the franconia blog

Below is a little something I wrote for the Franconia Sculpture Park blog. Bridget Beck (click her name to see her awesome work!) writes a fantastic blog for the park in which she talks about all things sculpture, not ONLY the on-goings at the park. The blog includes poetry, pictures, definitions, philosophy, and musings of all kind. I recommend checking it out!

 click HERE to see more images of what I made at the park

Here's what I had to day about my time at the park...

“Last June, completely unaware of what was in store, I packed up my Jeep and headed up to the odd place we all know and love, Franconia Sculpture Park. An “Intern Artist Fellowship” seemed like a great way to spend a summer. I thought, “why not?” I was intrigued by the expanse of the place and was invigorated by the thought that I would finally get the chance to make a sculpture without the bounds of pesky doorways and stairwells often encountered in traditional art-viewing institutions.

Upon prepping for my stay, I emailed John Hock with some questions concerning my plans for a very large and very likely overly-ambitious project and his response was this… “We have space. Ambition is good.” And I came to realize, soon after arriving, that this is a widespread theme at Franconia, an anthem of sorts, attesting to the “anything is possible” kind of optimism that is ever-present at the park.So yea, I made a really huge sculpture… but what else is new?

What’s great about Franconia is that I wasn’t the only one doing big things. At Franconia, I was surrounded (and I mean SURROUNDED) by talent and ambition that I had never before experienced. It was the first time I ever spent a length of time with REAL artists, at various stages of their careers, and I learned a great deal about what a future as an artist (particularly a sculptor) might entail. I picked brains for advice and learned much about opportunities that I never knew existed.

The Franconia family (network) is never-ending it seems. It really is a small, small world we sculptors live in. The contacts I made last summer (in addition to the sculpture I made) have proven to be quite valuable in my minimal professional development thus far. Exhibitions, grants, magazine articles, and grad school offers have all followed my summer spent at FSP. Every young sculptor ought to spend some time in a place like Franconia. It should be a requirement.”

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the blog!