Category: sculpture

Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!

This installation will most certainly brighten a neighborhood. Good it doesn’t come with audio! Ricardo is six foot tall and quite handsome………..He’s been a labor love. He is paired with the Pickettes, two rather gorgeous hens.

I designed him a number of years ago for a public installation that never happened. This year I was thrilled to be commissioned to fabricate him for a private installation.

Original public design

I had a few challenges though to overcome with this one. I had to re-engineer the pieces to suit a residential site and because of the pandemic I had to work remotely.

The designs and vector drawings I produced on my computer went via email across the country to my metal fabricators in Florida. They fed my designs into the control system of a waterjet machine that precisely cut sheets of aluminum into the parts of the sculpture.

A Pickette leaning against the waterjet pool

It’s quite a fantastic process and there is no room for error in the drawings. It cuts exactly what it sees! I was on pins and needles awaiting the assembly of the raw parts! So relieved they came together without a hitch!

Rooster
Ricardo in the raw

The sculpture parts are now off to be powder coated. From there my installer takes over, assembles, delivers and carefully installs on the site.

The powder coating came off beautifully and the trial assembly was a success!

The installation is scheduled for this week!

by Categories: Art, dagdart, Deborah Dart, sculptureTags: , , , , , ,

I began creating a series of seriously whimsical rabbits a number of years ago.  The first rabbit was hand cut the day Walter Cronkite passed away. “Walter” as he is fondly called appears and reappears. “Walter – Going down”  was the very first.

This August I installed two in Sarasota in amazing gardens………..

Walter GD2

“Walter -Going Down”  has a tropical residence alongside a lap pool. While “Walter – Who? What?” is paired with another sculpture in a slightly more formal setting and in a different material.

I’m insistent installation is done properly.  Thankfully Sarasota has an extremely experienced art installer – Jon Dowd.  We shared one hot, humid afternoon placing and installing the rabbits.

jon d

 

“Walter -Who? What?” is the first in the series to be cut from metal other than aluminum.  I chose mild steel to be sensitive to the sculpture he was to be paired with.  The steel plate selected was already aging but I took a few steps to achieve a more aged finish.

Before degreasing, rust acceleration and rust inhibition the rabbit looked like this……

walterWW

Installed he looks like this………

walterWW2

A happy ending for two tails!

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 Sometimes its hard for an artist to let go of a creation.  Walter the rabbit just keeps multiplying and I keep inventing roles to pose him in.  I’m rather fond of the “Jitterbug” and “Walter’s Frolics” pictured below.

"Jitterbug" - aluminum - 5'x 6.6.'
“Jitterbug” – aluminum

"Walter's Frolics" - aluminum
“Walter’s Frolics” – aluminum

I designed the rabbit in the summer of 2009.  The first piece was hand cut from aluminum plate and was being hand sanded, buffed and powder coated the week Walter Cronkite died.  Thus the name Walter.  In some odd way the name fit and it reminds me every time I am confronted with one of the sculptures, or when I go back to work on a new pose, of the impact an exceptional newsperson can have on your memories of events through a lifetime.

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