It was my privilege last Saturday to be invited to the Opening Reception of the Fifth Annual Sculpture Exhibition at the Bridgeville Public Library (Bill and Grace McDivitt Center). The Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors is a nationally known organization of Western Pennsylvania sculptors working in a broad variety of media. Their partnership with Public Art Bridgeville has contributed heavily to the cultural environment of the community. This year twenty artists contributed forty-two pieces to the exhibition.
It is traditional for outstanding exhibits to be given special awards each year at this exhibition. Three of the winners of the awards were sculptors whom we remembered from previous years – Len Kaminski, Dan Droz, and Duncan MacDiarmid. They were joined by an impressive newcomer – Pamela Cooper.
Len Kaminski has been a personal favorite of mine for years, partially because of my amateurish attempts at woodcarving years ago. His medium is pieces of tree trunks; his subject matter is Native American figures. The result is a series of life-size, life-like busts which merge primitive humanity and nature. I probably have seen a dozen of his pieces and been thrilled by each one.
Dan Droz is familiar to local art devotees because of his numerous contributions to Public Art Bridgeville’s annual outdoor sculpture exhibits. He is known for his mastery of shapes and angles, typically with steel plates. For this exhibit, two of his pieces were made of recycled waste plastic. I particularly liked “Speckled Lady”, a much larger-than-life square knot, which did indeed suggest a female form.
Duncan MacDiarmid showed two pieces. “Eclipse” is an impressionist wooden piece “imagining the edge of a solar eclipse”. Even more impressive is a maquette (miniature model/rough draft of a proposed larger sculpture) entitled “Spirit of America and the Freedom Flame”. It depicts Lady Liberty cradling the earth in one arm while pointing her flame toward the stars, a statement that democracy can provide “a better life for all people on Earth”.
Pamela Cooper showed two outstanding clay works. “Assir” is an impressionistic head, fired using the Raku process which produces unique surface colors. “Sorrow of David”, fired conventionally, powerfully evokes the Hebrew king’s grief over the loss of his beloved son Absalom with droplets of melted glass from his crown.
My appreciation of ceramics is based on my wife’s successful efforts as a potter. Anna Birstein showed her expertise in that area with two exhibits. “Three Stone Flowers” were conventional and excellent. “Sleeping Warrior’s Head”, also Raku fired, was one of the most impressive pieces in the exhibition. Ceil Sturdevant’s three “Serpentine Vessels” were also outstanding. They were fired in a Japanese Noborigami kiln whose flames leave a random pattern of ash embedded in the surface.
Another personal favorite for me was Gadi Leshem’s “Wee Laird”, a remarkably life-like ceramic bust with a cold bronze finish. His rust-finished “Silence” was also noteworthy. “Family Vessel”, shown by Alan Horowitz, was an interesting study in stoneware clay. I also liked Marti Haykin’s three offerings, attractive smaller-than-life busts. The description accompanying them reported the medium as “concrete”. I presume they were cast from a mold and then painted.
There is always room in an exhibition of this type for whimsy. Jan Loney’s “Life Handed Me a Lemon” is a disfigured hand with three fingers holding a lemon aloft. Sarah Lyon showed two plaques with precious stones on a stone background, “Naughty Rabbit Escaping the Garden” and “Math Teacher”. Mary Mason’s spoof of Bob Ross, “Unhappy Trees” was in a similar medium.
Artists using “found” media have their own unique innovative talent. Eric Dye has turned discarded pipe organ pipes into a series of whimsical objects. “Knight to King’s Bishop” is a pair of chess pieces on a board with squares twelve inches on a side. “Pfeifenorgel Quartet” is four fanciful figures with organ pipe bodies. A clarification for our non-literate readers — pfeifenorgel is pipe organ in German.
It would be inappropriate for us to ignore Bridgeville’s contribution to the Society of Sculptors, Guy Bellaver. He and his wife Bitsy are responsible for bringing this wonderful exhibition to Bridgeville each year, and his contributions have been a significant part of it. This year he showed “2nd Day of Spring”, a lovely bronze casting that perfectly evokes the rebirth associated with the vernal equinox. He also showed two maquettes. “Ekwabet” is a miniature of his tribute to Native Americans in Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles, Illinois. “Lovers” is the maquette for a popular outdoor sculpture that has stood at the bottom of Kelso Road in Mt. Lebanon for many years.
There weren’t any exhibits that failed to impress me. Audra Lynn Clayton’s “Layover” bordered on the abstract, but attractively. “Clay Pigeons”, Maria Durci’s assemblage of found pieces, made a strong statement about the direction our society is heading. Dino Deluliis showed a lovely impressionistic prone body of Japanese maple entitled “Arise”. Janet Watkins’ “Lady Wisdom” was displayed on the wall over the fireplace, a setting it richly deserved. Donald Laufer’s “Emergence”, a gemstone was nearly too beautiful to be part of this kind of exhibition.
Alexander Sutlic’s two offerings also made statements about our life today. “Decision Tree” is an elegant piece combining wood, iron, and brass components on a marble base, illustrating the dilemmas we all face. Similarly elegant is “Proof of Change”, with lucite shapes suggesting everchanging architecture.
It was indeed a magical evening, dominated by magicians with the ability to convert dead tree trunks, mounds of clay, and cans full of plastic trash into memorable sculptures. It was an event worthy of a big city venue, but equally at home in Bridgeville. Grace and Bill McDivitt would be pleased. We are grateful to Public Art Bridgeville, the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors, and the Bridgeville Public Library for making it happen, and to Guy and Bitsy Bellaver for inviting me. The exhibition will be available to the public during Library hours through May 8.