SHARK!

I’ve always wanted to abstract a sleek and fearsome shark, so this is my first stab at the stunning Caribbean Reef Shark, created during the wintry mix of sleet n snow that pounded the City today. The next step is to enlarge this 12” wire drawing to my normal “working scale” of about 2.5-3 feet, then add mass to the wireframe with foam and resin. If I manage to capture the formidable power, speed & beauty of this graceful predator, I’ll mold it & cast it in stainless steel! 

So this is the part where I'm supposed to just add my second photo, the side B if you will, of the same sculpture depicted below. But somehow in the midst of photo-editing I was overcome by an inane will to compose a childish rhyme to go along with it. One silly line led to the next until...well, there's really no fair excuse for it all. May I blame it on a recent weekend in CT with one children's book that could not be put to its fair, final resting place no matter how many pillows we buried it under, repeatedly!? 

I certainly don't want to overwrite the fine song already in your happy head so lets just say the book dealt with one particular redundant BUS ride and its incessant, screeching, howling, desperately in-need-of-oil (and a god-help-us how about a flat tire?) wheels...But jest, do I. My friends have an adorable daughter who I love spending time with. Maybe next time she will have moved on to trains. Trains are good. Trains are fun plus they're a lot faster than buses and... 

P.S. I just wrote a book for Foster (i.e. Annette & Matthew & their Tenacious Bus Song Loving Crew) at the rest stop where I pulled over for coffee on my way to the studio today. I'm about to start the drawings/story-boarding. It's about my beloved kitty Mischka of course...in no small part inspired by conversations with Bunny and our hilarious weekend experiencing Annette's SNL-worthy speed-reading juxtaposed with Matthew's Broadway-beating performances.

Introducing RHINO: NEW pendant! (sterling silver or 18K gold)

Power. Agility. Stamina. Independence: Thunder through the tundra this winter with a striking abstraction of one of Earth's most inspiring creatures. Available exclusively @ the Sculpturezoo Gift Shop. 

Sculpturezoo is the crowdfunding platform for The Acrobat Project, a public (bronze) sculpture exhibition by NYC sculptor Dave Stevenson. All proceeds from Sculpturezoo go towards covering the production and installation costs for this special exhibit juried by NYC Parks' Art in the Parks program. 

Coming Soon: a new litter of pups has arrived @ the Zoo!

Still nursing! (Available for adoption on Friday, October 27th.)

Boomer takes a seat on the bench next to one of my favorite vintage tools in the studio (updated Nov. 21/2017).

tiny BOOMER basking in the sawdust inside a vintage belt sander gear at StudioDave

NEW tiny bronze dog (1.5"h) atop "NEW" giant vintage black & decker drill press

Scaling the Base

I cobbled this wooden base together with scrap wood at my studio, even going so far as to lather on a faux patina to double check the scale against my bronze sculpture. It will be fabricated in bronze next week and eventually surfaced with a REAL, stunning patina.

See that tiny little black magic-marker circle? There are a few more of those just out of sight. They mark the final spot-welds I need welded-up and chased. After that, we'll crane-walk it into the patina room!

Matching/Assembly for Final Weld-up

I drove across the NEW Tappan Zee bridge--just three days after it reopened--on the way to the foundry (& my studio) today. Not exactly the most aesthetically exhilarating experience, but still kind of exciting because I have enjoyed watching it rise S L O W L Y from the Hudson River since the project began. 

Once at the foundry, I approved the weld-up for the two sections of Acrobat--making sure both pieces matched perfectly before sealing them together for eternity. It's a symmetrical piece, so sure, I took a few measurements, but mostly it's just done by eye. The "Boomerang" video below shows us preparing to assemble the sculpture using a forklift as a crane. 

What's next? I'll grind out and polish the welds tomorrow, and after the holiday weekend I'll map out the final design for the base--then, patina time!

Spot-welding (Thanks, Bob!) some of the small imperfections that occur naturally during the casting process. Afterwards, I ground them down and polished the surface smooth.

220 Grit! 150 is So Last Week...

>"Half-crobats" today @Polich-Tallix Foundry (NEW location) Walden, NY. Polich Polish Punishment Progress? 

Put a Sticker on it

This Spring add some Zing to your: lunchbox, skateboard, dumbphone, notebook, litterbox, birdcage, briefcase, suitcase, tacklebox, grandma, sewing machine, guitar amp, forehead, harmonica case, water bottle, learjet, jet ski, wait…you have a jet ski?  Put a sticker on it!

Available exclusively from the Gift Shop @ Sculpturezoo.com. 

Sculpturezoo.com is my crowdfunding effort to raise a massive bronze sculpture above Tribeca concrete for NYC Parks'/Art in the Parks by summer, 2017.

Going Bonkerdoodles Today in the Wax Room, w/Pete & Repeat

It’s no secret I hate wax. I should replace hate with loathe. Despise? Maybe detest is better. Except that sounds too academic. Oh, I #^%@&*^ wax! 

Chasing, in case you're wondering, is the innocuous term for smoothing out every single unsightly nick and scratch of a wax prototype, and filling any untoward dips and undulations that deviate from or threaten the integrity of the original sculpture. Any imperfection undetected during this stage will show up in bronze, where the labor to rectify it is increased by a factor of 3. Hence the endless mind-numbing pursuit for flaws in the wax. Since the material is inherently soft, repairing one side of a form invariably nicks the opposite side. Pete & Repeat ad nauseum.  

The tedious, interminable, agonizing wax stage is a necessary phase of bronze casting. To get through it I take constant breaks. For water. Coffee. M & M’s. I read inane celebrity news. I hang from the rafters. And blame my apathy & indolence on undiagnosed ADHD.

But I'm almost done! Next week we’ll weld up “Acrobat” to set the mounting angle, and cut it back up into 4 sections for final gating to prep for casting. Wax, schmax. Grinding, filing & polishing bronze? That’s The Part I am Looking Forward To!!!!!! I think it’s safe to say everyone in Polich-Tallix’s wax room is looking forward to that too.

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Acrobat, wax prototype, 7'3", by Dave Stevenson, Polich-Tallix Foundry

There's a New Bunnydog in Town

This Winter: Tiny Bunny traps Giant Dog in a perilous game of hide-and-seek. Will Bunny elude Dog in perpetuity, adroitly balanced, fiendishly close, just out of reach? Bunnydog playfully reminds us how often the thing that we’re looking for was actually right there the whole time. Sculpted in resin & finished with a dry-brushed patina. Now available for purchase in the Gift Shop!

Sculpturezoo.com is the crowdfunding site for The Acrobat Project, my public art project for NYC Parks' Art in the Parks, 2017. All proceeds from Gift Shop sales and donations go directly towards production & installation costs for this special exhibition. 

I've completed the 37" ACROBAT: my model for the 8' version

Stoked to finally finish this commission, a great "warm up" before tackling the BIG version this winter.

Sculptor Dave Stevenson inside his Chelsea studio with commissioned bronze, Acrobat

Sculpturezoo is my crowdfunding effort to raise an 8 foot tall version of this sculpture above Tribeca concrete, for NYC Parks' Art in the Parks program

Contribute to The Acrobat Project

A Dancer, an Acrobat & Pokémon Walk into a Bar...

This Summer, a satellite swallowed Dragon, the cat nipped our Zombie Pellets and my Kickstarter project…

Pokémon No

Pokémon No: A few weeks ago, one of my outdoor bronze sculptures unceremoniously popped up—without attribution or permission—in the new smartphone gaming phenomenon, Pokémon Go. Flattering isn’t quite the right word to describe this experience, especially since players have been tramping uninvited through my collector’s property to “capture” cartoon monsters. An errant baseball knocked through a window would be preferable to the harassment the game has inflicted. The name of my sculpture is Dragon; if only I could animate it to fight back!!

My portrait of NYC dancer/choreographer Robin Cantrell

Cantrell (14”, steel wire) is a new portrait of the powerful & inspiring NYC dancer/choreographer Robin Cantrell. The first in a small series I have been working on for about a year, it will be enlarged to 8/9 feet high. Ms. Cantrell choreographs and performs with her own company, Indelible Dance (upcoming performances: Sept. 8-10.) and is a member of the globe trotting Battery Dance too. Click the link above and join me in the audience!

Thank you Again to everyone who participated in my summer Kickstarter campaign. Together, we pledged an impressive $16,880 to realize Acrobat in 700 lbs of bronze. Unfortunately, we fell short of the $25,000 target, so according to Kickstarter's rules (ack!), none of your generous pledges can be collected. Remember, you can still visit the Gift Shop here in the Zoo to participate in this cool public art project, or make a direct donation by clicking on any of the Sculpturezoo donate buttons. Projected installation in Tribeca's Finn Park is this winter. As always, feel free to drop in to The Chelsea Treehouse, or come visit StudioDave in the Catskills!