Peace, Love, and Happiness

“Springtime” represents a koi fish emerging from hibernation in the spring, and symbolizes renewal in the everchanging circle of life.  It is made from upcycled horseshoes which have left their own impressions throughout their lifespan.

My sculpting career started after suffering a profound loss, and has allowed me to channel my emotions into something tangible.  These emotions are brought to life in different forms which allows people to see, as well as feel, what is going on in my pieces.  I work with many different materials including metal, wood, and cast stone.  My ability to take these materials and transform them into works of art that have such personality keeps me grounded and connected to my inner self.

-Brian Wohrman

For more information visit brianwohrman.com or Instagram @brianwohrman

MAN AND WOMAN

Sculpture for Leonia was gifted with these 2 sculptures made by renowned artist William King, who lived in East Hampton, NY, for 33 years, and died in 2015. He is known for depicting a sense of humor through his minimalist sculptures. His work has been acquired by many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in NYC.

Grounds for Sculpture was his fabricator for large commissioned pieces and aluminum was his favorite metal. These pieces are made of painted aluminum and are thought to be from the 1970’s.They were generously donated by Michael Rips and Sheila Berger.

William King was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1925, and grew up in Coconut Grove, Miami. After attending the University of Florida between 1942 and 1944, he came to New York in 1945, enrolling that year at Cooper Union and graduating in 1948. The following year he went to Rome on a Fullbright scholarship. He also spent time in Athens, Greece, and in 1952, at the Central School in London. Beginning in 1953 he taught for three years at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, and later he taught at UC Berkeley, and elsewhere. He served as the President of the National Academy of Design, 1994-1998. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters,

King’s earliest one-person shows were with the Alan Gallery, New York, beginning in 1954, and he continued to show in New York through 2014. The majority of his New York exhibitions were with the Terry Dintenfass Gallery, 1962-1997. He received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant, the San Francisco Arts Commission Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sculpture, and Honorary Doctorates from the San Francisco Art Institute, the California College of Arts and Crafts, and the Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C.William King lived with his wife, the painter Connie Fox, in East Hampton, New York, for 33 years; he died in 2015, one week after his 90th birthday.

PORTAL

‘Portal‘, made of pine and finished with marine varnish, measures 30” x 24” x 72” (h).  The work suggests nature’s reclamation of an abandoned gate.

INSIDE OUT

My sculpture Inside Out is a two-sided screen on which one side is the outside and the other is the inside.  The center area of the sculpture is translucent aluminum screen. Are you looking from the outside in or looking from the inside out?

LIKE A FLASH OF LIGHTNING IN A SUMMER CLOUD

In bright sunlight, the grey shadows cast from the cutout red plastic above seem so 3-dimensional. When it’s overcast the cutout flower shapes are very readable as solid form

LINKS TO NATURE

I use relics in my sculpture Links to Nature to suggest such imagery as the flight path of a bird, a sliding over flowers snake, a busy bug…

THE TALL FLOWER

The Tall Flower is a geometric structure made of wood.  It is stained with bright colors, similar to the flowers you would find in a garden.  

Morning Call

Morning Call by Justin Perlman is a lyrical bird form fashioned out of carbon steel with stainless steel accents. Perlman describes Morning Call as an “expression of a new day,” turning away from the past to begin something new and reach for the future

Leonia Moose

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

Trailhead

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

THUNDERHOOF

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 4^th and 5^th 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/

---

Past Sculptures in Leonia

COCO THE GORILLA

Read Dave’s article that mentions the sculpture in Leonia: Public Art in the Age of Plague

Leonia resident Gil Hawkins installed these three sculptures outside the new wing of Leonia High School in August of 2018.

Bear Mountain Bridge

Luther Hill 2

Long Walk Home

For more information, visit gilhawkins.com

Wind Chapel

“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

Cactus Palm

“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

Ancient Vessel

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 XX

“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

HERITAGE 2

“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.

STEEL SAGUARO

“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

---

Past Sculptures in Leonia

METROPOLIS

“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

FROG PRINCE by Ailene Fields

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.

HIBISCUS

Nature is such a patient teacher.  The more we try to emulate her, the more she teaches us.

Past Works

O SIT

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

DREAMS OF GLORY by Martin Glick

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

MEISSEN COW by Jane Keller Herzig

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.

Mother and Baby Seal

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

PULLING III by Jack Howard-Potter

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

ZIG

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 20^th 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

---

Past Works Exhibited in Leonia

---

Lumen de Lumine

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 4^th dimensional quality of brilliant color as spatial exploration.

MUSE IV

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

CRONUS

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.

YELLOW STRUCTURE

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

TOTEM FOR A VIKING

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.

TRI-CORNET PLAYER

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.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR

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.

DANCING ON A BOX

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.

WAVE FORM COLUMN

“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.”

FIVE HEADS

 

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

“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.

MY FATHER’S HOUSE

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.

ISOLATION FIGURE 3

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

---

PAST WORKS

TSUNAMI

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.

FALLING WOMAN

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.”

About the Artist Judith Peck

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

“‘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.

WALKING FIGURE

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.

SENTINEL XX1

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.

ABSTRACT SOPHISTI CAT

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.

www.herratsommerhoff.com

---

Past Works

DANCING IN THE RAIN

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

CATCH A FALLING STAR

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

THE SAGE

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

WELCOME POST #2

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

SUPERBUGS

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

TEENAGE ELEPHANT

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.

LION

GRAND CHEVAL De 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.

DUNG BEETLE AND RECYCLE BALL

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