Creative Collaborations & Partnerships
Jim Davidson
Jim Davidson sculptures are not made of bronze but rather a mixture of copper, zinc, iron and aluminum. The sculptures, while quite striking, have patinas that do not last as the metal degrades.
We have created a proprietary finishing method that brings out the beauty of these sculptures for decades and protects the metal from the elements.
This is an interesting article in the Las Vegas Sun Times. (Not what thieves thought)
City Of Sarasota Public Art Program
The City of Sarasota’s public art program strengthens our city’s sense of place, celebrates our community’s character, and fosters collaboration.
“John’s definitive style is both grand in scale and yet deceptively simple; a paradoxical approach that has been labeled Zen engineering,” says Tom Savage.
Complexus was created by Henry in 2007 as a dynamic expression of monumentality activated by human engagement. Standing 70 feet tall, Complexus was completed in Henry’s signature style: a grand statement of mass and color constructed with refined, geometric forms. While the sculpture is composed of basic shapes, Henry orients them in a complicated puzzle of floating and leaning pieces, creating a visual paradox – the sculpture appears both grounded as a large steel structure, yet also airy, as pieces float amongst the background of the sky.
Complexus 2007
John Henry
During the ’50s and ’60s, Cartlidge worked with Syd Solomon, Frank Colson, Frank Rampola, Ben Stahl, George Prout, Eric Von Schmidt, Craig Roubadoux, Julio de Diego and many other artists, educators and writers. In 1960, he founded his firm Cartlidge Architectural Art, Inc. Architectural firms throughout the southeast commissioned Cartlidge to design and execute large works including stained glass windows for numerous churches, precast concrete bas-reliefs, and monumental sculptures. In 1968, he became a full time professor at New College where he taught sculpture for the next 30 years.
In 1965, Cartlidge began to develop his copper repousse’ technique, using a metal armature covered in beaten and welded copper. The result is a relatively lightweight and durable sculpture medium. His first public piece in this technique was commissioned by architect Jack West for the Sarasota City Hall in 1967. That piece, “Nobody’s Listening,” took Cartlidge three years to complete and was based on the artist’s reaction to the Vietnam War protests and the civil rights movement. He felt that it was important that our civic leaders never forget what it’s like to be invisible; he believed in a “voice for all.”
After “Nobody’s Listening,” his technique continued to evolve and he sought to master the material so that he could articulate ever more subtle forms and gestures in the large abstracted figures. Cartlidge was intrigued by the “battle of the titans” in Milton’s Paradise Lost and the never-ending struggle between good and evil. This is what inspired The Clash Of The Titans located on Sarasota's bayfront.
Jack Cartlidge
Frank Colson, started Sarasota's first Bronze Art Foundry inventing & pioneering the Shellspen ceramic shell lost-wax bronze casting process at Colson School of Art, the Pottery School where he also taught. He cast many public art pieces like Sarasota's WWI Doughboy sculpture in Hamilton Park across from Marina Jack's, the Frank Lyod Wright sculpture in front of the Van Wezel and numerous sculptures public and private. His innovations and inventions changed and improved the metal casting industry, as well as methods for creating and firing pottery.
Frank Colson
Frank Colson
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