View is undergoing a transformation
as its parking lot island is re-designed in preparation for a permanent outdoor
sculpture installation by artist Lewis Bryden.
The sculpture, titled “Nature
as Muse,” is a life-size, cast bronze figure of a girl with her hand reaching
up to a bird. The statue will reside next to a small reflecting pool surrounded
by lawn. The island will also have shade trees and evergreens, benches,
boulders, and a walkway.
“Nature is the inspiration for
art, and the sculpture personifies this with the young girl making contact with
a wild bird,” says Bryden. “More than most sculptures, this work is about
nature, and so it seemed important to surround it with a natural setting.“
The entire installation is a
gift to View from Lewis and Betsy Bryden, to commemorate the lives of Betsy’s
grandparents, Elizabeth Elliot and Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr., who were longtime
summer residents of Old Forge and avid art collectors. Betsy’s grandmother
introduced her to Miriam Kashiwa, founder of the arts center that is now called
View, more than 50 years ago.
“Our hope is that people will
feel inspired by the statue and the setting, and that they will reflect on art
and nature,” say Betsy and Lewis. “We envision children
playing around the shallow pool while parents pass time on the nearby
benches.”
The process of casting bronze
is thousands of years old, says Bryden, who has been a professional artist for
30 years, most of them as a painter. “I chose the lost wax method, in which the
finished clay sculpture is remolded in wax, coated with ceramic material, and then
poured with molten bronze. Everywhere the wax was, the bronze now
takes its place,” he said.
As part of the process, Bryden
created a maquette, or small scale model of the sculpture. “It helps the artist
and others to visualize the sculpture and to identify problems early,” he
said. He also did a portrait study as an exercise to explore the character of
the young girl.
The maquette and portrait study
for “Nature as Muse” are currently on display at View. The portrait has been
donated to View’s permanent collection, and the maquette will be raffled to
raise money for View.
The sculpture installation will
be completed by early July. A dedication will take place at View’s annual gala
on July 6 and then will be open to the public starting Saturday, July 7.
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