There ain’t no party like a pumpkin party.
This is my first vegetable sculpture. When asked to create this I had not realized what a challenge a sphere-like object could be.
I had thought I might start working differently with an object so round and smooth, but in the end trying to bend massive pieces of 16 and 14 guage steel just cannot be done by hand, so I am working the exact same way as I do for all of my animal sculptures, minus the legs, of course!
The piece has completely taken over the studio, and I can at times barely get around the ever growing object. After a slow start due to a broken arm, a rotated disc, and time constraints, I am now in full welding frenzy at the Brackendale Art Gallery studio. I have eaten through two gas canisters in as many days, and the spools of wire for the MIG welder are flying through the nozzle like noone's business. From dawn till dusk I am slowly but surely growing one big huge squash.
This marks the first completely painted sculpture that I have ever created.
April 2014------
The Great Pumpkin is finally finished! The surprises are both the scale of the piece and the fact that where it was placed creates viewer anxiety...it looks ready to roll down the driveway right at you! Incredible responses.