Exploring Grounds for Sculpture

George Segal's "Depression Breadline" continues to be one of my favorite sculptures (on a long list) at Grounds for Sculpture. The depiction of the five men standing in line conveys the era so well. Our mood this week while visiting GFS was quite to opposite. My Art Enrichment students, who just visited GFS last year, were as happy as can be exploring the Grounds once again,,,this time with a different lens.

Here are the girls in the Johnson/Kopcow Fantastic Five group interacting with Segal's sculpture. 

This sculpture has changed little since I met it 14 years ago (a bit more oxidation) but each year as my students line up and pose with this sculpture I feel as though I am seeing it for the very first time along with them.

 Segal conveys the mood so well in bronze capturing the heaviness and sadness in their clothing and faces. The brick wall and closed door rounds out the mood of the installation.

 My artsy explorers amazed me during the trip figuring out some neat angles and perspectives in their photography. 

What I love so much about GFS is how the landscape is just as intriguing as the actual sculpture.

For the Tuesday trip, the weather allowed for short sleeves. The day felt more magical because of the weather. Later in the week, the temperature was quite chilly but we were warm in spirit and didn't feel the cold in the least bit.

A special surprise for my students was a private tour of Gyuri Hollosy's studio. He is a lovely, incredibly talented man that I have met a few times. I taught his talented daughter for an honors class in middle school. She is a chip off the block... intelligent, skilled and personable.

This tour was a true gift from a friend and Bear Tavern parent who is a phenonmenal Sculptor as well, Rory Mahon. 

We toured Hollosy's studio intrigued by his works -in- progress, collection of amazing sculptures, paintings and drawings. It was the kind of space that you could sit in and do nothing but stare around at the wonders of the inspiring space.

After autographs and pictures of Hollosy, my students and his ox "Augie" or "ArtToro", we wandered off better, more inspired people.

Clifford Ward and Indigene

Just wanted to quickly say that I now have a 4th favorite ox, "Indigene" by Clifford Ward.

I'll be honest with you, I didn't need to see this ox to know it would be amazing... Simply because it is by Clifford Ward, a Sculptor who I have had the pleasure to meet numerous times at Grounds for Sculpture (where I have worked for the past 13 years and where he has a pretty awesome studio space).

His work is incredible. Inspired by tribal designs from African, Native Americans, Aboriginal cultures. Love the high contrast designs. 

Enough ox talk for now. 

The Best Things in Life....

Great news for our school community today. We get to keep our Ox! The 5th grade committees from 2014 and 2015 worked together to fund the generous gift. Dexter Philip Oxford, III "Oxie" went for $1,700. What a huge gift!

A colleague just texted me that we won the ox and here's my response:

I do feel pride and relief that our ox will stay at home in front of the school but more so than that, I genuinely appreciate the connectedness of those in our school community who made this happen. I felt that the gift, was already given once I knew that the 5th grade committees were planning to bid on and win the ox. 

The bigger picture, the connectedness, is the real gift for me. Knowing that the painted ox meant enough for others to bid and win this piece of sculpture for our school. It means a whole lot to me. 

The best things in life are definitely not things...the best things in life are people...it's memories and being connected with those around us.

It looks as though all of the schools will be keeping their oxen as well. Huge relief for us all!

A special thank you to the 5th grade committee and Britt Dominick for making this happen for our school. 

"Oxie's on the Map!"

"Oxie's on the Map!" I can't take this phrase out of my mind that a BT parent said to me. So here it is... Oxie's little spotlight

I am loving this picture of Dexter Philip Oxford, III or simply "Oxie" traveling to Bear Tavern for installation a little over a week ago. Doesn't he look noble? Living up to the name, I guess. Speaking of the name. Oxie's name is a combination of a few names the Bear Tavern kids mentioned last spring. Honestly, the name could be much longer but I am content with what we've got.

Photo from mercerme.com
THANK YOU FOR TAKING SUCH A GREAT PHOTO!

Enjoy viewing all of the oxen throughout Hopewell Valley, the energy for these oxen is through the roof! 

See you soon!

Heya! And the Ox is finished

Hey everyone,
I am back from my temporary blogging vacation. I've missed writing but ultimately had some things on my plate that took up the end of my school year at Bear Tavern.
The first was matters of the heart. I spent every single free moment that I could with students (especially 5th graders before they moved on and up to 6th grade).

Every year it has been tough to let go of students and make the transition from seeing and speaking to them daily to not knowing for sure that our paths will cross again. So, I spent as much time as I could with my lovelies and wish them the best of luck in September and always. Part of that fun was watching World Cup soccer. Ok, a lot of the fun was soccer. I am a huge CBF, Selecao, Brazil through thick and thin fan. Over the years, I've realized and cherished the events and experiences that happen outside of the classroom or off (art) topic things that bond us. We spent some incredible quality time working on projects, talking soccer, thinking about summer and those sorts of things.

The second thing was our Bear Tavern ox. I blogged at the start of the spring about a project that the arts community in Hopewell Valley had been working on-- designing and painting full sized oxen for the Hopewell Valley Arts Council 'Stampede'. You all saw the "Ox Selfie Cam" of my colleagues and me posing with the blank canvas. At our art night, the school community had a great time painting the ox and then a smaller group of students, staff and I went in to finish it up.
Our ox was finished in July and I was able to view our ox along with the majority of the others at an estate in Pennington before they were placed throughout the community. Here are some pics of a few of my favorites and the oxen that my colleagues created with their schools.

Love this one AND it's on my way to and from school

 

                                        

Another favorite

Another fav. Loved this concept by Timberlane artists and Donna Cariola

Hopewell Elementary- cute fingerprint froggy's!

Stony Brook Elementary- intricate stars 

Toll Gate Grammar-super neat paint lines!

Hopewell Valley Central High School- gotta love the primary colors!

Soooo pretty 

Grazing in the Field

 Hopewell Valley is buzzing with the excitement of these new public art pieces. Check out the Arts Council web page for a map to find the 60+ oxen, artist bios/art statements and a ton more by clicking on the logo.

Glad to be back, I hope that you are all well and my best wishes to you for a great end of summer and start to the fall.

Welcome to Bear Tavern You Grand Old Ox (featuring the Ox Selfie Cam)

How often do you have an ox at your school to paint? My guess is never. That's because out of the many artsy animal parade that have crossed the globe, the ox is a bit rare. You will see more dogs and horses but the ox was chosen by the new Hopewell Valley Arts Council Committee because it is " a symbol of the Valley’s agricultural heritage, teamwork and enduring sense of community, the ox, an historic reminder of Hopewell Valley’s farming tradition, was chosen as the icon of the HV Arts Council’s public art event. Today, a team of oxen is still used to plow the fields and haul heavy loads at the Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township, uniquely connecting the past and present."

Photo courtesy of the Arts Council (there were only 2 oxen on our delivery truck FYI)

Our ox, who is yet to be named, was delivered to the school by a team of energetic, fun people yesterday afternoon. Honestly, if they had more deliveries to make, I would have asked to go along as it really seemed like a lot of fun. The first graders were coming out of the gym at the time from recess and were the first people in the building to see the ox come through the doors.

It was quite exciting,

Ok, so there is a celebrity in the art room now... Eight feet long and weighs 75 pounds.....(tell me your secret!)....

Cast of fiberglass for the Arts Council, is hollow so therefore very light. The ox is quite easy to move around. 

The Bear Tavern students and staff have been intrigued by this special new community member. It's only white but quite interesting to look at. Stop by and see. 

We are going to paint the ox to look very earthy cool by using cool colors on one side and higher contrast blue/white on the other with zentangle designs. 

We will paint the base colors during van Gogh art night on March 31. 

Keep you posted!

The Lady who got the selfies' started!

 

Art Teacher Shopping Trip for OX PAINT @ Jerry's Art Supply
from Left) Gillian Beck, Gay Hong Hua and I.. Not Pictured: Kathleen Belton who was there shopping with us earlier on.

Hopewell Elementary Art Teacher, Ms. Hua with their ox on Friday