6th Annual Sculpture On The Lawn 2021 (Orange County Government)
By Indy Mcnalist / March 3, 2021
The 6th Annual Sculpture on the Lawn was a virtual event that took place on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Terry Olsen, the Director of Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs kicked off the event with an introduction to how each sculpture was installed.
We learned that during the past six years, Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs has put out call to artists for four large sculptures to be displayed each on 12-by-12 foot cement slabs in front of the Orange County Administration Center. One day out of the year, sculptures that are currently on display are removed and exchanged for the next set of artist’s sculptures that are put on display for public viewing.
First Sculpture
The first sculpture presented to us virtual viewers was Got Juice?, a hand on two legs, holding an orange. The sculptor of this piece, Stephen T. Landis is from Loveland, Colorado. Stephen was in the hospital with Covid-19 at the time the sculpture was suppose to be transported to Orlando, Florida. Terry updated the audience during the presentation to let us know that the sculptor did survive and recovered well from Corona.
Once the artist recovered, he put his amazing artwork into a trailer and started heading to Florida. He eventually received a phone call that he had to evacuate his house due to wildfires, which caused a delay in getting his sculpture transported to Orlando. Thankfully, his home was spared from the disaster. Afterwards, he started back on his journey to Orlando. When he arrived to Orlando, Florida, the orange fell off the sculpture. The substrate and surface separated on the sculpture due to the changing altitude from Colorado to Florida. As a truly skilled artist, Stephen did not let this obstacle stay in his way as he successfully brought his sculpture back to its original look. It is now up for public viewing at the Orange County Administration Center. Hearing Stephen’s story is pure inspiration to never quit and we greatly admire his persistence and creativity. His sculpture is made from concrete, steel and fiberglass.
Sculpture is available for purchase. Please contact the artist at stephentlandis@yahoo.com.
Second Sculpture
The second sculpture presented was I Went to See by J. Aaron Alderman based out of Brevard, North Carolina. It is a sculpture of a person in a boat with oars holding the boat up with the person in it. This piece gives viewers a sense of being underwater from the fishes point of view.
How cool! The formation of the person in the boat was formed with steel rods and copper was used to form the hands.
The artist, J. Aaron Alderman shared with the audience that isolation and introspection were the main focal points for the creation of this fantastic sculpture. As the person is in the boat on their journey facing the wrong way, not rowing the boat, it could be seen as either the boat is leading the person or the current is taking the person wherever they want to go. This sculpture can be purchased by contacting the artist at aldermanja@hotmail.com.
Third Sculpture
The third sculpture presented was Gaia (pronounced guy-uh) by Donald Gialanella from St. Petersburg, Florida.
Donald has had his sculptures presented at Sculpture on the Lawn, three out of six years that the program has been active. His sculptures are made from found objects. The sculpture presented was made with pieces of metal like bowls and other found metal objects, put together like a birds nest. The artist named this unique work of art Gaia as this name means mother. In the presentation, Donald lets the audience know that his inspiration behind this sculpture was his childhood fascination with seeing the news of Gutzon Borglum carving Mount Rushmore of human faces at a large scale, which is something that Donald always aspired to do and so Gaia was born. This sculpture can be purchased by emailing the artist at livesteel@gmail.com.
Fourth Sculpture
The fourth sculpture presented is called Unity. This sculpture came all the way from the Ukraine and this is the first sculpture to be received by the Orange County Sculpture on the Lawn program from an international country. The sculpture was created by twin brother artists named, Egor Zigura and Nikita Zigura.
This sculpture was created from stainless steel and focuses on the aspect of identity formation with the fusing of male and female energy.
Sculpture can be purchased by contacting the artists at abramovychart.info@gmail.com
To see these amazing sculptures in person, visit the Orange County Administration Center at 201 S Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL 32801.
If you would like to watch the full presentation that includes the question and answer with all the artists, press play in the video below:
This event was hosted by Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs.