Robin Antar

The Lions Park in East Bremerton, Washington is currently being renovated in order to include stone sculptures as part of the park’s design. Not only are these contemporary sculptures being made for the visual beauty that they will provide, but they are also going to be used for kids to play on them.

Will Robinson, a stone sculptor, is busy crafting the representational sculptures of whales at Elandan Gardens. By the time he is done with his modern sculptures he is going to have them installed in Lions Park.  The way things are progressing right now, the sculptures should be in the park by the end of the month.

While Lions Park has been officially closed during the renovation period, there have been locals who have been using the park’s facilities for the last few weeks anyways. The park is set to reopen officially on September 9th with the sculptures of realism and everything else in tact.

The inspiration behind the whale sculptures came from the killer whales that inhabited the region back in 1997. The whales were specifically L-Pod orcas, and they were able to be seen from Lions Park for about 30 days.

Being that the sculptures are based on something historic about the park, they are going to hold more meaning than if they would have just been some abstract sculptures. It will forever be a link to that point in time when the whales made their temporary stay, and the future people who go to the park will always have that knowledge.

The price for that knowledge? Try over $1.8 million.

In order for the park’s renovation to take place it received funding from the Lions Club ($50,000), the city ($300,000), and the state ($1.5 million). Hopefully, with all of that money being put into the new park, this site won’t be in need of another renovation any time soon.

CaldbeckGallery.com

If you have the chance to make it to Maine between now and August 12, the Caldbeck Gallery is featuring 5 great artists who will be showcasing their amazing work. Two of the artists in particular, Lisa Becu and Bill Martin, are going to be displaying their sculptures.

Lise Becu is known for her representational sculptures of humans and animals, as she likes to display the relationship that exists between one another and the universe. One of the stone sculptures that she is exhibiting is of a lion, which is sprawled on the ground. Because the material of the lion sculpture inspired Becu so much, she made two abstract sculptures out of granite. Having the abstract sculptures in addition to the sculptures of realism, truly shows the wide range that Becu possesses as a sculptor. Although she focuses on the representational sculptures, her abstract sculptures don’t lack much, if anything, in comparison.

Bill Martin is showcasing his contemporary sculptures titled “Tribe.” These modern sculptures are depicting lively members of a tribe who range in height from 8 inches to 25.5 inches. The detail that is shown on the faces of the tribe members was created by a variety of lines, and the figures as a whole have the feel of Northwest Indian culture. The way he went about his sculptures shows that he has been influenced by a variety of things in nature, and the culmination of all of those things comes together beautifully in his completed sculptures. When you look at these sculptures you can actually see and feel the expression that the tribal members have on their faces.

To check out these great sculptors, as well as the other fantastic artists in this gallery, you can go to the Caldbeck Gallery, which is located at 12 Elm Street in Rockland, Maine.

(http://www.mercurynews.com)

A few days ago in Mexico, there were 2 stone sculptures that were found that may tell stories of wars past. The 1,300 year-old representational sculptures are supposedly from captured Mayan warriors from the time there was war among the Mayan cities.

The two sculptures are of two warriors sitting with their legs crossed and their hands tied behind their backs. Found on these stone sculptures are hieroglyphic inscriptions that suggest that these warriors belonged to the city of Copan. By uncovering these inscriptions, archaeologist Juan Yadeun thinks that warriors from Copan helped those in Palenque during the city’s’ 26-year war against Tonina. In addition, these sculptures had other distinct characteristics that led the archaeologist to understand more details about the time of war back then.

Having sculptures made is a great way to preserve the history of a culture, and the more details that are included, the better picture you can get of the time period. Whether it is a sculpture of realism or an abstract sculpture, the inclusion of important nuances can help future people understand much more.  Even though you would think that the sculptures are only relevant when they are contemporary sculptures or modern sculptures, this is not true. Because there are people like archaeologists who study history, and they are able to combine their knowledge of history with the artifacts that they find, they get a more complete picture than the average historian gets.

Who knows? Maybe your next stone sculpture can say something critical about this time period for future generations. The only way that will be possible is if you keep sculpting. So get out there and sculpt!