Wednesday, July 15, 2009

N. Bennington Sculpture Opening 7/18/09

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Sculpture Show Opening- North Bennington VT
Please join us at the Reception-July 18 –4 to 8 pm
Located on Route 67 in North Bennington VT
at the Post Office.
miChelle Vara will be showing a metal sculpture finished in galvanize called
“Theodora”
The piece is a conversation in metal about the evolution of soul
from one level in life to another.
We just installed sculpture pieces last night. I
look forward to seeing you all as it is always a good time.

Monday, July 13, 2009

REWARD!!--I Want MY SHIP-~- REWARD!!!




Call me with any information on the sculpture piece called
"The Half Moon Ship"
from the sculpture
Henry Hudson!
Displayed in Rotary Park Kingston NY.




PLEASE HELP!!!!


GET THE WORD OUT!!



Daily Freeman news in Kingston NY 7/13/09

Replica of Hudson's ship STOLEN from sculpture

By ROSEMARY SHARPEFreeman intern

The 18-inch-high replica of Henry Hudson’s ship the Half Moon shown at lower right in this photo was stolen from the sculpture, called ‘Henry Hudson and the Half Moon,’ sometime last week in Kingston’s Rotary Park. Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo
KINGSTON — The Half Moon is missing.Not Henry Hudson’s original ship, but an 18-inch-high metal replica of the vessel that was part of a sculpture at an outdoor exhibit in Kingston.People overseeing the Kingston Sculpture Biennial — which includes works at Kingston Point, Rotary Park and Hasbrouck Park — noticed last week that the Half Moon was missing from a 10-foot-high sculpture in Rotary Park called “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon.” The work was created by miChelle Vara to commemorate this year’s 400th anniversary of Hudson’s 1609 voyage up the river that now bears his name.Rotary Park is near the river’s edge.Vara said by telephone on Saturday that she’s upset visitors to the park won’t be able to see her entire piece, which took more than a year to create. She also said removing the ship from the sculpture couldn’t have been easy because it was double-netted to the rest of the work with a weld. Whoever took the ship must have had a plan and tools, she said.Vara said she did extensive research on Hudson’s life while deciding how to honor the explorer. She made Hudson himself out of various recycled materials, including a bicycle wheel, to represent his being a combination of several elements, she said.The sculpture depicts Hudson looking down at his ship on a map, with a hole in the map to symbolize the unknown.Vara said the life of Hudson parallels the life of an artist in many ways because people don’t always support artists or understand their goals, and they work in the unknown.Vara also noted the ironic historical significance of the ship being separated from Hudson and the rest of the sculpture: Hudson never was heard from again after his crew mutinied and threw him off the Half Moon, and now the sculpted Hudson and Half Moon have been separated.“History repeated itself,” Vara said.She said she hopes to build a new ship and make it sturdier than the missing one.And now, she said, whenever she creates a piece for public display, she’ll have to worry about vandalism, and that “takes away from the freedom of showing something easily and whimsically.”Vindora Wixom, executive director of the Arts Society of Kingston, which sponsors the sculpture biennial, called the vandalism of Vara’s piece “a shame” and said she is disappointed that the public now is deprived of seeing this piece it in its entirety.Wixom hopes the incident will raise public awareness about the importance of art and its continuing cultural purpose. She also believes it will serve as a motivation to never stop making and supporting art.The damage to “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon” was not the first incidence of vandalism associated with this year’s sculpture exhibit: A piece by Michael Ciccone called “Washed Ashore,” also in Rotary Park, was bent 90 degrees, and Ciccone had to come fix the work, said Meagan Gallagher, the exhibit’s curator; and a piece in the same park called “Buttercups,” by Randy Polumbo, which includes lights made from blue baby bottles in the shape of a buttercup, was missing one of the bottles around the same time the Half Moon went missing.Gallagher said city police have been notified about the vandalism, and Vara said she is offering a reward for information about the damage to her sculpture.
Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of DailyFreeman.com.

esopusdave wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:00 AM:
" Potential copycat criminals should be aware of two things: There have been security cameras installed at the sites, and the cost of buying one of these sculptures is far less than the fine - including legal fees and jail time. Enjoy, not destroy! "
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catsuny wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:45 AM:
" SHAME..unfortunately society must go with the cameras and lots of em...people today have no respect no self worth nothing and it is a doggy dog world If this person is caught jail isnt gonna do hit his pocket and dont let it go till hes PAID WELL "

Daily Freeman news of Kingston 7/12/09

By Dietrich KnauthFreeman staff

Click to enlarge
“Henry Hudson and the Half Moon” by miChelle Vara.(Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo)
He stands 10 feet tall, with a body of iron beams and welded scrap metal. His face is a bicycle wheel, with nuts and bolts are riveted to his hat and various water-faucet handles serving as shirt-buttons.“I think he’s cute,” said Meagan Gallagher, referring to “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon,” a sculpture that looms at the water’s edge in Kingston’s Rotary Park.Gallagher, 25, is the curator of the 2009 Kingston Sculpture Biennial exhibition, and she called the sculpture, created by miChelle Vara, “powerful yet whimsical.”“With the quadricentennial, it’s such a great centerpiece,” Gallagher said, referring to the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the river that bears his name.The theme of this year’s biennial, the ninth, is “Go Green and Keep the Hudson Clean.” It focuses on work that pays homage to the Hudson River’s impact and uses natural or recycled materials. Because of the river-centric theme, almost all of the sculptures in the city are located at Kingston Point, Rotary Park and Hasbrouck Park, with four sculptures in and around the Arts Society of Kingston headquarters at 97 Broadway. Previous biennials have included works scattered throughout the city, on public and private lawns and indoors.But not everyone wholeheartedly supports the river-and-parks location. Alderman Thomas Hoffay (D-Ward 2), who represents Uptown Kingston, said that the Biennial had “lost something” by neglecting parts of the city where people work and go about their daily business. Although he understood the decision to focus on the river, he said previous biennials “had more of a visual impact, because people saw them every day.”Nevertheless, Gallagher said that early word-of-mouth has been positive. “I’ve been told it’s a lot more fun than shows in the past.”One of ASK’s goals was to create an exhibition that that fits the city and its history and getting people to rediscover the parks. “A lot of people have said, ‘I hadn’t been to Hasbrouck park in years, and it’s so beautiful’,”Gallagher said.There are 50 sculptures in the exhibit, although one of them has surely melted by now — over a dozen ice boats carved by Itty Neuhas were launched at the July 4 opening ceremony, their waters joining the Hudson on its way toward the Atlantic. The title plaque, “Ice Boats Melt into the Hudson,” remains near the water’s edge in Rotary Park, long outlasting the work itself.Gallagher and Vindora Wixom, ASK’s executive director, said that their goals this year were to create an exhibition that was accessible, fun and “kid-friendly.”The kid-friendly theme extended to the official opening reception on July 4, which featured children’s activities — including boat-making and face-painting — guided tours, live music and hors d’ouvres.“We tried to, rather than provoke the people here in Kingston, to attract them,” said Wixom, who has a sculpture of her own in the biennial, “Tear of the Clouds.” She added that no designs were turned down because they might be controversial.In part because of the theme, this year’s exhibition will likely be less controversial than some past biennials. Two of the more controversial pieces in the event’s history were Tom Gottslieben’s “Spiral Construction” and Rita Dee’s “Atticus,” both of which were displayed on the lawn of the Ulster County Courthouse on Wall Street. “Spiral Construction,” from the 1999 biennial, resembled a blue screw made from bluestone, stainless steel and crystal, and some observers interpreted it as a commentary on fairness in the justice system. “Atticus,” a wooden horse sculpture with the Ten Commandments and other biblical passages inscribed on its wooden framework, was moved in 2005 after it was opposed by mayor James Sottile and others, who said it was promoting religion on government property. It was moved to the lawn of the Old Dutch Church, across the street.Despite the emphasis on nature and whimsy, “you never know what will offend some people,” Wixom said, whether for political or aesthetic reasons.But Wixom said that the nature of the exhibit will reward repeat visitors to the parks. There are “a lot of nooks and crannies,” and some of the work is not immediately noticeable.Visitors to Rotary Park seemed to have positive reactions to the art that sprouted up there recently.On a warm Thursday afternoon, two visitors to the park relaxed at a hilltop gazebo, listening to Mark Bernard’s entry, “The Tree Whispers Hudson,” a radio installation with motion sensors that greets passersby and then gives lectures on the history of the city and the river.“Would you come over here?” the voice from the bushes asked. “I’m the tree over here. I’m this fallen log.”“This is great,” said Katie Panchack, 23, of Saugerties, as the log continued with a speech about the Lenape tribe that settled the area before Hudson’s arrival. “I’ve been here all my life and didn’t know half of this stuff.”Panchak said the biennial was “awesome.” “There’s so much stuff to look at.”Her friend, Juan Valdez, a visitor from West Palm Beach, Fla., agreed. “This is very beautiful.”Rick Van Dusen, a retired builder and Kingston resident since 1997, said that he liked the way the art fit with the natural surroundings. “It’s all about nature,” he said.“Some of it I like, and some of it I don’t,” he said, appearing unimpressed with some of the abstract metal statues. His favorite is “The Dancer,” by Kathy Bruce, a tall bamboo and moss figure rising out of a bush that spreads around her waist like a skirt. “It’s the nicest one I’ve seen so far.”Van Dusen, a frequent visitor to Rotary Park, made the trip with his dog, Mina, a 2-year-old Shitzu-Maltese mix, who also approved of the exhibition. “She likes the art,” Van Dusen said.“I like the walkway at the entrance,” Panchak said. “It’s very bright and colorful. It’s not an eyesore.”The pathway, entitled “Alive! A Path of Renewal,” is made from bluestones and planters hand-painted by residents of the Northeast Center for Special Care as part of their rehabilitation from brain injuries.MiChelle Vara, the sculptor of “Henry Hudson,” said that she is happy with her statue’s central location. She pieced him together over the course of a year, with the quadricentennial in mind.“He is very happy in the park, and he appears to be quite happy next to the Indian,” she said, referring to Dave Channon’s “Diana Lenape,” a large metal sculpture made with discarded garden tools including shovel heads and a rake, in the likeness of a Native American woman aiming a bow and arrow.The art will remain on display until October. Later in the summer, ASK plans to sell catalogs commemorating the exhibit, which will have photographs of the art in its outdoor setting, an opening comment, artist statements and photos from the July 4 reception. Funding for the event normally comes from city coffers, but this year ASK carried the costs of promotion and is waiting to be reimbursed by funds from a state grant for the Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial. They have asked for $10,000, the same amount as in past years.Other artists featured in the biennial include Melita Greenleaf, Scarlett Colsen, Michael Ciccone, Anne Dushanko Dobek, Robin M. Glassman, Karen Pignataro, Gary Pluschau, Randy Polumbo, the Student Art Alliance at SUNY New Paltz, Matthew Zappala, Casey Schwartz, Susan Togut, Anne Stanner, Cristina Ungureanu, Emily Puthoff, Bill Brovold, Pieter and Abby Heijnen, Bennett Wine, Terry L.H. Slade, Ze’ev Wily Neumann, Kelly McGrath, Patrick Sweeney, Stephen Reynolds, Pamela Wallace, Robert Giordano, Lucjan Nowinski, Franc Palaia, James Hixson, Sandra Schaller and Oreen Cohen.

Sculpture show has nature on its mind - The Daily Freeman Life: Serving the Hudson Valley since 1871(DailyFreeman.com)

Sculpture show has nature on its mind - The Daily Freeman Life: Serving the Hudson Valley since 1871(DailyFreeman.com)

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Sculpture on the Move


It was a long week----
A new sculptural piece called Murphy finished.
Now showing 6/26/09 - 3 pieces at the Flories Gallery on Broadway in Saratoga NY.
A 1000 lb base was made and all the bird bases.
The sculpture Henry Hudson and the Half Moon re-painted and loaded.
The truck & trailer loaded to go to Kingston’s and installed Life & HH.
For the July 4th Opening. Which all are welcome to attend; there are family events snacks and of course sculpture.

A newspaper article from the Saratogian 6/25/09
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/doc4a42daec21e63396255525.txt

A channel 9 news spot
http://www.capitalnews9.com/Video/video_pop.aspx?vids=158222&sid=345&rid=28

Then on Saturday I went to NJ were we had a family gathering spent time with my longest known friend that was all awesome.
The new family additions of nieces & nephews from all corners of the country are well and growing very rapid.
Did time on the Boardwalk and the beach. Over eat, enjoyed a NJ ice cream bar.
I think I crammed it all in and had a wonderful time in fast-forward.

Yesterday we worked in a crazy rainstorm on the Lake George then off to the steamboats at lock 5 for the Quadricentennial.

To finish the night with a good barbequed steak made by good friends.