Ireland/Foundry

I was informed recently that I have been chosen as a finalist for another piece in Ireland. Our first experience in the fall going to Ireland to unveil two pieces was a great success and a trip I won't soon forget. To be selected as a finalist for an even larger monument is very exciting. I have created a wax model of my design which will be cast in bronze and then delivered to the Emerald Isle.
Keep your fingers crossed, even though I have been selected as a finalist I know the competition will be up to snuff and Irish to boot! I suspect the final decision will be announced sometime in September.
Meanwhile I stopped by Campbell Plaster & Iron (a bronze foundry go figure) to drop off some work and pick up some work and my buddy the owner Glenn Campbell and his first mate Keith MacIntyre were getting ready to pour some bronze.......

I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
::: Henri Matisse :::

The Upper Valley Homeschoolers

I had a nice visit at the studio the other day by the Upper Valley HomeSchoolers . They were a wonderful group of about 18 kids who were full of energy and lots of intriguing questions. They were very well behaved and that is a plus in a studio with plenty of fragile items lying around! Their manners were impeccable and I they gave me lots of suggestions for new pieces!" What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul" Joseph Addison

Summer in the studio

Its been a busy time in the studio in the past few months. I am working on several commissions simultaneously including a medallion, a swimmer, Vintner's and a model for a piece that may be done in Ireland. ( I just found out I am a finalist for the project)

Here is a shot taken in the studio where I am cleaning up the model for the 4" bronze medallions for the IUCN.

"Whenever it is possible, a boy should choose some occupation which he should do even if he did not need the money" 

William Lyon Phelps

Kinnick Inspection

Here is a "Field Inspector" from LJN Sculpture going over the Nile Kinnick relief. These representatives check for things like casting quality, durability and so on.

Enjoy, LJN

A tribute to Robert Mondavi

Robert Mondavi passed away last friday but left quite a legacy. It was my great honor to be chosen to create his portrait for the Vintner's Hall of Fame last year. Below are some shots from the process and one of Robert receiving the honor.

A Party Favor

Bas Relief Portrait

Here is a piece that I finished today. I picked the bronze up from the foundry and mounted it on a frame that was created by the framer ( Ross Houghton)  who does all of the frames for the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, NH.  The piece has been created for a local school to pay tribute to a beloved teacher.

In the studio

Here are a couple of shots taken recently. The first is a shot of the Harold Jefferson Coolidge Medal that I am creating for the IUCN. I will create two 12" masters which will be reduced and made, a die will be cut and 4" bronze medallians will be produced.

This is a shot of the beginning of the 2008 inductees into the Vintner's Hall.

We interrupt this program.....

Harold Jefferson Coolidge Medal

I have just received the final approval for the medallion design for the International Union for the conservation of Nature (IUCN). When completed it will be a 4" bronze medal which will be struck at a mind and not cast in a foundry. The process is similar: Create a master, reduce the master and cut a die and than strike the coin. It is an exciting project and I am eager to get underway. The only distraction is that believe it or not its supposed to be in the 70's today!

The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture
and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it
is a particular state when everything happens very quickly,
a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear
and pleasure; it’s a little like making love, the physical
act of love.
::: Francis Bacon :::


Regards, LJN

Robert and Margret Mondavi

Here is a shot I just acquired from the 2007 Vintner's Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Robert Mondavi
Inducted 2007

With a commitment to excellence and a visionary understanding of wine's place at the American table, Robert Mondavi has dedicated his life to showing how wine adds to life's enjoyment. His motto, "Making good wine is a skill, fine wine an art," has inspired winemakers in California and around the world.

A pioneer of fine winemaking in Napa Valley, Mondavi has been equally committed to wine's place, along with cooking, as one of the arts. His wide-ranging support for the arts, as well as community and charitable works, is legendary, and his conferences and educational programs have added immeasurably to the appreciation of wine in America.

Throughout his life and career, Robert Mondavi has set the highest of goals, and has consistently sought to lead the wine industry to ever-greater achievements. Robert's creed: "Go forward, this is only the beginning."

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is
nothing without work.
::: Emile Zola :::

Regards, LJN

Family

When I paint I am ageless, I just have the pleasure or the
difficulty of painting.
::: Francis Bacon :::

CIA "Vintner's Hall of Fame" induction dinner 2008

We had another exciting visit to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone this past weekend for the second annual induction dinner for the Vintner's Hall of fame. My bas relief portraits of last years class were unveiled and 8 new members were inducted. They included: the late Ernest and Julio Gallo; Paul Draper, CEO of Ridge Vineyards; Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, whose Chardonnay was tops in the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting; and wine expert Darrell Corti, whose Sacramento store has helped put countless wines and gourmet products on Americans' radars. A separate category of "pioneers," who have been dead 10 years or longer, will include John Daniel Jr. of Inglenook; Napa Valley vintner Louis M. Martini; and Livermore vintner Carl Wente.

Here is a shot of the Maynard Amerine relief display.

While on a tour of the facilities we were offered a few truffles........

The sculptor and 2008 inductee Miljenko "Mike" Grgich

Sneaking in a little golf with my brother at Eagle Vines Golf Club in Napa.

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible
things before breakfast."
::: Lewis Carroll :::

Regards, LJN

Preparing for dinner....

I will be heading out to Saint Helena, Ca later this week for the second annual induction dinner of the Vintner's Hall of Fame. Last years dinner was incredible. This year they will be inducting 8 more vintner's:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/18/WIO4UGJ38.DTL
I look forward to creating a new set of portraits almost as much as the dinner! (Escaping this weather won't bother me much either)
Regards,
LJN

Drawing

"Drawing is the art of being able to leave an accurate record
of the experience of what one isn't, of what one doesn't know.
A great drawer is either confirming beautifully what is
commonplace or probing authoritatively the unknown."
::: Brett Whiteley :::

"Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion-all in one." - John Ruskin


©LJN

©LJN

©LJN

Warm regards, LJN

"The Artist's dream"

I received this note this morning....


This is the artist's dream:
To receive the inspiration to create,
To share that creation with others,
And to be totally supported in the process.

I asked him to explain further. "It all begins with inspiration," he said, "an inspiration that calls us to create. Once the inspiration is received, then we can bring that vision into the world as a song, painting, book, invention, new business - or any other tangible form.

"After the creation is born, it needs to be shared with others. No one creates in a vacuum. It is only when the vision is successfully communicated to its intended audience that it truly comes alive.

"Finally, the artist needs to be supported for what he does. If he has made a positive connection with his audience, the support will come - financially and emotionally. And while it may not always be there immediately, it will ultimately arrive. This is where the artist needs to trust and be patient."

Regards, LJN

Foundry visit

I took a trip over to the foundry to check out the progress on several pieces they are doing for me. Looking good. Two of the pieces are being prepped for a patina, the other photos is of the "chasing" station.




You cannot find your soul with your mind, you must use your heart.
::: Gary Zukav :::

Regards, LJN

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

I had the opportunity to take some plaster casts of two of Saint-Gaudens coin designs. Ironically one of them is the 1907 coin which Mary Cunningham posed for. Unbelievably beautiful work by the master.

It is my dream to create an art which is filled with balance,
purity and calmness, freed from a subject matter that is
disconcerting or too attention-seeking. In my paintings, I wish
to create a spiritual remedy, similar to a comfortable armchair
which provides rest from physical expectation for the
spiritually working, the businessman as well as the artist.
::: Henri Matisse :::

Regards, LJN

January 2008

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand,
as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply
necessary to love."
::: Claude Monet :::

Happy New Year

O, once in each man's life, at least, good luck knocks at his door; And wit to seize the flitting guest need never hunger more. But while the loitering idler waits good luck beside his fire, The bold heart storms at fortune's gates, And conquers its desire.
- Lewis J. Bates