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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
City of Sculpture one step closer to ‘A Conversation in Six Parts’
July 8 has been set for the installation of “A Conversation in Six Parts,” a new sculpture for the large planter in the middle of Journal Square in downtown Hamilton.
Eric David Laxman, a sculptor from Valley Cottage, N.Y., was in Hamilton on Tuesday, June 23, to check on the forms that have been created for the pouring of a concrete base for the work, which was chosen from more than 40 proposals submitted from an international call for entries.
Go to the jump for more information about Eric David Laxman
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“A Conversation in Six Parts” will consist of six large curlicue shapes, three of brushed stainless steel and three in bronze, arranged in a seemingly random order.
“The forms are great,” Laxman said after taking extensive measurements. “The only surprise is that the planter dimensions aren’t the same as what’s on the plans.”
That is, Laxman designed the work based on the original diagrams provided by the city of Hamilton, but somewhere along the way, the dimensions changed and the space is eight feet narrower than he expected.
“Fortunately, it won’t effect the arrangement of the individual pieces, but sculpture will fill the space more and look much bigger,” he said. “It’s really going to be interesting to see how the final sculpture interacts with this space.”
Indeed, the issue of scale has been a constant, but pleasant, surprise for Laxman, who created the design on a 1/24 scale.
“I started with the biggest one,” which is about 11 feet high, Laxman said, “and when we stood it up, it seemed a lot bigger. When you have a model this small, you can see it all at once, but it’s really hard to project yourself into that situation, so it’s a totally different experience to actually walk around these pieces.”
Laxman said that he and his crew are currently working on the last of the six pieces, and that it shouldn’t take more than one day for the actual installation.
The installation is being supervised by Robert Saurber of the Hamilton firm Saurber Construction. Landscaping will be designed by Jon Doepker of Lakeview Nursery to complement the sculpture, according to City of Sculpture spokesperson Sue Samoviski.
The commission has been funded by the City of Sculpture’s fundraising activities, including IceFest, and private donations, Samoviski said. The committee works with the city to help find appropriate places for art and to prepare the sites, but no taxpayer money has been spent on this commission.
From Laxman’s studio:
Eric David Laxman says he didn’t plan to be a sculptor; he went to college as a chemistry and pre-med major at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
“I chose Tufts because they had a relationship with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (in Boston), and (I) could take art classes there,” he said.
He took several drawing and other art classes as an undergraduate, but in his senior year he took a stone carving class that inspired him to change majors.
“I had been to Italy when I was younger and saw the works of Michelangelo,” he said. “I was very inspired by the old traditions and how his work epitomized the skill that it takes. I felt a connection with that like nothing else I’d ever experienced.”
His family, however, was none too pleased.
“I come from a big Jewish family, so I had a lot of people trying to convince me that I could do both, be a doctor and make art on the side,” he said. “But I didn’t buy into it. I just said, ‘I don’t know any better, so I’m going to follow my art.’”
After changing his major, he also stayed around Boston for a few years to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Art. In 1992, he moved to Valley Cottage, N.Y., about 30 miles north of Manhattan, to begin his career in art.
Laxman still uses stone in some of his work, but more often than not, he works in metal these days. “A Conversation in Six Parts” uses some themes that Laxman has used in previous work, but in different contexts. This is the largest commission he’s received to date.
The proposed sculpture will be in six pieces, three in bronze and three in stainless steel, forming giant curlicues that touch and interact with each other. He was also inspired by the way Journal Square is set up as a public meeting place.
“Abstract sculpture is a great opportunity to create dialogue,” he said. “People see different things, and I thought about mixing materials together so that it creates a metaphor for urban life.”
He said he also found inspiration in Hamilton’s public arts projects and the City of Sculpture organization, citing it as a rarity.
“I was impressed by the values of the community,” he said. “It’s rare for a city to recognize the value of art as a way to define a community and to bring people together.”
Originally published Dec. 21, 2008
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Reading & All That Jazz programs continue at the Lane Library
The Hamilton Lane Library, 300 N. Third St., continues its Reading & All That Jazz with a Brown Bag Book Review, noon Tuesday, June 30, when reviewer Joe Ford will discuss “The Steel Wave” by Jeff Shaara.
This book is the second volume of a trilogy begun with “The Rising Tide,” that tells the story of the Second World War in Europe. As Shaara has done so many times before, this story is told through the points of view of some of history’s most colorful and dynamic characters. “The Steel Wave” focuses primarily on the Normandy campaign, what we more commonly know as “D-Day”, the Allies’ invasion of France.
Readers of “The rising Tide” will again see the story through the eyes of General Dwight Eisenhower, who once again commands a diverse army that must find its single purpose in the destruction of Hitler’s European fortress. His primary subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery must prove that this unique blend of Allied armies can successfully confront the might of Adolf Hitler’s forces, who have already conquered Western Europe.
The next Reading & All That Jazz program will be a jazz concert featuring the Rob Allgeyer Duo, noon, Tuesday, July 7. Enjoy these outstanding area musicians as they play modern jazz on keyboard and bass on Tuesday, July 7 at noon.
This popular series of alternating weekly book reviews and jazz performances will entertain you all summer long, June through August. All programs, free and open to the public, are on Tuesdays at noon at the Hamilton Lane Library, 300 N. Third St.
For more information about these and other programs at the Lane Libraries, call (513) 894-6557.
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Synopsis of “The Steel Wave” courtesy JeffShaara.com
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Monster Mini-Golf launches ‘appreciation campaign’
Monster Mini-Golf, 7058 Ridgetop Dr., West Chester, noon to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. $5.50-$7.50 per 18 holes. (513) 759-5400; www.monsterminigolf.com.
Monster Mini Golf, the monster-themed indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf franchise, has launched an “appreciation campaign” through July that includes a lot of give-aways.
Until the end of July, visitors — no purchase necessary — of the entertainment center can enter to win a number of great prizes, including mini golf for life, free parties, free rounds of golf and a custom Monster Mini Golf Epiphone Guitar, according to spokesperson Kristen Kohler.
Each entry will be awarded with, at the very least, a discounted round of mini golf. The promotion is coming along with warm weather, family vacations, and a hurting economy, said Christina Vitagliano, the co-founder of Monster Mini Golf in a press release.
“By coincidence, the whole concept was created because I was looking for something that would be fun and affordable for families,” she said in a press release. “I think any time is a good time for a promotion but right now I think people love to hear that they have a chance to win something that will just plain make them smile. That’s our job, to make people smile.”
Monster Mini Golf is a franchised chain of entertainment centers that features 18 holes of indoor glow-in-the-dark Monster-themed mini golf, three-dimensional props, an in-house faux radio station (W.I.R.D. Weird Radio), an array of video and redemption games and haunted mansion-style party rooms for hosting parties and other special events.
This appreciation campaign will be available to everyone on a national scope through the Internet as well as the West Chester location, but if the winner enters the contest in person, they will receive $500 cash in addition to the Monster Mini Golf Guitar and Mini Golf for Life.
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Great Miami River Days set for Sept. 12-13
After having been canceled due to the economic downturn, Great Miami River Days is back on.
“The committee had canceled the event for this year,” said local businessman Tony Traub and chairman of the River Days committee. “We knew we wouldn’t have any money coming from the city and talking to sponsors, we just didn’t feel we could raise the money.”
But after overcoming some personal health issues in early March, Traub had some time to think about it and re-consider the cancellation.
“I started making some calls to our sponsors and an anonymous donor came forward and said they’d make a donation matching dollar for dollar up to $25,000 for the event,” he said.
With that promise in hand, Traub said he’s so far been able to secure $20,000, which was enough to take back to the committee last week for consideration.
The biggest expense in previous years was the cost of bringing in the speed boat races, Traub said, so without that, he felt there could still be a good festival with a $50,000 budget, especially considering the gist of the event was the educational component, to teach people about the need to protect and preserve the Great Miami River.
“We got back in contact with the food vendors and other participants to re-confirm since many of them had already been notified the event had been canceled,” Traub said.
“We had a phenomenal response, so we voted on Friday to go ahead and have the festival,” he said. “With the cancellation of September Dayz in Fairfield, we felt even more of a civic duty to have an event because you can’t take everything away from the people.”
The event is now set for Sept. 12 and 13.
There are options open to replace the speed boat races with events equally-thrilling but less expensive to present, Traub said.
But there’s still the matter of the remaining $5,000 to raise for the matching grant.
“Small sponsors mean a lot now,” Traub said. Anyone wishing to make donations to Great Miami River Days can contact the Hamilton Community Foundation, (513) 863-1717, which has set up a fund for that purpose.
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West Chester Symphony honors Honest Abe, June 27-28
The West Chester Symphony Orchestra, 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27, Keehner Park, 7211 Barrett Rd., West Chester. Free. (513) 759-7304; www.westchesteroh.org.
The West Chester Symphony Orchestra, 3 p.m. Sunday, June 28, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, 1743 Hamilton-Cleves Rd., Hamilton. $8 adults, $1.50 children; free to Pyramid Hill members. (513) 863-8873.
With 2009 being the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, conductor Susan Schirmer will lead the West Chester Symphony in a program to celebrate music of his era and inspired by his life.
“We’ll be doing a lot of Americana,” Schirmer said, “some folk tunes, some Stephen Foster, a piece called ‘An American Salute’ based on the Civil War tune ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home.’ There’s also a more recent piece called ‘A Prairie Song’ that has some good fiddling in it.”
Also in the program will be Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait,” which includes narration from some of Lincoln’s most famous speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address.
“Copland, along with some other composers, was commissioned in the 1940s to write a patriotic piece in regard to the war effort,” Schirmer said. “It premiered in Cincinnati, so there’s also a local connection to the piece.
“It has been performed all over the world and in the score you can see his words translated into different languages,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of research on it and I found out that a lot of people have attributed it to helping start some revolutions.”
Indeed, according to an article on the National Endowment for the Humanities Web site, “a fiery young Venezuelan actress” narrated a performance in her home country .
Copland was present at the concert and later wrote that after the final lines “the audience of six thousand rose to its feet as one and began shouting so loudly that I couldn’t hear the end of the piece.”
As it turned out, that was the first public demonstration against military dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, who was soon was deposed in a 1958 revolution and sent into exile. “So a lot of people believe that it was ‘A Lincoln Portrait’ that started the revolution,” Schirmer said.
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