealing. Mae’s chest was unusually square-shaped with the last copy of Exploring A Concrete World tucked under her shirt. She thought Shiva would turn her in for sure.
“The pre-2100 years should be kept simple. It was bad and now it’s better. That’s it,” Shiva spoke up. “Simple.”
Mae shook her head. “Where’s your curiosity?”
“Under control.”
“But there’s so much to know. Junkyards and smoke and bricks.”
“See? That sounds terrible,” Shiva interrupted. “Let’s stop talking about it.”
The grass thinned like a receding hairline. The earth dropped in front of them and they could hear pebbles dribble down to the valley. The girls stopped before they fell right in. Shiva sat on the edge of the cliff with the fireflies beside her. Her legs swung in the open air. “Why’d you want to come with me, then?” Mae couldn’t help but wonder. “Why do you want to see the Ravine?”
“I needed something to do.” Shiva turned to face the edge of the cliff. She held onto a crooked branch and fastened the plait of spider silk to it. Keeping the other end around her wrist, she started climbing down into the gorge. Mae went after her eagerly with the fireflies stowed under her arm, safely hooked onto the top of the ledge, as well. She looked down and the world undulated. Her sight got fuzzy at the edges and her voice came out shakily. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” she told her. It wasn’t long before Shiva jumped a few feet and was on the ground. There was a harsh, horrible growl in her ear. She jerked away and saw the fly, hovering inches from her face. Shiva clapped. Her hands were closed around it and she could feel the sticky, sappy blood on her skin. Mae landed next to her, but so dumbfounded by the sight of the Ravine she didn’t notice a thing.
Shiva wiped her hands on her thighs. “We actually made it.” Mae could hardly believe it either. The world smelled like rust. The dung beetles roamed, not working at this hour, but restless. The valley had strict rows of balls, one after another, all metal and wiring. And beyond that was the torn-down city, still half-alive. It was the first time the girls had seen ash. The beetles would take the skyscrapers down brick by brick and roll the remains into compact spheres. The beetles made the balls about as big as themselves, both at least ten feet tall. A beetle passed by and its antennae turned in the girls’ direction. But it kept going. A shiver flew down Mae’s spine.
Mae’s eyes refocused and her fingers began to trace the shiny red weavings of a crate, one of the items squished into the ball. “Look. I think it’s plastic.” Shiva knelt next to her. She looked at the plastic first without expression, then in disgust. She glared at Mae the same way. But Mae didn’t notice. Or if she did, it hardly bothered her at all. She hopped up and ran to the next hunk of metal scraps and vibrant plastic things. Her eyes grew wide as full moons and her breath drew in quick. This is what museums must’ve felt like, she thought to herself.
Shiva watched her, unimpressed. But Mae just stood there, bewildered and on the verge on tears, as Shiva sighed, wanting this to be over already.“Are you waiting for me to ask what you found? You know you really picked the wrong audience for this,” Shiva said.
“This… is incredible! I can’t believe— I mean, I would’ve never thought—oh wow, I’m crying, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, you are,” Shiva answered, as Mae wiped her tears and nose on her arm. “And over what exactly?”
Mae gasped. “Are you curious?”
“Not now, not ever. But if this is what it takes for you to hurry up, I’ll play along.” It was good enough for Mae. “It’s rust! It’s like metallic moss! It grows when it rains!”
“How’s that even possible?”
But Mae had moved on. It was all almost too much to take in, but she did her best. She wanted to examine every scrunched up artifact with a respectful length of time, keep all the details in her head. But she couldn’t. There was no time for careful gazing. The images just didn’t stick in her head as her eyes swung back and forth. She heard a faint whispering, but she didn’t pay any attention until Shiva was practically shouting.
“Run!” Shiva yelled, following her own instructions as she took off, headed towards the cliff.
Mae felt the antennae sweep over her hair. She gulped, thought suddenly white dry, and looked up at the beast. The dung beetle towered over her. Mae turned around in one spin and the beetle stepped closer. Its legs with jagged points inched threateningly closer. Its head wouldn’t stop twitching. Mae was backed up against the ball, holding in her breath like that could somehow save her.
Mae was moments away from wailing. But through her tears, she could see the bug up close. Its exoskeleton was just as shiny and smooth as the metal it worked with. The antennae were soft on her skin. They nudged her cheek and she couldn’t help but giggle. And even though Mae strongly believed she was seconds away from death, she reached up and pet the beetle, very swiftly, right on its cheek, returning the message. Or, at least, she aimed for the cheek. She wasn’t quite sure where a beetle’s cheek was. While looking, though, she found its eyes.
They looked at each other, the two creatures, and they looked at each other for a long while, until Mae saw Shiva, standing atop of the cliff. Shiva was holding the jar close to her face. The fireflies illuminated her. Shiva was glowing and grinning, really grinning. The beetle backed away from Mae, but didn’t leave her side.
In one swooping gaze over the valley, Mae saw bicycle gears, street lamps with their poles bent and twisted, a couple vehicle hubcaps, and, if she wasn’t just imagining things, she could’ve sworn she saw a real live television. What had smelled like blood or old coins now smelled like home. The beetle’s antennae were moving back and forth between Mae and Shiva.
Shiva waved to her and Mae waved back, even though it was much too dark to see. Shiva disappeared out of sight, bound for home, her home. Standing in the valley with a new friend and an old world, Mae watched the light until it was completely gone.
Behold the beetle that works the dung
He toils so hard yet is unsung
He rolls his ball of pungent feces
The trademark of his lowly species
Like Sisyphus he rolls his rock
To fulfill his existential lot
But sheer frustration’s not his bent
Just Nature’s need for excrement
This mighty scarab is nothing but
An environmental recycling nut
Whose sole ambition is to endure
And fill this earth with rich manure
Bless you, Beetle, and your kind
Without your work the earth would bind
And soon become so desolate
That life could not proliferate
Roll on and make this world explode
In flaming flora ‘cross the globe
Roll on you gard’ner extraordinaire
And make earth blossom everywhere
Less and less is earth enlaced
With dung and organic waste
Modern litter is man-made
Such waste, alas, does not degrade
Still our beetle strives to collect
The inert bits of man’s neglect
Metals, plastics, and Styrofoam
In bulky spheres it then rolls home
How can this scarab now discover
An alchemy that will recover
Modern, toxic, solid waste
Converting all to fertile paste?
This is a Herculean task,
A challenge to its insect class,
Whose evolutionary bent
Is just recycling excrement
What magic’s left within its genes
That can absorb the toxic streams
And transform this modern dross
Into a life-sustaining force?
Will the beetle lose the fight,
A casualty of eco-blight?
Or can it be a fit ideal
A ‘roll model’ of epic zeal
That modern man can emulate
And so avoid his eco-fate?
Yes, I think this is the plan
Beetle is a trope for man
To sculpt a new paradigm
That resolves earth’s eco-crime
That’s its purpose, I am sure,
To demonstrate life can endure
Neutralizing noxious debris
Enriching earth through sheer espirit
This sculpture is located in the “Triangle” on Broad Avenue between Magnolia and Beechwood Place. A 5,000 pound granite sculpture. Mr. Padovano has taken what some artists consider an old-fashioned medium and created a flowing, contemporary piece with “Cronus.” “I was inspired by the music of Bach when I was sculpting this piece,” said Mr. Padovano. “The monumental chords in Bach’s music inspired me to make large, rhythmic forms in the granite.” Anthony Padovano graciously donated this piece to Sculpture for Leonia.
This sculpture is located in the “Wood Park” area. In this geometric vertical formation Padovano creates a dynamic modernist approach to form and color. The thoughtful interplay of rectilinear and cylindrical shapes is more than just a display of size and color, it is a still life strategically designed to create a secondary interaction of light and shadow that adds further volume and line extension to the larger primary forms. “Yellow Structure,” though constructed in a distinct, individual voice, is from a larger colorful series that was exhibited in the Whitney Museum. Padovano has worked with various media in a wide range of styles over the years; his success, he jokes, comes from not letting himself get in the way and permitting every piece to come to life on its own.
Anthony Padovano has been awarded the Prix di Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Ford Purchase Award, an Olivetti Award from the Silvermine Guild, and a Gold Medal for Sculpture at the National Academy of Design. His work can be seen at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Wichita Art Museum, and The National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C. among other venues. He has written The Process of Sculpture, published by Doubleday and Co.
For information please go to: anthonypadovano.com
This is the most recent of my Viking series. It is said of many (if not all) artists that a work is a self portrait even though it doesn’t appear to physically resemble the artist himself. We are all the sum of our life experiences. In this instance it is not a self portrait of myself but that of who I would like to be, big, strong, fierce. I either drew on my imagination or used a football player. There is even a certain muscularity about the face and hair.
This is the latest of the musical sculptures and represent a transition. For many years I had incorporated musical instruments in my body of work. This limited my ability to show works outdoor since metal rusted and wood deteriorated. I then began to make aluminum instruments and if this was something of my own, I decided not to be limited by shapes based on tones but rather, my own imagination. Hence rather than one bell, my cornet has three and a different arrangement for pressing notes. Who knows, maybe one of my instruments might use three arms. That could be quite useful to a drummer. I don’t have to set limits.
In it’s title is found a play on words. The conductor is electric in it’s conducting rather than in conduction of electricity. It’s body is a bell lyra, another double meaning with the body also serving as an orchestra instrument. Originally created for my sculptural installation called “The Cocktail Party”, most of its works have been sold and the Electric Conductor now conducts a group of outdoor musicians. The figure is welded aluminum with cast aluminum hands and a real instrument.
This is one of the outdoor musicians I have been naming over the past years. Violin, of wood cannot withstand the elements so I constructed my own violin of welded aluminum. The figure is made of welded aluminum with glass eyes. It’s movement is of dance and so the dancer creates its own music and then dances to it. Musical instruments have always struck me as beautiful. As a consequence I have incorporated them in my work for many years.
The musical trio grouped together as shown in the Erica and David Boyd Sculpture garden. 
Tri-Cornet Player, Electric Conductor, and Dancing on a Box have been generously donated to the Borough of Leonia.
“This sculpture can be considered an assemblage using two, minimally mixed media: carbon and stainless steels. The welded, forged, and spun components of WAVE-FORM COLUMN include standard profiles, custom fabricated sub-assemblies, and found objects.
Over the past, give or take thirty years, I have continued to add or modify various features and details. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, most of the components summon little histories that add nothing to the final composition, but do allow me to read the work as a punctuated autobiography.”
Welded steel 48” high
Don started figurative sculpting as a young man, then worked as a clinical psychologist. When he got back to his art it evolved from figurative to abstract. Breaking free of true anatomy was liberating. This piece is powder coated steel, sprayed in a rich blue color to enhance the form.
For more information please visit donsaco.com
Ted Ludwiczak is one of Rockland County’s hidden super-stars of the outsider art world. From his home on the banks of the Hudson River in Haverstraw’s quaint Dutch Town area, he has carved hundreds if not thousands of dramatic faces from the incredible rock that gives Rockland County its name. Ted, who left his native Poland shortly after World War II, worked for years making contact lenses. Then in 1988 he retired, and his whole world changed. He recalls: “It all began when I worked on a retaining wall at my home. When I finished it looked bare. Then I noticed a rock on the beach and saw a face in it. I picked up a lawnmower blade I had been using to work on the wall and started carving. The face became clearer as I worked. When I finished, I cemented it in the wall. He looked a little lonely. So I made another one and then a whole family. I haven’t stopped yet.”
Most of Ted’s heads have benign expressions. All of them have a haunting quality that to us links them to those spectral figures that emerged in so many parts of the ancient world. Ted laughs: “Some people say my faces remind them of Easter Island.” He forms faces mainly from sandstone, basalt, and granite, and some from alabaster, and blue-green Vermont marble. Ted’s work is widely sold in New York City and is permanently on display at Baltimore’s prestigious American Visionary Art Museum, which showcases the work of Grandma Moses and dozens of other less-known artists. The Garnerville Art and Industrial Center near Haverstraw, New York prominently features his stone heads. We are proud to have five of them on display in Leonia at the Wood Park area.
Five Heads has been generously donated to the Borough of Leonia.
“City Tree” is a simulated telephone pole crowned with a blizzard of wires. This kind of tree is gradually replacing the native trees of New Jersey.
Traditionally a sculptor who works with metal, Dan Bergman veered to wood with the creation of “My Father’s House.” The carved out space in this sculpture represents the house. It is visible from every angle of the three-paneled display.
Here, Dan describes his fascination with houses and his artistic intensions for “My Father’s House.”
Dan Bergman grew up in Chicago and Cleveland. After a 30-year business career, he began studying at New York’s Art Students League. His sculpture has been exhibited in many solo and group shows, and he has executed a number of public works. He is known for intense, convoluted welded pieces, wind-driven kinetic works, and explorations of mathematical structures such as “tensegrity”.
My Father’s House has been generously donated to the Borough of Leonia.
Steel with acrylic paint
“My sculpture is about people: how they look, how they act, how they endure hardship and celebrate joy. The landscape of people is a dramatic terrain of vitality, humor, pathos and intriguing change. I change too, as I try to make sense of it all.” – Judith Peck
This life size sculpture made of plastics, fiberglass and resin is located in the sculpture garden.
This sculpture depicting a seated female figure in solitary introspection, originated as one of three figures on three separate beds situated side by side. Although different from the original concept, the lone figure now seated on a round bench in the Leonia sculpture garden is able to stand alone as a complete sculpture. Each of us is ultimately alone, though from the moment of birth we require the support of others.
The title for the grouping titled Isolation conveys the visual aloneness of each individual even in such an intimate setting as a bedroom: a male rising from his bed demanding to be heard though no one appears to listen; a female straining to speak though she cannot find words to express her thoughts; this woman now seated on the bench who has withdrawn and given up trying.
Perhaps you can sit beside her and tell her there are other ways to be heard and to belong.
For more information please visit www.judithpeck.com
This sculpture was inspired by the horrific event occurring in the Indian Ocean in 2004. The sheer power of nature and its assertion over everything we feel is in our control, even as its unparalleled beauty confounds our sensibilities, is what compelled me to create this. I later learned that over 200,000 people perished across 14 countries, the volcanic eruption that preceded it was a 9.1 magnitude and the waves rose to 100 feet.
Judith Peck, describes her sculptures as being inspired by people – how they look, speak, and act; how they endure travail and tragedy; how they celebrate joy. They address thematic concerns about the choices people make and the choices made for them by history, by chance, and by the intensities of their emotions and experience. The landscape of people is an infinite terrain full of vitality, pain, and joy. It is always changing. The artist is too changed as she explores familiar and unfamiliar places with the tools of carving, molding, and fabrication in hand.
In this video, the artist describes why she sculpted “Falling Woman.”
Judith Peck’s sculptures are in approximately eighty public and private collections. Her work has been exhibited at the International Biennial of Art in Malta, the National Academy Galleries in NYC, the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Pennsylvania Academy; Detroit Institute; New Jersey State Museum and at numerous universities including Yale, Columbia, Fordham, Adelphi, Montclair, and Rutgers. Review “Ladies of Steel,” four over-life size sculptures, were displayed at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza in NYC, sponsored by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. An exhibition of sixteen large sculptures was installed on the Robert Moses Plaza of Fordham University, Lincoln Center in NYC. Outdoor works are currently on view in the Art Park at Clifton City Hall, NJ and Leonia, Sculpture Park, NJ.
Judith Peck is professor emerita of Art at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah. She is author of seven books on creative processes. Titles can be viewed at www.iapbooks.com; she is referenced in Who’s Who in American Art, the World’s Who’s Who of Women, and the Smithsonian Institute’s publication, “Designing Public Art,” published in conjunction with The National Museum of American Art, 1996. Peck holds a doctoral degree from New York University and two master degrees in sculpture and art education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
For more information, visit www.judithpeck.com
“‘Can’t Bring Me Down’ was originally titled ‘Flower/Vase.’ Sometimes people want a name for a sculpture but I can’t think of an apt one right away. Over time I realize what the sculpture means to me, and then I rename it. For me, this sculpture is about the indestructibility of the human spirit.” “Can’t Bring Me Down” was created for an outdoor sculpture show in Garrison, NY. The venue is a huge working cow farm. The site dwarfs everything in it. I thought it would be funny to pop a giant vase with a giant flower onto the landscape for the show . . . like plucking a flower from a garden, amplifying it with a giant vase, and plopping it back into nature. This piece also represented a departure from repurposed materials, if only temporary. I was looking to cement my skills as an aluminum fabricator by forcing myself to weld hundreds of inches of seams. It worked.”
Jodi Carlson is a metal sculptor who creates abstract and semi-abstract art. She has shown her works in a variety of sites in the Tri-State (NY) area, and is proud to have large scale pieces currently on display in front of City Hall in Yonkers, NY, and on the Clifton Arts Center in Clifton, NJ.
Jodi earned a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1988 and has trained under sculptors David Boyajian of The Sculpture Barn in New Fairfield, CT and Robert Perucci of Silvermine Guild Arts Center in New Canaan, CT. She also earned an MS in Occupational Therapy from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1993.
For more information please visit www.jodicarlson.com
Here, artist Jodi Carlson describes why she called her sculpture “Can’t bring me down.”
This six-foot terra cotta sculpture is hollow and stands over a single support. The work reflects the variety of tools used by the artist. Clay was pulled, pressed, and dragged to build the forms, silhouettes, and motifs of an abstract figure whose interrelationships express the process of its creation. The artist’s choice of material relates directly to the natural world. The piece captures the dualities of strength and fragility and vitality and stillness in both its creation and expression.
Marilyn Friedman studied at the Art Students League of New York, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the University of Siena, Italy. She has received numerous grants and awards for her works from organizations such as the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, and the National Arts Club. Marilyn Friedman’s work is in many private collections. She has also created commissioned sculptures for Kohler, Lufthansa, and Absolut. She has taught sculpture at Parsons School of Design and Montoya Art Studios, and is currently teaching at the Art Students League of New York.
My eyes caught sight of large boxy bundles of white Styrofoam regularly being discarded at a warehouse. When taken home and laid out on the lawn, there were clean, straight shapes, with a low set-back pattern. I envisioned a COLUMN out of 8 identical pieces, to be painted in primary and secondary colors, (Red, blue, yellow and green, orange, violet), etc — AFTER assemblage and the application of a stucco finish. To add more interest, I attached found, painted shapes to the “simple” column. The result is this sculpture, SENTINEL XXI.
Stucco stands up better in all weather conditions than other materials I have used. It can be power-washed and repainted when needed.
My sculpture on the RIVER VALE Library has been cleaned twice in 10 years and currently looks brand new.
This fiberglass cat was part of a public arts project in the Catskills during the summer of 2014. It was sponsored by a local tourist organization and chosen to be the “raffle” cat in the fundraiser. I attended the gala and auction of the other 50 cats and purchased several raffle tickets for my cat at the last minute; – To my great and pleasant surprise, I won my cat back and have exhibited it ever since. The cat is now located in Leonia’s sculpture garden next to the gazebo.
I enjoy participating in public arts projects. My images are covering traffic control boxes, recycled doors and rain barrels. It is a pleasure to see a delighted public visiting Main Street or a sculpture park, walking from one sculpture to another, admiring its shapes and colors.
Past Works
Herrat Sommerhoff was born and educated in Germany. After immigrating to the United States she began her art studies at Bergen Community College and continued at the Art Students League in New York as well as at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey in New Milford. Her outdoor sculptures are made out of found Styrofoam packing material covered with flexible cement. They are on exhibit in River Vale and Clifton, New Jersey; in Oak Creek, Colorado; and in the Catskills in New York. Her most recent solo exhibit abroad was at the Ministry of the Environment in Berlin, Germany. Sommerhoff is affiliated with the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, SALUTE to Women in the Arts, and NAWA (National Association of Women Artists) in New York City. Her artwork is in numerous collections. Last summer Ms. Sommerhoff was the grant recipient for a public arts project, “The Doors of Roxbury” in the Catskills. For information please go to www.herratsommerhoff.com
This sculpture is located in the sculpture garden. At every construction site dumpsters seem to be overflowing with wood, new as well as old. Pallets, having carried heavy materials, are being discarded. There seems to be no further use for the wood. – Wrong! – For some time, I have been picking up pallets to take apart and use in artwork.
Creating outdoor sculpture is my preferred art form – at least right now. There is no limit to size of the artwork, there is lots of exhibition space, and many more people have a chance to see it.
Preparing the wood properly and using high-quality paints, acrylics as well as oils – covered with varnish – preserve the artwork and make it last many years – even when exposed to the elements.
This sculpture was inspired by some of Paul Klee’s “grid” work. –
After horizontal pieces of painted boards were attached to the 4 verticals, it looked like a weaving. Since I was concerned that it might be too rigid, I started to attach playful shapes, also cut from pallets, which changed the piece completely.
For more information please visit www.herratsommerhoff.com
Originally a painter, Grace Knowlton has traveled freely through various art forms, methods, and materials. In the past she has had exhibitions that included works of her photographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures – the latter made from both natural and synthetic materials. All of the works are made from copper and show various stages of patination. The surfaces – from the dulled copper to the white patina – come from the various solutions applied to the shell-like enclosures and from their exposure to the elements of nature. The organic seams that join the sheets of copper and the mossy coloration and textures combine to make surfaces that are extraordinarily evocative. The artist has said, “I could tell you my sculpture is informed by the inner space, that I place it in the context of interrelated forms, or I could talk about the significance of surfaces. Actually I am a magician – I create through an ancient practice involving the laying on of hands.” In these sculptures different forces of texture, form, space, and color compose a galaxy of natural strengths.
Grace Knowlton has exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Her work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art in Brooklyn, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, among many others.
For more information please visit graceknowltonart.com
Eric David Laxman is an accomplished sculptor and furniture designer who has created a unique studio and showroom at the Garnerville Art and Industrial Center near Haverstraw, New York. He has exhibited his diverse works throughout the metropolitan area and nationwide. Laxman was awarded the Rockland County Executive Art Award for Visual Artist in 2007 and was recognized by Rockland’s business community in the “Forty Under Forty” Award Ceremony. Laxman has recently completed a large sculpture commission for the City of Sculpture in Hamilton, Ohio and has completed commissions for the Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut and the Summit Medical Group in New Jersey.
In the past ten years he has extended his unique sculptural sensibility into the realm of metal furniture and functional art. His custom furniture and sculpture has been featured in The New York Times, Journal New Home Design Magazine, The Artful Home, Hudson Valley Magazine, The Hook, Metrohouse Magazine, Rockland Magazine and Rivertown.
Laxman writes: “For me sculpture is a personal journey and exploration that helps me understand and make sense of the world around me. In the sculptures presented here, I have physically wrestled with hard stone and metal in order to develop a means for integrating disparate elements into coherent abstract and figurative compositions. This is fueled by a desire to express the themes and transformation, growth, balance and movement.
“It is my intention to create sculptures that seem spontaneous and inevitable using a process that is extremely labor intensive and deliberate. Seeking is a constant; to transform my materials while at the same time respecting and acknowledging their unique properties and their raw fundamental nature. This duality, a recognition of the discreet parts and the creation of a new unified whole is the essence of my creative process.
“Cutting, drilling, splitting, and breaking marble and granite; forging, welding, and reassembling steel and bronze has become a metaphoric struggle for achieving balance.”
For more information, please go to: EricDavidLaxman.com
Michael Bertelli has been a professional sculptor for over forty years, working in wood, stone, bronze and porcelain. His public works can be seen throughout New Jersey in cities, parks, campuses, churches and hospitals. His work has evolved from realistic, e.g. Bust of Pope John Paul II, presented to the Pope in Rome, to the current unique fictional characters.
“The Sage” is respected for his wisdom, experience and judgment. He Knows. Cloned in bonded marble from the original marble. This sculpture can be found on the Leonia Library grounds.
For information please go to: www.mikebertelli.com
Photo by Allan Cyprys
A torch emanating from the soul of my seated self, emanating strength to stay focused on the importance of the specialness of the NOW in my life. It’s when ignoring pressures of the past and the ifs and buts of the future, leading to experience a rich wholeness of self.
National boundaries are slowly becoming faint as a global economy slithers through the myriad of cultures around the world. The unique indigenous flavors, colors, habits, sounds and ideas, which have peppered the earth, can no longer be protected by distances. Cultures are being assimilated, diluted and sometimes ingested or coerced. The digital world might be seen as having created an atmosphere, a WAVERING TWILIGHT, of the distinctions that have been the origins of cultures. Herb Rosenberg is a left-handed Aquarian art-maker in the tradition of some of history’s most zealous artists. His studio is never without works-in-progress in progress. Currently one would see a nine-foot tall aluminum column in the works.
For more information herb-rosenberg.com
This piece is located on the front Library lawn on Fort Lee road.
In the sculpture of James Murray, space, interval, and matter are constructed together with a vigor and finesse that frequently defy expectation. Murray initiates his work through an all-inclusive approach to new and pre-existing materials. The artist seeks: “the erosion of time and age—all welcome to evoke the mysterious power of simple form and surface.”
Murray relies on unusual means to forge these coherences. From experience navigating ships as a merchant marine captain, a one hundred-ton master, he intuits trajectory lines through space. In his lifelong work as a sculptor, he manipulates abstract chunks of form or a specific image of a basic house shape as if guiding ships tossed on waves. Objects under his watch never fall out of range but hold to the edge. The stacked stones and wood blocks are drilled to receive an internal metal rod invisible to the viewer who must suspend disbelief in order to approach and reconfigure the piece.
For more information jameshmurray.com
These super bugs are made out of metal and mixed media. A Lady bug, Butterfly and Lightening bug are hanging from the trees in the Wood park area. Mary Martire used metal, plastic, nylon rope and wire to construct these engaging bugs.
Mary Matire is well known for her ceramics using clay to create useful pieces for dining and decorating. The nuances of color, shape and style continue to intrigue her. She teaches at the Art School at Old Church, in Demarest, NJ. This encouraged her into new directions, such as the giant insect sculptures, which hang in Leonia, NJ. They evolved from teaching a children’s sculpture class called Bugs and Butterflies. The mixed media wall pieces which are a combination of ceramics and woven fabric, also got their genesis while teaching kids. Mary Matire’s work has been in galleries and art shows throughout New Jersey.
For more information please visit marymartire.com
The taste of Leonia was a great success our best year yet! It seems like good wine we also get better over the years. We would like to thank everyone participating!
This sculpture is located at the main entrance of the Leonia Library on Fort Lee road. Life and art join to reveal a dynamic partnership in the work of Fredrick Prescott. The joy and animation seen in Prescott’s sculptures simultaneously evoke the natural world and it’s imaginary counterpart. As graphically bold and colorful as his pieces are, they always look perfectly at ease in a natural setting, though there is no denying their otherworldly quality. The dichotomy between the real and the fantastical in Prescott’s artwork leads to the creation of a captivating, multi-dimensional art form. Using the visual and emotional impact of brilliant color on moving steel, the artist produces sculptures reflecting his singular perception of the world around him. His work is seen as a blend of folk art, pop art, and technically advanced construction. Fredrick Prescott resided in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more information please visit www.prescottstudio.com
This sculpture was donated to the Town of Leonia to commemorate the life and contributions of Mr. John R. Stenken a 65-year resident and former Mayor of Leonia.
Horses have always been a great inspiration to Adrian Landon and have become an irreplaceable part of his life. After studying Industrial Design at the the Academy of Art in San Francisco, traveling and working out in the American West and learning the trade of violin making with his father. He studied metal sculpture at The Art Student League of New York. “It is all about the process, about shaping, forming, manipulating the element, putting my energy into it”. Steel is his main medium and he uses the anvil and hammer to work the steel. Adrian Landon’s metal shop is currently located in Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York.
Previously displayed at the Station Park Rotunda. These Dung Beetles where created to highlight the importance of recycling.
For more information please visit http://adrianlandon.com/adrian/home.html
