THE RETURN OF ANCIENT WISDOM – 03/31/2008

Posted on November 16, 2011 by admin

THE RETURN OF ANCIENT WISDOM
 
In early winter a call came to me from The Rockport Art Center in Rockport, Texas which is located on the gulf and near the beach preserve where Atlantic Ridley Sea Turtles come annually to lay their eggs in the sand.
 
Beverly Morgan, director of the Center asked if I would be interested in creating a four foot sea turtle for them in bronze for their established sculpture park. I was immediately delighted and ecstatic about the proposal. I had been selected from their review of my work titled ANCIENT WISDOM, a sea turtle that had been carved in maple burl wood and then molded and cast in bronze. That was a two foot diameter turtle, but to do one four feet in diameter was a different matter.
 
First of all I needed the wood to make it from….as it was I had just gotten from a local islander a large piece of maple log from a tree that had been cut down the year before. The base piece was just over four feet in diameter!
 
So I called Bev and told her that I would do it and I then got the costs together and began work on the commission.
 
The work went well, with getting a friend with a very big chain saw to cut this piece to size and then with his tractor to lift it up onto a pedestal that I could carve it on. It was massive. The process began and within a few weeks I had the turtle completed. It was then a matter of getting it to the foundry where it was molded and cast into a bronze edition of 8.
 
We talked about the title for this sculpture as it was to be dedicated in honor of a very delightful and wonderful supporter of the Center. The family of this deceased man is very connected to this sculpture and what it represents and so after some thought and a lot of possible titles it was decided that it should be named THE RETURN OF ANCIENT WISDOM. Certainly this is a time when those of us with a conscience are asking our spirit guides to bring wisdom back to this planet.
 
At the first of March it was shipped to Rockport and is awaiting the placement of a stone plinth to support this beautiful piece. The patina is delightful in white, blues and greens with rub backed areas of shiny bronze.
 
April 12th has been chosen as the Day of Dedication and Jane and I will be present for that celebration. At that time I will get photos taken of the piece in its final location situated on a slanted pedestal that will enhance the lift of the sculpture as if the turtle is about to land on the beach.
 
LEO
 
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