Guest Blog: Public Art project by Bill Boettcher

At the brilliant suggestion of Alyson Stanfield of http://www.artbizcoach.com/, we are beginning to have guest blogs by OVAC Members.

OVAC Member Bill Boetcher's artwork was found on the OVAC Virtual Gallery by the American Choral Directors Association who commissioned him to create at three part piece. The sculptures were just installed last week! Below are his comments about the piece. You can also read more about him and the project in two articles recently in The Oklahoman and Norman Transcript.

"Let me start by saying that this three part piece was created from a 9 foot tall piece of 24 inch diameter mild steel pipe. The concavity is painted with Hammerite "hammered metal gold", the convexity is painted with Hammerite "flat black". The bases for the two directors are painted with Hammerite "hammered metal black". The female director is six feet tall at the head and sits on a 10 inch high piece of gray, polished granite. She stands in the arrium of the American Choral Directors Association's building on Couch Drive. The male directors is 6" 3" tall at the head and is on a 12" high piece of granite, at the entrance to the building. The 9' tall piece of pipe is in the courtyard. I call the two "figures" or directors the positives; they are cut out of the pipe and stand on their own. The pipe contains the "negatives", the space left after the positives have been removed. This is perhaps the more interesting aspect of this type of sculpture. When you look directly at one of the spaces you see day light from the other side. However, if you move slightly to the side you see the contrasting gold form of the other figure. Somewhat like the "bull wall" up in Kansas City.

I love the idea of cutting somewhat impressionist human forms out of pipe because it combines the dynamic of the pose and the dynamic of the convexity/concavity. The pipe that is left creates a series of negative spaces allowing light through, creating shadows with light catching edges. I'm also cutting organic forms out of pvc pipe, but I'll leave that for tomorrow; this is long enough."