Sculpture Symposia 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tallinn

Tallinn is truly a magical place. First of all let me remark about Soviet Russia, as we are going there tomorrow. With every country we have visted we get one step closer to to being in Soviet territory. We first started in Finland, well known for there socialist innovations, but still quite Westernized. Next we spent time in Latvia, mostly unknown in the US. But the Soviet presence became more emminent, with beeraddicted soviet era tractor driver(gotta love em) and even the accents seemed to clue into something bigger, its hard to describe. We were in the middle of nowhere mostly, so it couldve been almost anywhere. But Tallinn, Estonia the whole Soviet thing is glaring at you. There is a tshirt and liquor shop here where 95percent of the shirts are a variation of a middle finger to Stalin and co.

BUUUUT, anyway, This is a truly magical place. In old town we ate at a restaurant that had been serving food for probably 400 years. We ate in a dining room like you see in Robin Hood movies or a Renaissance Faire, except this was really really authentic. I ate Wild Boar yesterday. IT was amazing. Others in our group got elk and it was like the best steak Ive ever had. OMG!

Its also a really friendly and chill town. Today I found the Major art Museum by just asking people for directions. There are so many trams and buses running around that you dont need a cab. oh! and the people walk so fast! I cannot keep up with anyone here. Which is funny because I think of myself as a fast walker, but I truly get out walked by anyone! Also the diet here and Pedvale and Kellokoski is making me fat. Yes I have devoloped something new here: a belly. LoL.

I wish more of companeros were blogging. You should chide them into submitting. Carl did such a good job that I didnt even need to add to, but now that he is off to Wales its all up to me and the other students. Anyway. Iäll report back to yaökk in Russia.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pedvale Reception Description

Please excuse my punctuation mistakes, dont have time to find the right keys.

A lot has been going on since Carlś last post. I will try to summarize as best as I can. We only had one slow PC in beautiful Pedvale Sculpture Park and it was hard to access plus we were hard at work on sculpture+labor. Which was why we came to Latvia. For me this was so nice. As a Graduate Student for the past two years I have been on the computer more than making actual artwork and finally to have a couple of weeks to focus all my time on one artistic endeavor was quite a needed treat.

Id like to upload some photos of the reception and everyones final work but Iäm in a nternet cafe in Tallinn and this will have to do for now. Everyone of us labored till the end on our and eachothers artworks. We met for breakfast at 9am everyday and worked in groups till 1pm for lunch. Then trooped back out into the park until dinner at 7pm everyday. It was like an art summer camp.

The reception saw about 50 Latvian guests. Ojars Feldberga, an extraordinary human being, started the reception off with a stone+planting ceremony, wherein he donned full camoflage fatigues and different hats representing the stones´ origins. Then we marched on out to everyones sculpture where Ojars (the curator and MC) said a few words and then the artist said a few words which Laura, Ojars artist daughter, translated for Latvians and Americans. Personally, It was the first time I have ever spoken in front of a group with a translator. You know I ate it up. Everyone did a super job on their pieces and spoke very well about them. It was a very tremendous experience.

Two of the sculptures were performative. Opening act: Cole and Mallorys were lit up as the sun was setting. The Hobbits: Mike, Alex, Eric, and Jesse had a huge performative piece with fire (wait till you see the pictures) that gave us the cresendo and finale of the night. Many of the pieces were actually about Pedvale and many were dedicated to our esteemed professor, Carl Billingsley. It was apparent to me, a first+timer at Pedvale, that this place and the people that bring this symposia together have a special history.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Chris Peterson works on his sculpture as students watch

Ken Payne working on "AbavaVenus"

Colton rides the giant snail!

Colton & CJ make finishing touches to "Steady Mover"

Ojars gets more stones!

The crane at the nest& an egg about to land.

The first egg goes into the nest

Stuart & Ojars placing the first egg

Adjusting the strap

Another delivery

The eggs must be kept warm!

Hello...Hello......

Monday, June 7, 2010

Stuart & Aaron working

Cole & Mallory working

LUNCH BREAK!

Ken Payne working

Jason working

Eric, Mike & Jesse working

Carl working

Austin working

Andy working

Monday June 7, 2010

Pedvale Open Air Museum and Sculpture Park

Sabile, Latvia

The Summer Sculpture Abroad Program is more than half way through this year’s schedule and at the halfway point in our Pedvale experience. The students have self-selected to work alone or as groups in creating site specific sculptures in the environment of the Pedvale Sculpture Park. Austin Sheppard, Andy Denton and Jason Stein , all from ECU , have chosen to work alone. Cole Kernstine ( ECU) has teamed up with Mallory Schiller( Buffalo State) while Colton Winchester ( ECU) has teamed with Curtis Miller ( SCAD) . Buffalo State students Zachery Pritchard and Grace Higgenbottom have formed a team and ECU students Eric White and Jesse Morrisey have joined Univ. of Oklahoma graduate students and ECU alumni Alex Knox and Mike Hill to form the largest team. ECU student Aaron Earley has teamed with ECU Group Leader Stuart Kent. Buffalo State Professor Kenneth Payne is making a sculpture as is ECU Professor Carl Billingsley. Images of the completed sculptures and the titles will be posted as soon as possible. Several Latvian artists are also making sculptures for this season in the park as well as Pedvale founder Ojars Feldbergs and his daughter and fellow sculptor Laura Feldbergs. Dutch sculptor Chris Peterson is in residence at the park and has already finished a large granite sculpture and has started on a second large stone!

The season theme for the park according to Ojars Feldbergs is “Stone/Color”. The Latvian artists are creating works under the group title of “Art in the Bushes”. Our group is using the group title “Stone.Color.Response”. Ojars and Laura have been documenting the artists at work in the park as they themselves alternate between working on their own sculptures and managing the thousands of details necessary to the symposium and to running the park. I will try to get some of those images on the Blog as soon as I can. Cable internet connections are not available in the rural sections of Latvia yet so we are restricted to one phone modem for all internet communications so , as you can imagine, there is a constant demand for access to the line and every request must be prioritized. That should explain why there have been relatively few posting while we have been here. Access to the net while the group is in St. Petersburg will be via netcafes so it is much more available and I expect that Stuart and Andy will be posting brief reports from there.

Carl Billingsley

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Hello Everybody,

It has taken me several days to get everything in order to post information about our next experience in the Summer Sculpture Abroad Program. We are at Pedvale Open Air Museum and Sculpture Park in Latvia and the weather is perfect! We are making site-specific work in the park using mostly the materials that can be found here; stones, earth, wood, grass, etc. The students have decided to work as individuals or to form collaborative groups and they are hard at work! The sculptures are growing larger and more complete each day and the work is very good! I have posted images of the Park, of individual works and of the students at work. I will post addition images and information soon.