ou8nrtist2

I've just returned from two months in Castine ,Maine (my original home),where my sister and I emptied our father's studio and sorted his vast amount of artwork into coherent collections.The property has sold and though he died 13 years ago and left the contents of the studio to me,(meaning tools and equipment),I had put off this arduous task until his widow,(my stepmother )expired.Her death caused a whole cascade of events which culminated in the sale of the property,a heart wrenching blow for my sister and I but not altogether unexpected.And my most gracious cousins bought the property so that was at least a mitigating effect.Still the incredible output of my father's long successful career as a sculptor was a vast and intimidating challenge to have to process.My worst fear was that I might somehow die without archiving this incredibly rich and beneficial instructional material for posterity.We identified 6 coherent collections;drawings, cartoons,photographs of his works,publications which contained either his sculptures or illustrations,65 filled sketchbooks ,1000 slides and a vast quantity of writings ,talks ,essays and letters.We worked for 2 months without a day off,all the while making a wing of his studio into a gallery to sell the 100 sculptures we inherited.This was my attempt to create "House of Fitz-Gerald"and give the monied summer folk and local townspeople who had personal relationships with my father an opportunity to purchase a piece of him.There were moments when we felt nearly overcome by the sheer quantity of material.But at each moment of near freak-out some ostensibly random piece of good fortune would land in our laps and reinvigorate our efforts and keep us aligned.So often did this happen in fact that we begin to record all the coups that literally saved our butts and kept our heads from exploding.I took nearly 100 photos every day from the sketchbooks,while also dealing with clients and collectors and spent each night editing the images.I contacted Colby College,Bates,Bowdoin,and other colleges where Clark's sculptures reside, even the Smithsonian,that has 38 of his pieces listed,trying to get them interested in continuing the archiving,but to no avail.We were coming to the end of our allotted time and were worried about storing all this stuff.It was then that we were approached by the Castine Historical Society who had heard of our travails and offered to share the burden.After touring their facility and meeting their most excellent and professional archivist,we knew they were the ones to take on the task.So we have donated the six collections to them and a most symbiotic relationship has been established where they hold all the materials ,but we still have access,retain all copyrights and also act as gate keepers to authorize who can view the material,do research and most importantly,how they intend to use it...

I got a random email late on a Saturday night,and because the senders name was vaguely familiar to me I opened it.
It was from the Director of the Fine Arts Sculpture program at the Academy of Art in San Francisco (whom i had met some 20 years ago) saying based on the work he'd seen of mine online he thought I'd be a good candidate to teach a Beginning Fabricated Metal Sculpture class.I immediately responded that I had a previous commitment to work on a monolithic sculpture my father had made in 1985 for the University of Maine,and then teach a course there ,but why not hire both me and my best friend who is also a metal sculptor and was my partner teaching 20 years ago at U.C.Berkeley.When I leave for Maine in mid-semester he could take over my class.Though this was a bit unorthodox they seemed to like this idea and so that's what I've been doing for the last month.

I sometimes hear from my artist friends that there is no official patronage in the U.S.
I counter this with my own experiences of wealthy clients supporting the arts,though I will certainly admit it does not take the usual form of that in Europe and other long established cultural art programs.
To whit;I received a call a couple of weeks ago from the vice president of Miller Electric Mfg.Co. with a strange offer.He had seen my website and was aware that i make my metal sculpture using Miller Welders.He told me they have a conference coming up and wanted to do a fund raiser and sell some metal sculptures made with their machines.He offered to trade me a new MIG,TIG,Stick combination welder for two of my small works...Today the Northern California Division Manager delivered and set up my new machine.Thank you MILLER !



   
  







    

             
                 
      
         

Check out this 30 second video of one of my new heavy bowls in 10ga.stainless steel proving how round and well balanced it is...

youtu.be/M3fV2ySVemc


Christmas 2011  I've just been interviewed by the website Steampunkcommunity.com
Check it out:
steampunkcommunity.com/steampu…

New videos on you Tube explaining some of my works:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRP5Mi…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2TRbN…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N5_iu…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6wXyw…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoGZec…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYwyku…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkYT6i…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qr3yC…

Ok,so now we're moving into fall.     September 30th  2011
The last spate of hot weather (95 degrees) for our Indian Summer here in Northern California is ripening the wine grapes nicely.It should be a good harvest if it can be brought in before the predicted rain next week.And speaking of wine grapes,I've just received a (small)commission from a bank that services the wine industry with agricultural loans to make a large wall panel piece for the foyer of their headquarters.It will be a grape plant in forged steel with many leaves and grape clusters.They have a grand opening the end of October so I'm on a deadline. Hopefully i can kick this out in a hurry because I really want to get back to the BRONZE FIGURE that's almost done waiting patiently in my studio...But it's nice to have a little money for supplies.I have two engagements this week cooking dinner for two of my exxes who i have not seen for a long time.It should be interesting...


  
  







    

             
                 
      
         

Check out this 30 second video of one of my new heavy bowls in 10ga.stainless steel proving how round and well balanced it is...

youtu.be/M3fV2ySVemc


Christmas 2011  I've just been interviewed by the website Steampunkcommunity.com
Check it out:
steampunkcommunity.com/steampu…

New videos on you Tube explaining some of my works:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRP5Mi…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2TRbN…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N5_iu…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6wXyw…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoGZec…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYwyku…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkYT6i…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qr3yC…

Sample of my music:
www.sfitzgeraldfineart.com/mus…




Well,
I guess it's time for an update.
Things have improved for me economically in the last month with several sales since the holidays.Poseidon's Rest the Art Nouveau fantasy bed frame sold,as well as The Plane at Infinity and an a large Armillary Sphere,the Sea Urchin,Chiton,and Whelk as well.I have commissions for another driveway entrance gate from recycled steel,some logo signage for my web providers, and two forged steel dining table frames.So Spring looks promising at this point,a welcome shift since I've been living hand to mouth for the last two years...
I know I'm ultimately blessed however,no matter how bad it gets money wise,as long as I can still go out to my studio every day and make cool shit...
And the weather,holy moly it's been magnificent.
We had 10 days of sunny 70 degree temps and I have hyacinths blooming on my deck.That's not supposed to happen until March.And I was able to mow the whole 3 acre sculpture garden with it's fresh mantle of verdant winter growth.My John Deere lawn tractor is my psychotherapy,and a whole lot cheaper and more productive than seeing a "professional"...LOL

  








    

             
                 
      

Check out this 30 second video of one of my new heavy bowls in 10ga.stainless steel proving how round and well balanced it is...

www.facebook.com/video/video.p…