25th Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

Surprise

Adam Walls
Hope Mills, North Carolina

Steel, iron and paint
10’10” H x 5′ W x 6’3″ D

Artist statement

As an artist I am motivated to produce work that has a high degree of physicality, interactive opportunity and introspection. I am incredibly inspired by pop culture items such as toys, comics and science fiction. My sculpture often appears to be toy-like. As a child, toy play afforded me an incredible love of escapist fantasy that I believe is apparent in most of my work. This love still exists through the creation of my large-scale sculpture.

About the artist

South Carolina native Adam Walls has been creating art for public exhibition since 2004. He received his BA in Art Education in 1996 from Limestone College and taught art in art centers, public schools, and out of his own studio until receiving his MFA in sculpture from Winthrop University in 2005. Since receiving his MFA Adam’s work has appeared in Sculpture Magazine, been the topic of discussion on NPR and ETV, and has been exhibited in over one hundred outdoor sculpture exhibitions. Adam Walls currently resides in Hope Mills, NC and serves as the head of the sculpture program at UNC-Pembroke.

For more information, visit www.adamwallssculpture.com.

AMUK

Ira Hill
Tallahassee, Florida

Cast concrete
3’4″ H x 8′ W x 2′ D

Artist statement

Being a sculptor inherently bonds imagination, concept, process, and ability in a single person. The challenge of producing, clearly expressing, and what methods will best achieve my inspiration provides a lifelong quest to leave a wake of objects as proof of my belief that life is creativity. AMUK is from my series of Three-Dimensional Graffiti. These concrete benches were dropped at bus stops in need of seating, setting giant words into a visual context for the drive-by viewer. The wake I create is intended to educate, enlighten and entertain; this is the purpose of my art; this is the purpose of my life.

Fork, Knife, Spoon and Sun

Andrew Yff
Parkville, Maryland

Metal forks, knives, and spoons, paint on aluminum pole
15’6″ H x 5’3″ W x 5’3″ D

Part of the Downtown Boone Development Association (DBDA) Public Art Program

Artist statement

Drawing in space. One of my greatest interests in sculpture deals with the ability to render drawings in three-dimensional space. Shapes are created with lines. I use lightweight metal tubes. Visual patterns are made by layering collections of ordinary objects, such as kitchen utensils. Color helps the sculptures’ unity and to allow it to stand out in its outdoor setting.

Fork, Knife, Spoon and Sun is a commentary on climate change and that it may be possible for the sun to eat us.

Martyr Dress #1

Jennifer Hecker
Brockport, New York

Lump charcoal, a bra, glue, resin and paint over metal armature
4’8″ H x 3′ W x 4’2″ D

Artist statement

Martyr Dresses have a relationship to hair shirts worn by religious ascetics as a form of offering or penance. Martyr Dress #1, the first in the series, is made of lump charcoal. It is both a strapless, black gown and a funeral pyre. It refers to the transience of beauty.

About the artist

Jennifer Hecker has an extensive and diverse exhibition record that includes solo shows, commissions, collaborative installations, public art projects, outdoor sculpture shows, adjudicated exhibitions, and permanent collections. Recent exhibitions include: “The Next: A Studio Glass Movement Continuum” at Tower Fine Arts Gallery in Brockport, NY (2015); “Taos Art Glass Invitational” at David Anthony Fine Art in Taos, NM (2014); 4th Biennial Western Cast Iron Art Exhibition at University of Wyoming in Laramie (2014); and “Water: A Universal Human Right,” at the State Street Gallery in Chicago, organized by the Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art (2014). In 2013, Jennifer was one of 42 regional artists invited to create a new work inspired by an artwork in the permanent collection of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY in celebration of its centennial. In 2011, Jennifer was one of 30 artists from around the world to be featured in the book Sculpture and Design With Recycled Glass by Cindy Ann Coldiron (Schiffer Publishing). Jennifer’s sculptures were twice selected for inclusion in the prestigious Rosen National Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina (1996 & 2011). In 2006, her commissioned outdoor sculpture for the Village of Brockport, Les Racines et les Raisons (The Roots and the Reasons) was dedicated in Remembrance Park. In 2004, she completed a significant commission for a three-part, site-specific sculpture for Christ Church in Pittsford, New York. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Red Cross in Rochester, NY; The Children’s Inn at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD, and SUNY College at Brockport, as well as private collections in New York, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, and Minnesota.

Jennifer Hecker is a professor in the Department of Art at The College at Brockport, where she has taught all levels of sculpture, as well as general education art courses since 1989. In 1999, she was awarded a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2002 she completed a 6-year term as department chairperson. Jennifer received her MFA in Sculpture from the University of Minnesota in 1984, and her BFA in Sculpture with honors from the University of Illinois in 1980.

For more information, visit jenniferhecker.net.

Melt

Glenn Zweygardt
Alfred Station, New York

Painted steel
11’4″ H x 5’4″ W x 2’2″ D

Artist statement

The theme of my sculpture is the placement of myself in relation to nature. While working in materials such as metal, stone and glass, I am telling three-dimensional stories that capture my life experiences immersed in my perception of a collective consciousness. It is my intention that these stories, spoken through an expression of form, texture and color, will enter into human consciousness and the fourth dimension.

About the artist

Born and raised in northwest Kansas, Glenn Zweygardt received his BFA from Wichita State University in sculpture and painting. He then earned his MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

For over 40 years, Glenn has been an active sculptor and educator. With more than 50 solo exhibitions and multiple purchase awards to his name, he shows works both nationally and internationally. His sculptures are included in many university, museum, outdoor and private collections.

Now an emeritus Professor of Sculpture at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Glenn continues to make signature sculptures in his Alfred Station studio. His creations of steel, ductile iron, stainless steel, cast glass, cast bronze and aluminum are often combined with stone from around the world. These sculptures range from monumental outdoor works to small, intimate pieces.

For more information, visit www.glennzweygardt.com.

Saoirse

Mark A. Connelley
Brevard, North Carolina

Patinated steel with internal lighting
10′ H x 1’6″ W x 1’6″ D

Part of the Downtown Boone Development Association (DBDA) Public Art Program

Artist statement

Saoirse is a three-sided steel obelisk inspired from megalithic standing stones found throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-shuh) is the Irish word for freedom and is inscribed on the front face of this piece using Ogham letters, an ancient Celtic script. Instead of being carved onto the surface, these letters pierce the reddish skin to reveal a white interior featuring an exterior grade LED accent flood light for nighttime illumination.

About the artist

Mark Connelley is a sculptor and landscape artist who works primarily in steel and natural materials to create large-scale sculpture and engaging environments.

With a background in landscape architecture and land planning, Mark spent many years designing projects throughout the world. His extensive experience, which involves conceptual design, master planning, sculpture park and garden design and detailed design exposed him to a wide variety of art, architecture and cultures. As a sculptor, Mark not only creates large-scale sculpture but also enjoys creating the environments in which the pieces are featured and the collaborative process that is involved with every project.

For more information, visit www.macworks-art.com.

The Burning

Paris Alexander
Raleigh, North Carolina

Carved limestone on granite base
6’2″ H x 20″ W x 15″ D

Artist statement

This stone carving is a hybrid of two concurrent series of works I have been developing over the last 10 years. One is a group of works I call my Memento Mori series, a tradition of exploring and expressing the omnipresence and universality of death that goes back to the 13th century. I don’t seek to glorify death, but to capture the shadows of lives lived, the poets, dreamers, the powerful and forgotten. The other body of work that I drew from was my Poet Hand series. In this series, I explore another human commonality, our hands, without the hindrance of overt reference to ethnicity or even gender. Much of this series deals with my emotional reaction to poetry and working the expressive gesture of a hand into a sculptural effigy of the writer (a withering, searching hand for Sylvia Plath and a largess reaching one for William Blake). This carving speaks to both these explorations with a nod to Constantine’s commanding presence (without the upward pointing finger) and the revelation of decay that follows all greatness. Also now, in retrospect, a Buddha-like gesture of the healing hand of Maitreya.

When carving, I work viscerally and quickly without the aid of maquettes. I simply draw on the stone and carve. I became enamored with the flowing rhythms of the claw chisel marks and let them swirl into patterns across the surface.

About the artist

After spending ten years as a research specialist at the Duke University Cancer Center, Paris Alexander decided to pursue his passion full time. Since 1993 he has studied and created sculpture. He is a well-known instructor in sculpture, drawing and anatomy. Besides teaching privately, he has been an instructor for arts councils, the Lucy Daniels Center, the Artspace Arts and Outreach Programs, and the NC Museum of Art Outreach Program.

Paris’ work has been exhibited widely in galleries, universities and museums and he has created numerous public and private commissions. His work is included in the collections of WakeMed, Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, Saks Fifth Avenue, the R.C. Kessler Collection, SAS Institute,
President Bill Clinton, Senator Bob Dole, Governor/Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and many others.

For more information, visit www.parisalexander.org.

Tidal Sand

IlaSahai Prouty
Bakersville, North Carolina

Cast concrete
1’3″ H x 10′ W x 4′ D

Artist statement

IlaSahai Prouty lives in the mountains, but grew up by the sea. Her studio is in the basement because there is no attic. IlaSahai creates projects that consider language, physical sensations, death, fear and repetition. Her sculptures, installations and prints often explore non-verbal experiences. She has created casts and prints of skin, tidal sand, hands, bones and knots as part of these works. She ties knots, breaks them and puts them back together again. She balances little men on spoons. She maps the pores and wrinkles of her skin.

In her castings of sand, she watches the tide ebb, then steps in to capture the forms left in the sand by combinations of currents, winds and water.

IlaSahai Prouty is a former resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts, and is currently an assistant professor at Appalachian State University.

Flower

Loren Costantini
Milford, Connecticut

Welded and bolted steel and, aluminum and wood
14’10” H x 8’1″ W x 3’4″ D

Artist statement

This abstract flower was initially created not by a vision, but by a subconscious process of healing the soul through art. My art is almost always born from observing a random shape or scrap, realizing its potential and allowing that potential to work through me. Flower began as a piece of scrap plywood that had an inherent quality of movement. It evolved into the structure of a wind-blown petal. While similar, each petal is unique as everything in nature. Every piece of Flower was created by recognizing each individual part’s contribution to the whole. As a sculpture, Flower is an abstract representation of nature, not just literally, but as a symbol of how every unique element of nature co-exists to form the beautiful whole.

My focus in art is always upon process. It is finding the place where conscious thought ceases and creation works through me. It is through the process of creation that humans can heal. When Flower was complete, the result for me symbolized hope. It was the process of art which allowed the transformation of suffering into the creation of a recognized symbol of beauty, love and optimism.

I decided to share this piece with the public so they too could hopefully share in its positive energy. If Flower generates a smile it has fulfilled its intention.