Form 3D Foundry

International Sculpture Conference comes to Portland

We, the members of the Pacific Northwest Sculptors Association, wish to extend a warm welcome to all those attending the 29th International Sculpture Conference. You will find Portland and the NW in general to be an intensely creative place. The winters are mild, the summers are delightful and the scenery magnificent. It is a good place to live and a wonderful place to be a sculptor.

You will find plenty of evidence to support that idea if you partake in any of the field trips arranged by the ISC.

I would highly recommend visiting the Micheal Curry Studios where you will find very large scale puppetry and astounding set designs for stage and film.

The Form 3D Foundry will introduce you to the state of the art techniques which art serving to advance the art of sculpture in surprising ways.

Echinger Studios is having a reception preceding the keynote address at Reed College on Monday the 14th at 3:30 pm. There you can meet many of our local sculptors. Marty Echinger himself is one of our founding members and has a wonderful studio.

The International Sculpture Conference brings Oregon Sculptor groups together

Finally our group, Pacific NW Sculptors Assn. and the NW Stone Sculptors Assn. have joined forces at the ArtReach gallery to present a joint exhibition. It will run concurrently with the conference. This is a juried show with outstanding works from both groups. The location could not be better as it is directly across the Park Blocks from the Portland Art Museum. The gallery space is on the lower floor of the historic First Congregational Church. In fact, the first art exhibition in Portland was held at this location in 1874.

To learn more about Pacific Northwest Sculptors events, contact us today!

Portland Celebrates International Sculpture Day 2017

Pacific Northwest Sculptors’ second annual celebration of International Sculpture Day on April 21 and 22 in Portland was an unqualified success, judging from comments after the event by its organizers, participants and guests.

Hosted at three neighboring venues in Southeast Portland’s Sellwood District and billed as “ International Sculpture Day PDX 2017, 3D Alchemy: Fusing Intellect, Intuition and Magic Into Sculpture,” the event featured leading local sculptors talking about their work, live demonstrations of sculptors at work, a tour of one sculptor’s cutting-edge, high-tech studio, an exhibit of sculptures by local artists, lots of good food and drink, a tango demonstration and, to wrap it all up, a dance party with live music.

PNWS member Alisa Looney was a driving force behind the event. It was her presentation at a members’ meeting at Marylhurst University near Lake Oswego about two years ago that led PNWS to commit to joining the celebration, observed around the world each April for the last three years.

Summing up this year’s event she said, “My feeling overall was that it was a wonderful event for all who attended. Our entire team was incredible, professional and dependable. Everyone really showed up and made sculpture to the public in a fresh way.”

Everyone on the organizing team and the other artists who were featured in the event worked hard and deserve considerable gratitude for their selfless contribution.

PNWS Members Create International Sculpture Day

PNWS President George Heath singled out Looney for her imagination and commitment to making Portland a part of this observance. He wrote to her after the recent event, “As for you, Wow! That was amazing. I rarely, if ever, have seen anybody pull off something like that with such aplomb. Nicely done.”

Looney said, “I was truly honored to receive this compliment on behalf of our team,” adding, “it would not have been possible to pull this off without even one of our amazing team members, artists, hosts, sponsors, volunteers and guests.”

Other members of the International Sculpture Day organizing team, all PNWS members, were Julian Voss-Andreae, Jennifer Corio, Dave Gonzo, Sam Hingston, and Sue Quast. Some of the planners were also featured artists at the event. Voss-Andreae opened his studio to the public where he led a tour and explained how he blends art and high-tech; he also was a featured speaker, along with Hingston, at the artist talks.

The other featured speakers were Chayo Wilson and Bill Leigh. Corio emceed the artist talks. Gonzo demonstrated sculptural welding techniques alongside fellow PNWS member Andy Kennedy who demonstrated ceramic work. Looney singled out Susan Schimelfining as one volunteer “who has not been mentioned enough.” Looney credited Schimelfining for planning and preparing the food available at various venues. “It was beautifully displayed and delicious as well,” said Looney. “She actually cooked the smoked chicken herself and went to great lengths to make it all work with the schedule of replenishing for each event.”

SE Portland Businesses Host Artists and Guests for International Sculpture Day

The event was sited at three locations in close proximity to one another along Southeast 17th Avenue: Anna Daedalus and Kerry Davis’s Roll-Up Photo Studio + Gallery, which was the venue of last year’s celebration, Voss-Andreae’s new studio, and Rachel Lidskog-Lim’s Dance With Joy Studios. Groups of artists and guests migrated together from one location to the next throughout the evening. Hingston thought the geography of the event added to its appeal. “I thought it was a really fun and engaging event.

The three locations gave the evening a lot of variety, and I thought having the group travel together brought a bit of adventure to the whole thing,” he said. He also had praise for his fellow planners. “It was a great experience working with the planning committee as well as the many people who helped to make it all happen.

It took a lot of effort from a lot of people, but it was certainly well worth it.” Corio was pleased with the outcome as well. “All and all, a smashing success! I am proud to be part of the planning team,” she said. She thought the audience at the artist presentations seemed “laid back and really interested in hearing what the artists had to say.” She said they asked “good questions” and with “a fair bit of laughter,” which, she added, made her job as emcee easier.

International Sculpture Day a Success

Corio summarized the event. “I felt a fun, joyful vibe throughout the evening. The show at Roll-Up (Gallery) was full of folks looking at art and enjoying themselves.” While it was difficult to count overall attendance at the event owing to its being spread out across three venues, it was possible to get a good count of the people attending the artist talks.

Corio and Looney agreed the number there was about 75 with a few others gathered just outside the door to the room where food and beverages were available. Paul Haist, the newsletter editor, who was focused on watching and photographing what was going on, though overall attendance could not be much less than about 200. The celebration would not have been possible without the generous support of many in the community including sponsors Cobalt Designworks, Dance With Joy Studios, Form 3D Foundry, Bill Leigh, Roll-Up Photo Studio + Gallery, the International Sculpture Center in Hamilton, N.J. (publishers of Sculpture Magazine) and Julian Voss-Andreae.

To learn more about Pacific Northwest Sculptors events, contact us today!

Art Commissions keep Eichinger Studio Busy

Joya Martuscello

Exciting progress is being made on one of Martin Eichinger’s larger art commissions in progress. Natural beauty is met with great artistry as we embark on the next phase of this large-scale vision for the Cloisters on the Platte, a spiritual retreat in Nebraska.

Martin and the Eichinger Sculpture Studio team are currently working in conjunction with four other teams of master sculptors from around the country on a commission of over 70 monumental bronze figures. It promises to be the grandest example of the Stations of the Cross ever created.

Joe Ricketts, an entrepreneur, and philanthropist is the founder of the Cloisters on the Platte. Set on a beautiful natural expanse along the Platte River, the destination will offer a silent retreat experience in the Jesuit tradition. It will be “based on the spiritual exercises developed by St. Ignatius Loyola but will be open to people of all faiths. “Anyone who is interested in spiritual growth is welcome.”

Martin Examines the Space Through Inner Examination

To prepare for this project and to understand better the mindset behind Ricketts’ vision, Martin participated in a silent retreat sponsored by the Cloisters on the Platte. “As a sculptor, I wanted to understand how the devout would experience the retreat and the Stations of the Cross that were a significant part of it. The three-day silent retreat left me deeply moved on both personal and spiritual levels, far beyond the artistic level I was trying to understand.”

Working with a growing Eichinger Sculpture Studio team and working in concert with other teams of master sculptors has been a fulfilling experience for Martin. He has acted as a sort of conductor with so many pieces in play. The project took advantage of contemporary digital technology, working closely with Form 3D Foundry in Portland. It’s been a fascinating process, seeing it come to fruition this last year.

In addition to the Cloisters project, Martin also has begun work on two new art commissions. He was recently asked to create a monumental bust of Rafik Hariri, the late former prime minister of Lebanon, for the Rafik Hariri Business Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Also, “The Abigail,” a mixed-income housing project in Portland, has chosen Eichinger Sculpture Studio to create a monument in honor of Oregon poet and suffragette Abigail Dunniway for installation in the facility’s courtyard. Libby (Krock) Carruth is the lead sculptor for the Abigail project.

The Geode: Creative Space for Portland Artists

All this is happening inside an Eichinger Sculpture Studio that is under major reconstruction and transformation. The Geode: A Nest for Creative Entrepreneurs, is beginning to make big strides in all directions. Each day at the studio is a new hard-hat adventure. Marty continues to finalize his design elements for the building and we are starting to see some of the special artistic features take shape including programmable light blades and a lit spiral staircase. Marty never ceases to surprise us all with his imagination and skill.

We here at ESS are grateful for our community and we believe firmly that art can be a powerful tool in these times of great change.

To learn more about Pacific Northwest Sculptors events, contact us today!

3D Modeling Technology Propels Sculpture Forward

Paul Haist

Pacific Northwest Sculptors President George Heath welcomed members and guests to the group’s monthly open meeting on the evening of Jan. 19 at Form 3D Foundry in Portland to demonstrate the advancements of 3d modeling technology.

This time, the meeting featured an up-close look at innovative 3-D printing technology and how sculptors are using it to advance their art. The host for the evening was Rob Arps, the founder of Form 3D Foundry. He was assisted by Production Manager Steve Christman.

The evening began, as usual, with a get-acquainted social hour featuring potluck dining fare accompanied by an array of beverages. While many stayed close to the food and beverages during the socializing part of the event, others freely explored the sprawling studio in close-in Southeast Portland where, even after regular business hours, a large, automated 3-D printer was quietly at work by itself in something resembling a laboratory clean room.

Exploring the 3D Modeling Technology Process

Form 3D Foundry provides a wide variety of services for sculptors including, for example, 3-D scanning in the studio and on location, digital sculpting, traditional sculpting, and the creation of enlargements and reductions of existing pieces. The studio also provides robotic machining of various materials including blue PIB (pipe insulation billet) polystyrene, white polystyrene, polyurethanes, and wood, and can also do clay milling over foam.

While the studio seems outwardly to be a technological tour-de-force with exotic machines and wherever one looks yet another computer terminal, Arps stresses that the creation of art is the core or heart of what he, his staff, and their clients do at Form 3D. In remarks at the meeting, he explained that he is “reluctant to use the term ‘digital sculpture’.” He thinks it is “demeaning,” that it diminishes the indispensable role of the artist. Rather, as he points out on the studio website, a constant he insists on is “to explore, embrace and utilize technology in order to propel art and sculpture forward.” He calls it “the use of technology grounded in traditional artistic principles.” During the social hour at the January meeting, he elaborated on this theme at considerable length to the rapt attention of all present. Before the formal guided tour, everyone introduced themselves.

The crowd included long-time PNWS members, new members, and non-members. Among the members present were Julian Vos-Andreae and Marty Eichinger, both of Portland, and Nancy Thorn Chambers of Olympia, each of whom is working closely at present with Form 3D Foundry. Member Alisa Loony of Portland was on hand. She, Vos-Andreae, Jennifer Corio, and Dave Gonzo are coordinating this year’s PNWS celebration of International Sculpture Day (is Day) set for April 24. Gonzo also attended the Form 3D event. Looney outlined plans for this year’s event and encouraged members to volunteer to staff the event.

To learn more about Pacific Northwest Sculptors events, contact us today!