Architectural Sculptures

8-7-10 photo;

Earlier photos;

I am thinking about adding something in the 2 bottom corners, so those are left unfinished for now!

Update; I experimented with a raised area in each corner but decided I didn’t like how it looked afer all, so the corners are just mitered.

A bit of historical trivia, from the July, 12th, 1898 NY Times;

The new seal of the Board of Education was used for the first time yesterday.The design is an open book, resting against the torch of wisdom, and surrounded by a wreath of ivy. Around the wreath are the words: Board of Education, City of New York.”

After getting the shipment of 1000# of clay today, I started this new model of a collegiate gothic styled education symbol panel after one on Public School 27 which was demolished in 1976. PS 27 was built in 1906 and was located next door, West of the Daily News building on East 42nd st, NYC. CBJ Snyder was the architect.

The school was originally slated to be demolished in 1929, when it was only 23 years old! but the stock market crash forced plans for the site to vanish into thin air.

The model features a heavy bold frame reminiscent of the heavy frames used on large old oil paintings. Designed in collegiate gothic style, it frames the familiar education symbol’s open book, laurel leaf wreath and torch used by Universities, schools, libraries and other institutions of learning.

The symbol is used by the Board of Education, City of New York, and
this particular design is inspired by one used on PS 27, and other public schools in New York City.

FInished size of the panel should be about 23″ x 26″ and will be available in interior cast stone and concrete.
Inquiries are invited.

Here’s a series of 6 Art Deco panels made for a restored Art Deco theater in Dell Rapids, S.D. The panels will be installed in the lobby with 3 new poster display cases.

I needed to cut 4 of the panels down to fit the allotted space, an inch off the left and right sides as trimmed off.
As the theater is newly restored and cleaned, we decided a slightly toned down nickel/silver rather than my dirty nickel finish would be appropriate, “new” looking to blend with the rest, but having a toned down look with an ever so slight age.
I think they should blend in quite nicely.

When I say “interior cast stone” v/s concrete versions, sometimes this might be confusing, so I thought I would illustrait what I mean and define it.

By “interior” this can include a covered porch or entry as well as your livingroom, with this version of my work I use a variety of interior paints, stains and other media to get an aged look. These are just fine under a covered porch, sun and freezing cold doesn’t bother them at all.

However, placing an interior cast stone out in the garden, keep in mind that rain will be soaking it, snow, ice and if laid on the ground they absorb moisture. The first thing that would happen is the interior paints would come off after some time, then when the finish is gone the rain and snow goes to work on the matrix of the sculpture itself.

Below is a photo of an experiment I did placing 2 interior pieces right out on the ground in the rain and weather about 5 years ago.
The one on the left is my Public School gargoyle head No 168, as you can see the rain and wind has created an interesting aged “sandblasted” look like the rocks in the desert of Nevada or Utah;

The one on the right is a section of Art Deco panel 8B, it is in better shape, and this all took about 5 years in Midwest harsh weather to accomplish.

Exterior concrete will not do this, that is why I use concrete for exterior casts, and it gets a special acid stain FOR concrete which does not fade, or peel in the weather.

So I let clients choose, if you wish to place an interior piece outdoors for some reason, order the Old Limestone Grey finish, and maybe apply some Thompson’s water seal to it once a year, and it should do just fine for at least several years at least, more so if placed so heavy rain doesn’t pound down on it as happened to the 168 head.

But for long life, choose concrete for the garden.

I will be ordering another half ton of clay very soon after I finish some major kitchen renovations.
I will be looking again at some ideas I put aside for new models, besides a book-torch symbol panel, I may make a small version of this massive cornice from the 1918 Commodore Hotel;

The face I believe is a representation of a sun-god, it also has some familiar elements with the mouth shape that reminds me strongly of the comedy/tragedy theater mask designs. The Commodore Hotel stood on 42nd street next to Grand Central Station but was stripped to it’s steel frame and Donald Trump’s glass monstrosity of a facade replaced it in 1980.
The interior was totally gutted as well.
The cornice mask appears in a picture book on architectural ornaments. There were about 180 copper masks made, a number of them were salvaged, an unknown number were destroyed.
A residence sized reduced scale version of this would be very interesting and dramatic looking on the wall. The cost would be quite affordable, and I would use my old green patina finish for this which I used many years ago, maybe with a minor updating to it ,I think it would look stunning.

Commodore hotel page

These were made in sections and riveted and soldered together.
Each mask was made in multiple pieces stamped out on a large pressing machine. The pieces were made by creating steel plates, a positive and a negative plate for the design, which meshed together but leaving a slight space between them in the design area. When the copper sheets were placed on the press between the plates, many tons of pressure were applied and the soft copper was forced into the shape and design.
Removed from the bed plate and trimmed to size and shape, each piece was hand assembled into the mask and the masks riveted and soldered to the backing sections.
Although it could technically be done, it would be all but impossible to produce these today due to the extremely prohibitive costs involved in producing the multiple pairs of steel plates required!

Some idea of how it’s done can be seen here;