Sculpture

[Soñadora]

Well, it's finally happened. I have been submitting proposals to Calls for Entry for various artistic endeavors for nearly 2 decades. The Bemidji Sculpture Walk has accepted one of my designs. The thing is, it's not built yet and they want it installed 2nd week of May. It's a fairly large piece in steel. Below is the e-mail I received from them:

Rick, and Al, I have reviewed the additional images that Rick sent and have read his descriptions of his work. I am very much in favor of accepting his proposal and doing the additional work necessary to site and install the piece.

The concerns brought up at our last meeting centered mainly on the proper location and also on viewer safety. I think that we should be able to find a location that alleviates both of these concerns. People will always climb on sculpture, but signs and other deterrents can work. At least no one will steal this one!

Thank you Rick, for your response. Part of the BSW goal is to help new sculptors complete work and get it viewed by the public. You seem to qualify for that need.

If there is a chance for you to visit Bemidji in the next couple weeks, let us know and we can scout sites. Otherwise, Al and I will work with Parks and Rec to find someplace. Installation dates are Fri-Sat, May 16-17. But you are welcome to install (once we have a site decided) prior to those dates, as needed.

Best regards, m

I will post pictures of the proposal tonight.

[Britches]

That is awesome! Congrats Sons, is this going to be a permanent piece, or is the BSW set up for a specific time?

Can't wait to see the design

[kimbottles]

Way to go Rick!!

Please post rendering/picture/something to quench my curiosity.

[JoeP]

That's really, really, cool Rick. Congratulations! I too can't wait to see your entry.

[cap10ed]

How about a peek at the sculpture rendering Rick? You must have watched this clip in College.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0ITXBWpHE

[Jamie]

Congrats!

[Soñadora]

The piece is called 'Mining Blue Sky'
It's a tribute of sorts to the machines and structures of the Iron Range





The turnaround time on this is pretty short. I will try to put together a Kickstarter project for this, but I don't know if I'll be able to swing it.

[Cherie320]

Rick, that is wonderful. Immortality is in your future. If you can miss enough sleep to get that piece completed on time. Good Luck! Pat

[JoeP]

Nice form Rick. What material do you plan to use? MIld Steel? Cor-ten?

[LarryHoward]

Nice. Congratulations.

[kimbottles]

Wow!

Rick! You are an artist!

Impressive piece!

[Orestes Munn]

I like it too, especially the tension between inviting lounge chair and "lucky I didn't sit on that scimitar".

Seriously, congrats, Rick, and I can't wait to see it realized.

[BeauV]

RICK! DUDE!!! You are an ARTIST!!!

Seriously, that is very Very VERY cool!! Once installed does it get a "christening" with a bottle of wine broken over the piece and a lot of drunken sailors staggering around - we Scantlingers would be up for that!

[Britches]

Sigh...reminds me of my childhood up on the range. Although this is a much more modern, less rusty version

Very, very cool Rick. Can't wait to see it for reals!

[Soñadora]

thanks everyone. Probably just mild steel. The painted stuff will be powder coated but the rest will be left unpainted and hopefully start to rust. After a year, it would be cool if it started to weather.

[SloopJonB]

Very cool. How big is it?

[Panope]

thanks everyone. Probably just mild steel. The painted stuff will be powder coated but the rest will be left unpainted and hopefully start to rust. After a year, it would be cool if it started to weather.

Here is what you need to make steel rust fast. Like overnight.

http://shop.surfinchemical.com/RUSTY-RE ... ATSI03.htm

Steve

[Soñadora]

15' x 17' x 12' high

Thanks Steve! I was looking for that stuff!

[Joli]

Very cool, congrats Rick!

[Lin]

Well done Rick! : )

[Soñadora]

Thanks for the votes of confidence everyone. This is a defining moment in my creative ventures. I have to admit that those closest to me are less than supportive. It has been challenging to keep my resolve in an attempt to follow through. This is not the first time I've tried this. In the past I've given in to the lack of support and shrugged it off.

There are those for whom passion is constantly top of mind. There are many ways to express it. For folks like Bob it's done through design and music. For others like Donn's wife, it's art. Still others have expressed their passions through successful vocation. For me, this will be the materialization of a very small part of my passion. If I am able to pull it off, it's my hope that perhaps I can continue to express my passions and visions in this way.

If anyone would like to participate in this, you can! For those who are local, you would be welcomed to help assemble the piece on site. It has to be up by May 17th. If all goes well, that shouldn't be a problem. The pieces will be cut this week and I will be picking them up by week-end.

If you are not local and still would like to help, my project has been accepted by Kickstarter. You can contribute any amount:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/45 ... g-blue-sky

If anyone has any question about this, please feel free to contact me by any means.

[BeauV]

Kickstarter Kicked!

Go for it!!!

BV

[Rasp]

Way to go! $555 pledged right out of the gate! First day and your over 10% to you goal with a month to go. Beau stole that model for $25? That is robbery. Better make some more models... Have you done a 3d model for a site such as SketchFab? East to do and an embedded link on your Kickstarter page might generate more interest. I've been using SketchFab with Bob and some of his clients lately and it is pretty neat. Here is a link to a model I did of 'MAYAN' when Beau was first getting involved with it.

https://sketchfab.com/models/56222faece ... f95edecda7

You are well on your way to making your sculpture a reality, congratulations RIck!

[Soñadora]

WOW

you guys are blowing me away! Thanks to all who have contributed! To be honest, I am a bit skeptical about pulling this off. And I made a mistake regarding the wood model. Anyone pledging $25 will get a model. Anyone pledging $100 or higher will get a plaque with a tailing from the manufacture of the piece.

To clarify for those who don't know, if the goal is not reached you will not be charged.

Rasp, that's a great solution. I was going to embed the eDrawings viewer or try Adobe 3d PDF. Another option is to create a Quicktime VR type walk around. Hope to get to that today.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed.

[Rasp]

Rick,

Give SketchFAB a try. Seems to work better in more browsers and non 3d types seem to pick up navigating it easier. Even Bob likes it!

[Soñadora]

Added a small video and some working drawings for the parts. My Iowa guy is going to start cutting the steel tonight.

I always get nervous when things start to get cut.

[Soñadora]

Got the spliced plates cut and shipped to my house. That must have been right at the limit for UPS to carry. Damn. I remember working at UPS and cursing those kinds of boxes.

I'm thinking we'll have all the plates cut by end of day today. Still hoping to have all the parts by early next week. Was hoping to have them done yesterday, but my guy with the plasma cutter is also a farmer and this is a pretty busy time of the year for him. If I can get the steel here by Monday, we can paint it and weld up the cross supports. The kickoff reception is the 17th. Still hopeful that we can make it happen by then.

In the meantime, I'm trying to ramp up the campaign for the Kickstarter site. If you know anyone who may be interested in supporting an artistic vision, please feel free to share. I've updated the site with a little be better description of what I'm trying to accomplish...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/45 ... g-blue-sky

[IrieMon]

Awesome !

For whatever reason, the Midnight Oil song "Blue Sky Mine" keeps bopping in my head now.... many thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs

[Charlie]

Awesome !

For whatever reason, the Midnight Oil song "Blue Sky Mine" keeps bopping in my head now.... many thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs

Mine too. That, and "Bullet the Blue Sky" by U2. Now Rick just needs people on Kickstarter to start "peelin' off those dollar bills, slapping' 'em down. 100. 200!"

[Soñadora]

lol

I'm surprised no one has broached that Midnight Oil song until now. No one. Not here ore anywhere. Maybe they figured it was implied, but it's a bit tongue in cheek.

Blue Sky Mining was one of those angry, whiney 'lash out' songs with a cool beat. Ok, ok so they mined asbestos and everyone died and the 'blue' referred to blue asbestos. But hey, at least it never snowed!!!

Really though, this has nothing to do with that. I just like the words