Sculpture Tour brings more eye candy to Georgetown
New sculptures for 2022-23 art season have been selected, installed in downtown Georgetown and are ready for viewing.
The City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board chose 15 sculptures to create the new juried outdoor exhibition in Georgetown’s historic Downtown Cultural District on loan for one year.
Selected sculptures will receive a cash prize a which includes a $2,000 first prize, $1,500 second prize and $1,000 honorable mention awards for the others. Prizes will be announced at the Georgetown Autumn Art Stroll on October 20 during an opening reception for the Georgetown Sculpture Tour.
New sculptures
• “Family” by Elizabeth Bonura is located on Eighth Street outside of Robert’s Printing. The cement with bronze metal coating and green patina was inspired by life, love and connection. It features a family of four with two young girls. Her work has appeared on CNN, Inside Edition, news stories and in Inside Weekly Magazine. She has appeared on HGTV’s That’s Clever! and her art dolls have been published in several national magazines.
• “Interconnected” by Laura Armstrong is located at the corner of Seventh Street and Church Street outside of the Golden Rule. The 7-foot sculpture’s natural, plantlike pods emerge from a single stem, symbolizing how all entities are intertwined with, dependent upon and affected by each other. Inspired by organic shapes found in nature, she reshape rigid steel into flowing forms using a variety of metal-working techniques. Her work features asymmetrical yet balanced design and prominent use of negative space.
• “BoBo (Bwa Tribe)” is located near the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Main Street and created by Rodney D. Butler. The sculpture is the artist’s interpretation of a traditional African mask from the Bwa Society native to Burkina Faso. Mr. Butler is a modern day Renaissance artist, meaning he draws, paints, cooks and does architectural design, along with digital art and photography.
• “Alien Antenna,” a 7-foot metal sculpture, was also created by Mr. Butler. It is located near the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Main Street. He is best known for what he calls “green metal art.” He takes scraps of metal and/or mechanical parts deemed unusable by most standards and welds them into artistic shapes, forms, figures and concepts, turning them into beautiful art.
• “Luminance” by Scott Shubin is located at the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Austin Avenue outside of Kilwins. The sculpture is a mosaic of vibrant acrylic colors with a stainless steel cutout. Mr. Shubin is a sculptor and metal fabricator with over 20 years of experience. His sculptures vary from contemporary to kinetic to rustic style. He enjoys experimenting with new materials for sculptures.
• “Healing Community” by Anthony St. James is located at the corner of Seventh Street and Rock Street outside of Blue Corn Harvest. The 6-inch steel pipe stands over 7-feet tall, weighs 409 pounds and is a three-dimensional contemporary sculpture made of steel to withstand the harsh Texas weather and human touch. It was created to honor the medical professionals who kept Mr. St. James alive in 2020-21. The outer circle represents the overall medical community and the heart into infinity in the center of this piece represents his personal feelings toward the doctors and nurses who were kind and patient.
• “Two Aztec Parrots,” created from limestone on a metal base, is located at the corner of Sixth Street and Austin Avenue near the Monument Cafe. Reynaldo Alaniz included both Aztec and Mayan imagery: the face of the Aztec sun god, Tonatiuh, and fire the Mayans use to communicate with the gods.
“I strive to improve my technical and artistic skills so that whatever I can imagine in my mind, I can create with my hands to the best of my ability,” he said.
• “Maya” is located at the Georgetown Public Library outside the Ninth Street entrance and also created by Reynaldo Alaniz using cast bronze with blue-green patina. This sculpture was inspired by a Mayanstone figure found at Mayan archeological sites in central America. He took artistic liberty to make changes and create an abstract figure in repose acting as a lookout.
• “Whirlwind” by Tim Glover is located at the corner of Main Street and Ninth Street across from the Georgetown Art Center. The gigantic steel bird and horn toad are perched on an iconic Texas twister. As a high school art teacher with a professional studio practice, he divides his time between teaching and making art. His sculptures are inspired by man-made and natural things and the style leans toward representational.
• “Orb” is located at the Georgetown Public Library, outside the Ninth Street entrance by Laura Sturtz. The copper, brass and steel sphere is 28 inches in diameter. Her primary concern is with form in three dimensions. In sculpture, the artwork changes as the viewer moves. Relationships between forms shift. Creating in 3-D requires the artist to be in several places at once, fluid as opposed to contained.
• “Armadillo Totem” is located at the Georgetown Public Library outside the Ninth Street entrance. Artist Marla Ripperda created this whimsy using epoxy clay, expanded metal lath and steel. Ms. Ripperda is a professional artist in multi-disciplines working in both 2-D and 3-D who believes art is about raucous joy, quiet beauty and the humor which makes us human.
• “Waco Night Sky” and “Waco Tool” are located at the Georgetown Public Library outside the Ninth Street entrance. Artist Rollin Karg created the Waco series to honor a transformational time in his life when he moved to Waco Street in Wichita, Kansas, eventually living there 21 years. It was during that time he discovered his artistic talents and began to build a business and reputation. Today his sculptures can be found in galleries throughout the U.S. with his large-scale metal sculptures on display in Kansas, Georgia, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas.
• “Tree of Life” created by John Mark Luke is located near the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Main Street outside of Divine Treasures. The over 8-foot tall structure is made from repurposed laminated OSB plywood, reclaimed rebar and square metal tubing and finished with marine epoxy and exterior clear coat. The artist is drawn to juxtapositions in life; harmony found in the light-dark, smooth-rough and the sweet-salty. The one gives life to the other.
• “Mantis” is located at the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Austin Avenue outside of Kilwins and also created by John Mark Luke. Six inches shorter than “Tree of Life,” this sculpture is made from reclaimed/recycled steel, angle iron, rebar and steel tubing. This piece addresses the juxtaposition of static triangular shapes and organic “vine-like” features that wind through the work, while also incorporating circular elements of interest, or moments, from its base to its top.
Both are abstract sculptures from Mr. Luke’s latest body of work finished this year and were made entirely of salvaged, reclaimed materials.
“In these times it seems our society is flooded with information and opinions that constantly insist that you think this way or that way, buy this thing or that thing, you must choose us or them — crazy,” Mr. Luke said. “The hope is, my work doesn’t ‘talk at’ the viewer but invites conversation.”