Starting this year, the Loveland Library is utilizing the display cases built into five wood pillars, part of its recent expansion, by mounting four exhibitions of three months each, featuring both sculpture and 2-D art. I was selected as the first sculptor to be featured in this "Guests in the Galleria" series of exhibits. My five sculptures on display from January 1 through March 31 are "Reach for the Sky", "Falcon", "Bobcat", "Seated Cheetah" and "Lookout Tree". The Reception for the "Guests in the Galleria" was paired with the dedication for the "Art Advocacy Project, 2-D" at the Library on February 8th during Loveland's monthly "Night on the Town" festivities.
Three of five sculptures selected for the Loveland Library "Guests in the Galleria' Series.
"Reach for the Sky", "Falcon", and "Seated Cheetah".
The newest medium size of my popular “RedFox” sculpture has been awarded the Edith H. & Richman Proskauer Prize for non-traditional sculpture at the National Sculpture Society’s 79th Annual Awards Exhibition. It was selected for the honor from forty-five works (chosen from 474 submissions) on display in the Jennewein and Noble galleries at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.
Editing scores of my photos is keeping the wonderful experience alive. For two weeks
in June, along with other animal sculptors and assorted spouses and friends, I spent full days in Land Rovers experiencing the pure bliss of observing wild African animals
living their normal lives in the splendid freedom of their home territories.
My fifth photo safari (my fourth led by exceptional guide Peter Lindstrom of Hoopoe Safaris) progressed in Tanzania from Arusha, Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks through the Ngorongoro Crater, culminating in five magnificent days in tents on the Serengeti. The whole experience was enhanced by Peter’s extensive knowledge of, and passion for, everything African: the animals, the people, the flora and the land, and his enthusiasm in sharing it all with “the troops”.
The Spring issue of the National Sculpture Society’s Sculpture Review Magazine was
accompanied by an impressive 14-page “Profile” on me and my work. The writer, Jodie
A. Shull, did a masterful piece of writing, covering everything I feel is important about
my life and my work in a beautifully written prose, and Germana Pucci of Sculpture
Review put together a great layout that delighted even this ex-graphic designer.
Fresco Fine Art Publications will be producing a beautiful book titled “Art of the National Parks” and will be including a feature on my work in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park section. Susan McGarry is writing my story which will consist of five pages with six photos of my work. There will be an exhibition in conjunction with the debut of the book at Wilcox Gallery in Jackson Hole, WY (dates to be determined.)
I am very happy to announce that I have joined the Frank Howell Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This famous gallery’s new location is 203 Canyon Road and it is under the very capable management of the late Frank Howell’s colleague and protégé, Van Dyke Jones. I placed some work with them in June and have already been rewarded with raves and sales.
A new gallery has opened in Salt Lake City, just a few blocks from my “Stream of Life” sculpture there, and it just happens to be owned by David Lott, who had a gallery that represented my work in Park City UT a long time ago. I now have work in this new gallery, Cornerstone Gallery of Fine Art. So if you visit Salt Lake City be sure to check out the gallery as well as my large sculpture in City Creek Center!
This year's "new improved" Loveland Art Studio Tour is shaping up to be an exciting event and I'm glad to be participating in it. There will be an exhibit in the Loveland Museum highlighting work by all of the participating artists along with artist listings and map booklets. This is a great chance to visit artists in their working environment and maybe even pick up a small treasure or two! More info at lovelandartstudiotour.com.
In reviewing some video I had taken at an Animals of Montana photo session, I was struck by the cougar's form during one split second of a leap and a pounce going after a piece of chicken. The Cougar is so fluid and graceful, I really enjoyed capturing this typically feline motion, with a little more interesting prize than a tossed chicken leg. The bronze on granite base measures 11"x 18"x 13".
If you look at the second and third photos in the “Africa Again” slide show above, you will see the inspiration for this new sculpture. I just fell in love with these cheetahs as they honored us with the classic cheetah family pose: Mom sitting on a termite mound to scan the savanna for dinner, surrounded by the kids, only interested in play time. Through all of my previous Africa safaris I had futilely scanned the landscapes for termite mounds with cheetahs on top. This sighting started out like so many others, with the cats mostly hidden in the grass where they were resting. But our patience paid off as Mom finally got up, walked to the mound and jumped up on top, followed by all three of her cubs. It was the highlight of the trip for me and I just couldn’t resist doing this sculpture to immortalize the experience.
Edition of 24, 12"x13"x13" on granite base.
“Tika II” is an enlargement (10.5 “x 12.5”x 5”) of my mini cat, Tika, and was my Quick Draw piece for the 2012 Western Rendezvous of Art in Helena, MT where #1 of the edition of 35 sold at auction. Tika is one of my studio cats, the friendly one who thinks that everyone who visits the studio has come to see her.
This pride of lions needs to wake up and get active after the day’s long sleep. It’s time to hide the cubs and head out for the evening’s hunt, which is depicted in a relief on the back of the kopje (rocky outcropping in the Serengeti.) I watched such a scene once in Africa and was amused by the difficulty some members of the pride had in rousing certain sleepyheads. This bronze is being produced in an edition of 10.
Two new additions to the larger size of my American Animal Masks are now in bronze:
Bobcat (14.5”x12”x4” deep) and Eagle (12.5”x12.5”x6” deep.)
The small maquette of the new Wolf Mask is now in bronze, 5.5”x 4.5”x 1.5”, in an edition of 50. The enlargement of the Wolf Mask is now finished in bronze. It measures 15”x 14”x 5”.
Both the Maquette (12½” long) and the Life-sized (35” long) Red Fox editions have sold out and I am now creating one in between the two sizes (24” long, shown here), since it has been such a popular sculpture (both sizes won “People’s Choice” for sculpture at the Western Rendezvous of Art.)
One of the things I missed the most when we moved from our California house in a
Redwood forest to an old bungalow in town in Colorado was having wildlife in my yard.
Deer, raccoon, skunk and possum were regular visitors then. Now we're pretty much
relegated to squirrels, but I'm happy to report that we do regularly see beautiful Red
Foxes moving through, taking temporary shelter under our huge Blue Spruce on their
rounds of the neighborhood. And this is one animal we didn't see in the Redwoods!
Edition of 24, 15½”x 24”x 8½”
Larry Newman
CHARGING PANTHER is the fifth Black Panther mascot sculpture commissioned by Chapman University in Orange, California. The life-sized version (8 feet long) now resides in the Athletic Complex lobby and is rolled out onto the field for games. Named "Jamie" after it's donor, it made its debut at the 2011 Homecoming game where it was enthusiastically received as a good-luck icon.
The maquette, with a black granite patina like all of Chapman's other Panthers, is 23" long in an edition of 18.
“Who Goes There” was the “Quick Draw” piece for the 2010 Western Rendezvous of Art in Helena, MT. It is small, 6”x 5”x 4.5”, but has a lot of presence and attitude for such a little guy!
I shared in the excitement of the Grand Opening on March 22 of the spectacular new City Creek Center in Salt Lake City, UT, though I was not among the 50,000 who attended festivities. For the past two years I have shepherded my largest sculpture to date in both size and scope, “Stream of Life”, through the conception, sculpting and casting stages, culminating in a successful installation in February. A beautifully landscaped creek runs through the entire 3-city-block project and wraps around the 14-foot long bronze sculpture, exclusive to City Creek, which incorporates ten animals, related in a creekside habitat but arranged in a montage type of composition rather than a realistic tableau that one might actually observe in nature. All residents of a riparian habitat, some of the creatures depicted are iconic Utah animals: the state mammal, elk; the state bird, seagull; and the state fish, cutthroat trout. The need to fill a certain space below the crowning Bald Eagle provided the opportunity to include the state emblem, the beehive. The three river otters and the black bear are there for the fun of it and for the added design opportunity they provide. The elements of the waterfall and the flowing creek tie all of the animals together and allow the design of the sculpture to flow smoothly throughout.
Owned by the LDS Church and run by Taubman Centers Inc. (the company that runs the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver), the mixed use retail, residential and office complex is the first enclosed shopping center to open in the US in six years, reflecting the vibrant economy of Salt
Lake City which is being transformed by this huge project. Located across the street from Temple Square, the amenities include luxury condos and apartments, two levels of retail with
100 stores, restaurants, an outdoor fireplace and heated sidewalks, a retractable skylight roof,
waterfalls and lively fountains, as well as several sculptures, “Stream of Life” being the largest
and most prominent of them.
Once the commission was awarded to me through the efforts of Public Art & Practice in
Missouri, bringing this large sculpture to fruition was a shared effort among myself and many
skilled artisans who contribute to Loveland’s reputation as an art town, most notably one of
the nation’s leading art bronze producing communities. Some of these independent
contractors are Gary DuChateau for enlargement; Dan Ochs for mold making and wax
pouring; Kathy Page for wax chasing; Dragon Castings for casting the bronze, Eric Mesplé for
the formidable task of welding and chasing the 58 pieces of the puzzle into a beautiful finish;
Patrick Kipper for the gorgeous patina; Bryan Wright for transport and installation; and my
photographer, driver and all-around support system, husband Mel Schockner.
| Jan. 1 - March 30 | "Guests in the Galleria", Loveland Library, Loveland CO |
| April 5 - May 4 | "Reigning Cats & Dogs", Wayne Art Center, Wayne PA |
| April 25 - June 2 | "Colorado Governor's Invitational", Loveland Museum & Gallery, Loveland CO |
| May 18 - July 27 | "80th Annual Awards Exhibition", National Sculpture Society, Tampa Museum of Art, FL |
| June 15 - Aug. 25 | "Art of the Animal Kingdom XVII", Bennington Center for the Arts, VT |
| June 18 | "23rd Anniversary Show", Howard/Mandville Gallery, Kirkland WA |
| July 18 - Aug. 1 | "Art of the National Parks" and book debut, Wilcox Gallery, Jackson WY |
| Aug. 9 - Aug. 11 | "Sculpture in the Park", Benson Sculpture Park, Loveland CO |
| Aug. 17 - Oct. 27 | "80th Annual Awards Exhibition", National Sculpture Society, Brookgreen Gardens, SC |
| Nov. 1 - Nov. 24 | "American Women Artists", R S Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg TX |
You can imagine how chagrined I was to discover very cheap, poor but obvious copies of several of my sculptures (Running Cheetah, Seated Cheetah, Cougar Bench, The Leap, Vigilance and Panther) selling on eBay, attributed to “world famous sculptor Milo.” EBay does have a mechanism by which you can have an item removed from the site if it infringes your copyright, but if the lister contests it, they will put it back on unless you show evidence of filing a court action.
CHEETAH and "Milo" copy from Think Bronze
The seller, a Mr. Parviz Noghrey, contested all of the removals and re-listed the items (under several of his company names: Think Bronze, European Bronze, Landmark One Gallery, etc.) My lawyer had informed him of the copyright infringements and he was well aware of my work and that he was selling unauthorized copies, so I enlisted the services of copyright specialist Kay Collins, in Fort Collins CO, to file suit in Federal Court in Denver and serve Mr. Noghrey in New York.
The violations of my copyright were so obvious that Mr. Noghrey decided to settle out of court and a Stipulated Injunction was filed under which he agrees not to sell (or cause anyone else to sell) any more copies of any of my work. Along with part of my lawyer’s fees, he sent us his remaining inventory of infringing items and gave us the information about the shop in China where he purchased them. Of course, there is no “Milo” world famous sculptor - just a copy shop that will reproduce anything (probably from photos on the internet) that they think they can sell.
VIGILANCE and "Milo" copy from Europeon Bronze
I had the metal in the Chinese copies analyzed and it is basically brass (copper & zinc with traces of other metals thrown in.) Yellower than the slightly reddish silicon bronze we use here in the US, some of the practical differences are that it is more brittle, the zinc can leach out and leave the metal spongy and susceptible to disintegrating, and it doesn't take patinas well so they appear dead compared to the ones we can achieve on our silicon bronze.
If anyone sees an obvious copy of one of my sculptures (not just someone copying my style) I would really appreciate hearing about it!
 |
 |
|
THE LEAP and "Milo" copy from Europeon Bronze |
PANTHER and "Milo" copy, eBay |
 |
COUGAR and "Milo" copy, eBay |
I'm very excited about my ongoing relationship with Felidae Conservation Fund, which raises money to support wild cat research around the world. I have and will continue to provide sculpture for Felidae's fundraisers, both for silent auctions, a gallery situation and commissioned pieces, whereby we both benefit from sales of my feline sculptures and my work can serve as reminders of these creatures' beauty and nobility for the wildlife supporters who purchase them. Felidae's executive director, Zara McDonald, is based in Belvedere, California, but travels worldwide to find research and education projects dealing with the world's 37 species of wild cats, to benefit from the funds she raises. I'm proud to be associated with Felidae and look forward to an exciting and productive, mutually beneficial relationship well into the future.
Visit their beautiful new office/gallery in Building 1062, Fort Cronkhite, Sausalito CA, where they have a nice collection of my work on display and for sale.
The French crystal company, Baccarat, has produced three of my existing small sculptures in crystal. The first, introduced for Christmas 2008, was “The Leap”, which they are calling “Panther,” and they have since released my “Misty” as “Misty the Cat” and my “Panther” as “Lying in Wait Panther.” They are available from Baccarat and Neiman Marcus.
Loveland’s Office of Creative Sector Development has launched a great new web site, www.lovelandarts.org. Check it out! It offers FREE artist and business listings, FREE access to post and view listings on the Events Calendar and FREE Creative Classified ads to all Loveland artists and creative sector businesses. This is a GREAT resource for local artists/ businesses, for those considering locating here and for those planning to visit Loveland and interested in finding out what our creatives have to offer.
Those of you with smart phones can also scan this microsoft tag. You need to upload a microsoft tag app on your smart phone and then you can scan it. It won’t take you to the site mentioned above, but will tell you about many amazing things going on in Loveland, with an emphasis on the arts.
ROSETTA
405 8th Street S.E. #15 • Loveland, CO 80537
970-667-6265 • E-mail Rosetta:
rosetta@rosettasculpture.com
Photography by Mel Schockner
About Rosetta | Portfolio | Process | Galleries & Organizations | News | Mailing List | Home
Last Updated: April 29, 2013
All artwork © 1985 - 2013 Rosetta
