Lovearch wins 3rd place in People's Choice Award.

My sculpture Lovearch won 3rd place in the People's Choice Award at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Hilton Head Island.  

Thanks to all to my friends that voted online and to the visitors of the beautiful Museum grounds who cast a ballot in person. Thank you so much. 

This sculpture was a lot of work to create. The process took over 8 months. It included modeling the life-sized figures in homemade oil clay, taking plaster molds, casting them in wax, casting them in aluminum and finally welding it together. This was done entirely by myself with the help of support from my graduate program at East Carolina University (alumni '11). 

Lovearch has been exhibited many times and won awards in the past. This exhibit in Hilton Head Island was a fantastic venue! The Spanish Moss covered Live Oaks that surround the sculpture compliment it.  Pictures don't do it justice, as the oaks are so big and majestic that they dwarf my 9 foot high sculpture. 

Photo by Jean Hayduck

I like the relationship between the limbs of the trees and the limbs of the sculpture. The green of the moss plays off the blue of the patina of Lovearch.

Photo by Jean Hayduck

The Community Foundation of the Low Country were very accommodating to their artists. For the installation dates and for the award ceremony we were given multiple nights in very posh resorts. Usually on these install trips, artists are quick to unload the sculptures, install, and get back on the road to keep costs down. However, if they are offered swank hotels to stay in, then it turns into a little vacation. I used my multiple nights in the hotel to get to know Hilton Head Island's beauty and unique environmentally aware history. I hope I can get into this exhibit again and for this alone it is motivation to keep making large work. 

 Wining Artists: Andy Denton, Robert Sadelmire, Eileen Blyth and Mark Finley with a photo of Purchase Prize Winner Tom Holmes. Photo by Jean Hayduck

Thanks again to all my super-fans that took time to vote and to the nice folks at the Community Foundation of the Low Country for all their hard work. I'm very impressed!