A few years ago the Ronald McDonald House in Jacksonville, FL aquired my Circle of Peace sculpture to have at their building facilities. Joy Hardaker, the Executive Director, sent us a couple photos of the sculpture and had this to say about the sculpture, “Our statue is right out front of our Ronald McDonald House and it really makes quite a statement that we are about children, first and foremost. Volunteers and children love to pose for photos there and we have used photos to promote our Children’s Legacy Fund endowment to be sure that the program is supported into perpetuity. It is almost as valuable as our logo in identifying our building and our mission.”

I am so happy my sculptures can be used to promote such a wonderful mission as the Ronald McDonald House! Click here to link to their site and learn more about

what they do.

Saturday we had quite the rainstorm for most of the day. I love the rain. I love the sound it makes as it hits the roof as well as the ground. I love how it fluctuates between a light falling to sudden heavy downpour. During those downpour moments it is reminiscent of the sound of horses running. With the rain my mind reflects upon the words of a song that my children learned in church that says “I want my life to be as clean as Earth right after rain…” After the deluge of water we received, the earth did feel clean again.
Well, regardless of your or my religious views and ideas, the message of Easter is such a great one; one of renewal, redemption, and a chance of making life better. I hope you all had a great Easter Weekend!

After discussing the art in public places opportunities in McMinnville, OR, we were lucky enough to have 2 sculptures placed out there for a year. My Dreams sculpture (a girls reading atop a stack of books) is in front of the library and Ben Franklin has been installed in the plaza of the 3rd Street historic area downtown. The citizens of McMinnville are raising funds to be able to keep these sculptures in the city.

Bill Miller, an awesome photographer, took some shots of these 2 sculptures for us. The library director told me that during the cold snap that they had a couple months ago, they showed up to the library to find an anonymous individual had lovingly wrapped a scarf around the sculpture. Isn’t that cool to see that people are so attached to the sculpture?!

Bill took these shots of Ben Franklin over a 30 minute period to show how many people interact with the sculpture. Ben, you’re pretty popular with the ladies and younger crowd! The large group was a tour by an art professor on the subject of public artworks. They were able to use Ben in his lecture. I hope that the citizens can raise enough funds to keep both sculptures in McMinnville.

As I mentioned, my good buddy, Dan, has been working hard on the point up of Mr. Niswonger. He has created the armature, added the foam to build up the bulk, added clay and sculpted it to the point where I now need to spend time working on it. There is a good feel of action and movement to the piece that I like. And I was so happy that they asked that his dog be part of the sculpture, too.
As soon as I finish my sculpting we will start the molding process. I will keep you updated on how that goes.
By the way, beautiful spring weather today! We have had to deal with some cold, winter snowstorms the last week and a 1/2, so when we have a couple days in the 60’s it is time to celebrate! I am happy that I can go for walks outside and not shiver. Buds on the trees, daffodils showing, lawns  greening up, and Robbins  everywhere! I love it.

One of the employees at work had a friend visiting from Germany. She brought, at his request, a delicious confectionery called Mozartkugeln. In Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Mozart, the candy is famous for being hand rolled into perfect round balls then packaged in the famous blue wrapper to the delight of the local residence and tourists. The Furst company started the original recipe of green pistachio marzipan inside of a layer of nougat. This is then dipped in dark chocolate and rolled into a ball. Oooh, yum! Well, other companies now make them, still delicious, and that what was brought to my employee.

What is also impressive is the packaging. Not only is the box beautiful, but look at the candies inside! Each one is wrapped then placed in the package so that Mozart’s image is facing up. Wow! You almost feel guilty eating them… almost.

Maybe I ought to sculpt a bust of Mozart and see if Furst will do a trade!

I feel so blessed to have my sculptures in a few different hospitals across the country. One that I am so excited about is at the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI. Their facility is incredible. Cick here for a link to see some of what they have going on there to help the children during their stay at the hospital. You can see my sculpture of 3 children  holding hands in a circle in front of the lighthouse. What an amazing place! I hope for health and healing for the children.

Years ago the Skiff Medical Center in Iowa acquired my Cartwheel Kids sculpture to have out in front of the facility. I just came across their website and they have a beautiful picture of the sculpture right on their homepage. Click Here to see it!

I am always so happy to see my sculptures in their new settings. I hope the Cartwheel Kids have been accepted there at Skiff.

Check out the Homepage for the city of McMinnville, OR. What a beautiful shot! And, hey… that’s my sculpture Dreams on the left. Click Here to see.

It has been so fun to have my buddy Dan Hildreth back in the studio helping with my latest commissioned project. Dan is an extremely talented sculptor with many beautiful sculptures of his own. He is the best point-up man in the business, bar none, and I feel blessed to have him as my helper and friend.
Dan is also inspirational because he has worked so hard and has lost a lot of weight! And he has been hitting the weights- his arms are huge. In his typical joking fashion he asked if his arms are so huge that you wouldn’t want to mess wit him at Wal Mart. I will need to get a picture of him both working on the sculpture and flexing!

Back in the early 1990’s the TV show Northern Exposure began. There was an episode that plays in my mind of how an already quirky town in Alaska gets even weirder; tensions build between characters, and nature, and it’s all due to the anticipation of hearing the ice crack or the final signal that Spring Has Sprung. And once the ice cracked and the signal was given, everyone’s tensions, funkiness, and added problems disappeared.
I found that I have been sort of in that mode; anticipation, tension, longing, and just a general tense feeling and state of mind. With Spring comes renewal of life, new beginnings, new opportunities. I think, maybe, that just to say “Winter is Over” helps the psyche. I have seen signs for a week or two that we were close- the Daffodils were popping up! Weather has fluctuated with beautiful days in the 60’s. Daylight savings, though I am not a fan, giving us more light later in the day. Even seeing weeds covering the ground was a tell-tale sign. Whatever the case, it is a great day and to actually know that officially winter is over. I am sure happy to say “Spring Has Sprung!”