Blog

by Shelley Kerr

As my debut piece, a 9 foot bronze statue, my first challenge was “How do I tell the story of Joseph Antoine Janis in metal”?

Really? 

My first question was “How the heck do I do this?”

The Back Story

I was approached by a local real estate developer, who wanted to put some bronze historic figures in his new development: Poudre Valley Plaza. OK, I thought, I have no formal art training and have taken a couple of art classes…it could happen!? I could/should at least try. So I built a small clay figure (called a maquette) and submitted it to the competition with other artists and I won the commission!

The Front Story

Joseph Antoine Janis (to become affectionately “Big Joe” to me) was an early explorer and settler in the Fort Collins region in the 1800’s. When Janis was a young boy, he accompanied his father on a trip through the region. It is said that he was present for the naming of the Cache la Poudre River in 1836. Later, he became the first land deed holder along the Cache la Poudre River, holding early water rights as well. He married First Elk Woman, an Oglala Sioux of the Red Cloud family. When the Oglala were forced to go to the reservation in the 1860’s, instead of staying in Larimer County to tend to his business and land holdings, Antoine chose to live out his life with First Elk Woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Back to the Back Story—The Beginning of the Practice of Puzzling

Puzzle #1: What did Big Joe look like?

I could find only one picture of Janis. I can do a lot with a picture (going from 2 dimensions to 3) but I needed more. I went to the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection…with limited success. I still only had one picture. And so it was to be.

Puzzle #2: How does Joe get big?

So now I have to figure out how to go from a 12 inch maquette to a 9 foot monumental size sculpture suitable for a big traffic intersection. I engaged outside expertise and hired a seasoned sculptor to do three things: 1) build the plinth (a supportive platform), 2) construct a metal armature capable of holding hundreds of pounds of oil-based clay and 3) complete the first foam layer. Then I held a big fat party to put on the first layer of clay—I called it a “Clay-On Party”. Neighbor kids, friends, business associates and elected officials all added clay to Big Joe. Note the smiley face!

Puzzle #3: How to I “see” Big Joe?

Now the major puzzling starts. He is so big that I cannot see around him. I needed reference points along his mid-section (front and back), the front-side-back-side of his skull and face to maintain perspective. So I developed my own solution: bamboo skewers. I used them along Big Joe’s meridians, so that I could peek around and get my reference points. I build from the muscles out and used anatomical charts constantly.

Puzzle #4: What’s bugging me? 

Every day I needed to focus and every night I needed some closure. So upon entering the studio (ok…my garage), I developed the daily habit of puzzling to answer this question. “What’s bugging me?” And that is what I would work on that day. It took the load off of “being creative” and I had more fun. It took me 9 months (evenings and weekends) and 950 pounds of clay.

Puzzle #5: How am I going to get him out of here…my garage?

With the plinth, he was at a height of 11 feet. I used scaffolding to get up there. My garage door was only 7 feet high. I loved this puzzle. The answer was once I was finished sculpting, the mold would be taken right in my garage. Big Joe never left my garage as the mold maker did his work. Big Joe would become a pile of over 30 pieces and parts headed for the bronze foundry-Bronze Services.

Here’s how molds work in the production of bronze art. The original art can be done in a variety of mediums: oil-based clay, water-based clay, metal, wood, plaster…the list goes on and on. If the art work is going to be reproduced a number of times, as with limited editions, we will make a “mother mold”. It is in two layers: the first layer of silicon rubber is applied directly to the art work to capture all the surface detail and the general shape, the second layer of plaster is added to support the shape and hold the rubber in place. This mold goes to the foundry where wax versions of the original art are created. This mold can be used multiple times. The wax is then dipped in a slurry to create a ceramic shell around the wax; the wax is melted out and the bronze is poured in; the shell is then broken off; the bronze is cleaned and polished and, in Big Joe’s case, welded back together in one piece. This technique has been around for a long time, called cire perdue.

Special Note: Can’t see the forest for the trees.

Sometimes, you can get too close to your work and not see it objectively. After spending so many hours, puzzling daily and overcoming obstacles…I lost some perspective. Something was bothering me about this piece. Could it be that the head was a little large? Nah, let’s go ahead and make it bronze. And so it was…

The result of all this work--the puzzling, working through obstacles and taking big chances-- culminated in a wonderful unveiling and a Native American blessing ceremony for Joseph Antoine Janis. Friends, family, community leaders and over 40 of Janis’s descendants came for the ceremony. A blessing to all.

For the latest news and updates on my artwork, please visit my website at kerrartworks.com

Time for a stretch! I've proclaimed myself as a serious local “artist” and I put my studio on tour with the Fort Collins Studio Tour and Sale. This was a self-guided tour for art lovers or just interested, curious people, who want to learn more, enjoy more and maybe purchase something for their collection. This tour has been held for years in Fort Collins with close to 45 artists opening their studios to the public this year.

So I cleaned up the wax and clay and plaster mess; put out the display boards and foundry samples from various pieces; pulled aside the artistic curtain to reveal the creative and production process of my new Nebra Sky series which will be fully unveiled at my January show at the Carnegie Center for Creativity.  Here's a quick video of my studio...

Here is a taste of what was on display…

“Chief Friday”

This display showed the creative process in going from a two-dimensional picture to a three-dimensional sculpture.

One common question from visitors that day was, “How do you get a likeness from paper to clay?”

My answer was, “I measure like crazy. Every dimension of the face and skull…the distance between the eyes, ears, the length of the mouth, the curve of the cheek bone and set of the jaw. I also have anatomy charts in constant view and reference.”

I take lots of pictures during the sculpting process, which helps me “see” things I might miss with just direct eye-to-clay viewing. My display showed one of my favorite pictures Chief Friday is with two ears on one side of his head. I don’t like ears. Really? Show me the difference between a sad human ear and a happy human ear? So my solution is to make ear production more efficient: I form the first ear in place on his skull, and then I form the second ear right across from the first ear. Once I’m satisfied with their likeness, I then scrape the second ear off and stick it on the other side of his head. Viola! Two happy ears.

“Joseph Antoine Janis”

In 2000, I created a 1 ½ life size monumental bronze statue of Janis that stands on the southeast corner of Horsetooth and Shields here in Fort Collins. Then, after years of self-doubt, hand-wringing and general fussing, I came to the conclusion that Janis’s head was too large for his body. I needed to replace it. This display showed how I down-sized Big Joe’s big head to accomplish a better proportion with the rest of his body.

There were lots of questions about how I did this. “Did I re-sculpt the whole thing?” “Did I just cut off the head and replace it?” “How did I do this?”

I answered, “I used technology to replace the head of Big Joe in 2016. I had him scanned in place (right at the intersection); 3D-printed a new, smaller head in styro-foam; covered the head with clay and sent it off to be molded and turned into bronze at the foundry.” Whew…I could breathe again.

“Nebra Sky Disk”

This was a fun display of physical objects…my original clay of the disk, the two-part mold that I made off of the original clay, the wax pour into the mold to create a wax version and the final bronze version of the disk.

Everyone was surprised as to how heavy the bronze was.

“To Live”

This display included the final bronze versions of this piece in two sizes: 18 inches and 9 inches. Also included were the two molds that the foundry used to pour wax versions.

Visitors to my studio were curious as to how I produced these two sizes. When I completed the 18-inch version, I had it scanned. This produced a digital file that could be “printed” in any size. The material that is used for 3D printing for my uses is usually made of a polymer or wax or a mix of the two. I used the digital file for “To Live” to print out the 9-inch version in a polymer. I then had a mold made of the polymer version and then sent the mold to the bronze foundry for production into bronze. Even though I use technology, I still sculpt by hand and use the ancient foundry process of perdue cire (the lost wax process).

Icing on the cake…I received one of the awards given by the Fort Collins Studio Tour: the Sponsors’ Choice Award for “To Live”. This was a great surprise and honor to me. So exciting!

I had a great experience opening up my studio, my creativity and processes with anyone interested. I hope that my visitors left with a better understanding of the bronze sculpting process, my story, challenges and passions.

I’m looking forward to joining this great event in the future.

For the latest news and updates on my artwork, please visit my website at kerrartworks.com