The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2023/2024 program season with an interesting presentation by Bitsy and Guy Bellaver on sculpture and particularly this year’s Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. Despite some technical problems with the projection system, the Bellavers were able to improvise and present their information without a hitch.
They began by reviewing Guy’s impressive career as a professional sculptor. It began by producing works of art and then selling them, then progressed into producing sculptures on commission. His most prominent public work is “Ēkwabet”, a massive sculpture of a Potawatomi Native American chief, in St. Charles, Illinois.
Researching this project generated an on-going interest in Native American history in the Bellavers. Bitsy used this opportunity to plug an exhibit of Native American art at the Bridgeville Public Library in November. Not to be outdone, I then plugged my Historical Society talk on November 28, which will celebrate Native American Indian Heritage Month by discussing an indigenous settlement in Bridgeville in 1200 AD.
The 2007 Recession hit the creative arts community hard. In response to it, the Bellavers hit the road, submitting Guy’s sculptures at outdoor sculpture exhibitions all over the country. Bitsy mentioned the Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland Colorado as a special example; I wrote a column about a visit there last summer. As a result of this exposure they gained an insight into the significance of this concept; when they came home to Bridgeville, they decided to build on it here. Last year’s Bridgeville Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition had a few skeptics when it opened, but as time passed it became a topic of great interest, and ultimately pride, in the community.
It is easy for all of us to immediately relate to the remarkably realistic “trompe-l’oeil” painted bronze statues produced by the Seward Johnson atelier. Johnson was a member of the very wealthy family that built healthcare giant Johnson and Johnson. After failing in the family business, he returned to his first love, art, and opened a studio in Princeton, New Jersey. Initially focused on painting, in 1968 he transitioned into painted bronze statues. By the early 1980s he “found his groove” with life-size sculptures of ordinary people in ordinary situations. I was surprised to learn that Johnson “designed” the statues and that other artisans fabricated the molds, cast the bronzes, and then painted them. His talent injected art into the work of technicians.
Last year Bridgeville had two Johnson figures, both seated, one in Triangle Park and the other adjacent to La Bella Bean. My high school brunch buddies called them manikins; my daughter Elizabeth refers to them as decoys. This year we have three – “the Whittler”, seated by La Bella Bean; “Hell, Time to Go Fishing’’, an unhappy husband with a lawn mower, in front of Sarasnick’s; and “Waiting to Cross”, a delightful young girl hanging on a stop sign, at the Borough Building. Their popularity immediately raises the question, “Is representational art truly art?” Posed to the Bellavers, their response was “An appreciation of representational art is better than not appreciating art at all. If art gets its foot in someone’s interest door through representational work, that’s great. If that interest grows into greater appreciation for other forms of art, like abstract, that’s even better”.
I found this to be a very perceptive answer, particularly considering Guy Bellaver’s body of work. “Ēkwabet” is evidence of his ability to create realistic masterpieces, as is the “Kane County Veterans Memorial” in Geneva, Illinois, a magnificent much-greater-than-life-size depiction of a non-traditional soldier triumphantly swinging an American flag high over his head. Nonetheless a cursory review of the works displayed in his portfolio on his website immediately confirms the suspicion that he also is a master at abstract sculpture. I am particularly impressed with his “Quarks” series, “an exploration of the relationship of positive to negative space and the energy of their interaction”, inspired by the study of elementary particles at FermiLab.
The other seven sculptures in this year’s exhibition tend to the abstract, with the possible exception of “Red Dancer”; I am not art critic enough to categorize it. Gary Kulak’s work is somewhere between representational and abstract, including a lot of strange things with chairs. Twenty feet high with twisted legs, “Red Dancer” is obviously a chair, but greatly distorted. The exhibition curator located this work at the Bridgeville Public Library, much to the approval of Kulak’s wife, a career librarian.
Mrs. Bellaver reported that the response nationally to her request for exhibitors was quite large, resulting in a wide variety of national artists being represented. Fortunately, there was still room for one local sculptor (with a national reputation), Dan Droz. Perhaps the dean of Pittsburgh sculptors, Droz is a welcome addition to the exhibition. His “Open Doors” is the perfect selection for the welcoming sculpture for visitors entering Bridgeville from the North; it is inherently welcoming.
At the end of the presentation, the audience was given the opportunity to vote on their favorite sculpture in this year’s exhibition. Two Johnson creations – “Waiting to Cross” and “Hell, Time to Go Fishing’’ tied for most popular with eight votes apiece. “Fiddlehead” came in third with three votes – I wonder who the two other perceptive art aficionados are.
This month, October, Public Art Bridgeville is sponsoring a pop-up exhibit of works by the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors at the Bridgeville Public Library for the second consecutive year. Mrs. Bellaver invited all of us in the audience to attend the Reception for this event, at the Library, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm on Friday, October 6. That invitation is extended to readers of this column.
The next Society program is scheduled for 7:30 pm, Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. “The Brick Lady”, Jean Bear, will discuss brick collecting and the history of brick making, with special focus on the C. P. Mayer Brick Company.