Tag Archives: sculpture

Recycleart Sculpture Garden

Nathan Nicholls 4 of 12 Recycleart Sculpture Garden
Nathan Nicholls 12 of 12 Recycleart Sculpture Garden
Nathan Nicholls 5 of 12 Recycleart Sculpture Garden

Recycleart Sculpture Garden is located in Waldoboro, Maine. It was created by the late self-taught artist and welder, Nathan Nicholls. Through his art, Nathan encouraged others to think twice before throwing an object away. There is not an object out there that Nathan could not recycle into a beautiful artwork. He welded nails, tires, bike parts, and broken farm equipment into sculptures of owls, flowers, frogs, and cats. Even the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland makes an appearance in his garden.

Nathan was originally from Massachusetts. He moved to Maine after his teenage years. He took on odd jobs, from harvesting blueberries to repairing lawn mowers and motorcycles. The latter job introduced him to the beauty of scraps and discarded objects. Inspired by these objects, Nathan started making sculptures in the 1990s. In 2003, after his mother passed away, he began devoting even more time to his art in order to comfort himself. After many years of creating art, his 5 acres of land is now covered with sculptures.

Nathan passed away in 2014, at the age of 52. His family is working to preserve his artistic legacy. They are in the process of figuring out how to ensure the safety and longevity of his art, especially during the Maine winters. Ideally, it is best to keep an art environment as the artist left it but this leaves the risk of the artwork being destroyed. We hope they come up with a solution that works for them because his sculptures are truly unique and inspiring.

For more information, please visit the Facebook page for the site.

Featured Artist: Kevin Sampson

IMG 4998 600x450 Featured Artist Kevin Sampson
IMG 5001 600x472 Featured Artist Kevin Sampson

We recently returned from a trip to Mystic, Connecticut, where we got to see the work of Kevin Sampson – an incredibly talented self-taught and community based artist living in Newark, New Jersey. His work is currently on display at the Mystic Seaport Museum as part of their artist residency program. 

During the summer of 2018, Sampson stayed on a boat docked near the museum as he and the staff worked on preparing the exhibition. Community members and museum visitors were invited to learn about his work and process.

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Taconic Sculpture Park

DSC 4862 Taconic Sculpture ParkDSC 4849 Taconic Sculpture ParkDSC 4847 Taconic Sculpture Park

We discovered The Taconic Sculpture Park during a trip to the Hudson River Valley in New York. Driving along the Taconic State Parkway, we suddenly saw a gigantic sculpture head. It was completely unexpected after taking in the quaint green hills, trees, and idyllic barns along our route.

Located in Spencertown, New York, the park was created by Roy Kanwit, a self-taught sculptor and artist. Kanwit has been working on his park for approximately 40 years. The park consists of about 30 sculptures including the aforementioned giant head sculpture (which is 19 feet), statues of gods and goddesses, and other icons.

The artist lives on the premises and does not mind people coming by to enjoy his artwork, as long as they are respectful. We recommend that you call ahead to check the park’s hours. For the contact information and more details, please visit the park’s website.

Bee Habitats as Art

2 greg corman bee nest Bee Habitats as Art1 greg corman bee nest Bee Habitats as ArtGreg corman bee nest Bee Habitats as Art

Greg Corman is a landscape designer and artist living in Tuscon, Arizona. He creates his work from recycled or salvaged wood, found objects, and steel. The above images are examples of his bee habitat sculptures, which are functional forms of art. The sculptures have holes and tunnels drilled into them to provide bees with brood chambers for their babies. He states on his website that these functional artworks are nesting spaces for native pollinator bees and do not attract honey or killer bees.

Artwork Credit: © Greg Corman, cormanart.com

Toothpick Artists

Weaver 1 Toothpick ArtistsWeaver 4 Toothpick ArtistsWeaver 2 Toothpick ArtistsScott Weaver is a San Francisco-based artist who creates elaborately detailed artwork using only toothpicks and Elmer’s glue. Scott began creating toothpick art in 1968, at the age of 8. His most famous toothpick sculpture is called Rolling Through the Bay, a kinetic sculpture which was constructed using approximately 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 37 years. Scott estimates that it took over 3,000 hours of his time to create the sculpture. The sculpture is 9 feet tall and 7 feet wide.

Wayne Kusy of Chicago is another incredible toothpick artist. I had the honor of meeting him several years ago and helping him with a toothpick art workshop at a Chicago gallery.

Wayne was inspired to start building with toothpicks in fifth grade after completing a school project using his chosen medium. Wayne started small and eventually worked his way up to building toothpick versions of ocean liner models, ranging in length from 4 feet to 25 feet. His largest toothpick sculpture is the 25 foot Queen Mary, which was made using 814,000 toothpicks and 19 gallons of Titebond II.

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Image/Video Credits:
Scott Weaver, Rolling Through the Bay via Tinkering Studio ©
Scott Weaver’s Rolling through the Bay from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo
Wayne Kusy, Work in progress, via Intuit the Center for Intuitive & Outsider Art
Wayne Kusy, Cutty Sark via Detour Art.