Dangerous liasons, and my big news...

Naughty Rumpy and Pumpy mice rudely invading a Dan Ostermiller bronze...

I was dropping off some mice for this years Barkin' Ball at the Humane Society to benefit Santa Fe's animal shelter when I noticed a splendid sculpture by Dan Ostermiller...

I couldn't help myself: I just had to put Rumpy and Pumpy mice in there since the piece seemed to be made specially for them!

Rumpy and Pumpy mice

I wondered if I just left them there: would anyone think to move them, or just assume they were welded in place?!

I've had fun photographing Nosey mouse playing on Dan's famous bears before, which you can see if you click HERE.

Two other people's work that grabbed forcefully for my attention when we moved to Santa Fe were bronzes by Sisko, and Louise Peterson.
That was nearly six years ago.
Seeing all three of those represented around town gave me the kick up the pants I needed to get serious about sculpting.

I was struck by their obvious love of and respect for nature, and the elegant and restrained degree with which they stylized their designs.

My BIG news!

And now for my BIG NEWS which I'm exceedingly puffed up about right about now, just having got back from the mail box and all...

I have a letter informing me that I've been elected as a sculptor member to the National Sculpture Society!

From their website...'In 1893, our founding members, including Daniel Chester French, Augustus St. Gaudens, Stanford White and J.Q.A. Ward, established the Society to "spread the knowledge of good sculpture." Today, NSS continues to support sculpture as an active, vital, not-for-profit 501(c) 3 organization.'


Up 'till now I've been an associate member, which allows me to enter their annual shows, get the magazine and what have you.

But Elected Members are sculptors whose work is juried and voted on by other elected sculptor members and the NSS Board of Directors.

I imagine every artist relishes being recognized by their peers; not only that, but now I can officially put NSS after my name if I'm feeling flash!

Dan Ostermiller is currently president of the NSS (and not for the first time).
I hope he doesn't mind my little mice playing on his sculpture, otherwise I could find myself banned even before my certificate and pin arrive in the mail!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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Peter Wright's batcave and the art of crating bronze sculptures.

Recently I paid another visit to Peter Wright's batcave.
He's the man who offered to take on the risk of casting some of my larger pieces in exchange for half of what's left when they find homes after the gallery cut and casting costs are subtracted.
For which I am, of course, extremely grateful.
He's also a fine glass artist in his own right (no pun intended!). I love the colors he uses in his pieces. For me they are quite exquisite. (click HERE to see his work).

And he has a secret bat-cave, which is where you're seeing him here!

That big crate has got my Sumo Wrestling Toads in it.
I've never seen Peter in a cape, but he can appear and disappear very quickly, and he's always talking by phone from some far flung part of the country or other, so I keep wondering just how he does it...

We're sending Sumo Toads to the Natural History Museum in San Diego (for the Society of Animal Artists 50th annual show) and another pair to Grand Rapids, Michigan (for ArtPrize), along with Big Boy, and some other toads.

The Sumo's are crated, with cross bars inside to keep them from wobbling around. Some kind of plasticky rigid foam is glued to the crates, and the cross bars, and other sheets of it are wedged in here and there.
Everything is marked and coded with numbers and letters so anyone who un-packs it, can later re-pack it exactly the same. The cross bars are screwed in from the outside of the crate.

Big Boy is put in a double thickness corrugated cardboard box, with slabs of softer foam that's more squashy. Each is numbered with a hole in it, so when they're all stacked together horizontally Big Boy nestles cocooned inside his new world of soft foam.
Super thick heavy rope handles round out the procedure.
This is how Peter sends his glass as well. It would take a pretty determined person with a fork-lift to do any damage to it (oh no, I haven't just jinxed it have I?).
Of course everything's also insured, just in case...

My Bumper to Bumper is part of the National Sculpture Society's 77th annual exhibition in Brookgreen Gardens, SC.
Since the base is granite great care is needed for the packing process.
The wooden crate has a foam lining, and sides which slot into place allowing no movement.

The foam top locks it all into place, and the lid is screwed on.

Again, everything is very carefully marked and coded so anyone can re-pack it correctly later.

Besides that, here's a table full of recently patinated bits and pieces which will all hopefully be enjoying life in their new homes very soon (if they aren't already!). Looks like it's almost time for a new tin of paste wax (for brushing on the bronzes while they're freshly hot from the patina process).

As you can see I indulged in a little beer towel thievery during my student years. How could I resist, after all, it had my name written all over it!
I think this one came from my local in Portreath, Cornwall at the time, the Waterfront Inn.

Oh, and don't forget of course, the end of this month is the DEADLINE for entering my latest win-a-mouse contest (click HERE).

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Bumper to Bumper' bronze turtle sculpture accepted for NSS show

This week I was delighted to learn that the National Sculpture Society accepted the large version of my 'Bumper to Bumper' turtle sculpture as part of 2010's annual show.
Unfortunately this year the New York part of the show won't be happening since they've moved offices, so it will only be on display at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.

Exciting news none the less, it has to be one of the most prestigious shows in the country, and I feel extremely honored to be participating for the fourth time.

Speaking of four, I've previously posted four 'making of' demo's of my large 'Bumper to Bumper'.


If you'd like to check them out, click HERE for a post which has a whole bunch of 'how to' posts listed within it, including the Bumper to Bumper ones.
Or instead you could type 'Bumper to Bumper' in this blog's search bar if you like!

I've also made it in two smaller sizes.

Incidentally, I just recently got my medal and certificate from Brookgreen Gardens for the 'People's Choice' award from the 2009 annual show, for my large bronze, 'Sumo Wrestling Toads'.
I was told it was very popular with the security guards at the New York location too!
Brookgreen Gardens had sent the medal and certificate many months before, but they'd got lost in the mail.

So, a pretty good week I'd say!

I have other exciting things going on, but I'll save some of that for future posts...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Wrestling toads on the road

My sumo wrestling toads are doing a bit of sightseeing on Park Ave in NYC in the Atrium Bldg.
A friend in NY was nice enough to take some pics, as you can see if you have sharp eyes, she saw them being admired by Tony Soprano. Maybe they look like some of his acquaintances.
Here's various other views.




The exhibition is the 76th annual by the National Sculpture Society at the organization’s headquarters in the Park Avenue Atrium at 237 Park Avenue/466 Lexington Avenue, in midtown Manhattan. Opening on Monday, February 16, the juried show features the figurative works of 41 members. At the conclusion of the show in New York City, the exhibition will travel to Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina where it will be on display from June 27 through August 23.

Thanks Diane for taking the pics, she does beautiful flower photos which you can see at duaflower.com

My greatest achievement (and how it helps you!)

Time for another post.
This time it's a two parter.
Part the first involves my recent discovery which will no doubt win me the Nobel prize in thirty years or so (the best ideas always take a while to become generally acknowledged by academia-fortunately the arts are not so lumbering).
You, beloved reader, will however be able to take full advantages of its practical applications more or less immediately.
You won't be disappointed.

Part the second is merely me blowing my own horn once again. So I might as well start with that.
My big (24" tall) sumo wrestling toads (weighing in at a hefty 110 lbs) have been selected for the National Sculpture Society's 76 annual show where they will be on display in New York for a bunch of months, and then Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. I am of course extremely chuffed at this news.

Now for my life changing discovery. It has the potential to improve human existence the world over, starting with yours right now, so get ready for a raise in your standard of living.
Next time (and after you try it, every time) you take a nice hot bath, fill up a hot water bottle with the same hot water you are running the bath with. This rubber bladder can now be used as a very comfortable cushion behind your head or betwixt blades of shoulder.
Perfect for a bit of extended book reading, but it gets better...
Once you have finished your gripping adventure and returned with a thud to reality, you realize that your bathwater is just about stone cold. Hardly the perfect end to any great story.
Aha, simply retrieve and uncork your water bottle.
The water inside is still nice and piping hot, perfect for a last minute dousing before you emerge from the tub, all shiny, warm and clean.
Life will rarely feel better.
You and me can appreciate this at once, but it will still be 2038 before that Nobel prize shows up on my doorstep.
Where's Winston Churchill when you need him? (he did all his best thinking in the bath, so he'd have sped up the process a bit)
Luckily in the meantime I have little Binky's prizewinning achievements for consolation.