ArtPrize: The Story of Rain, Chapter 4; Help!

I only had one month to work on this sculpture. My venue was established and there was just enough money saved to pay for all of the materials. But there was only one month to the deadline when the artwork would be unveiled: a realistic/impressionistic, life sized sculpture of a young woman standing. How was this going to happen? Where would I get the energy, the skill, the guts to get it done?

I prayed, Ann prayed and I am sure there were others praying too. Over 20 people came to my rescue during the 30 days. I had no idea it would take this much effort to accomplish the goal.

2 Assistant artists: Ann Bjorlie and Miriel Williams assisted in making the casts and applying the 'goop'.
(more on 'goop' later)

3 Photographers: Robert Pearson who does wonderful nature photography and Kathy and Jenifer
Barton, sisters who work together and do beautiful action shots.

2 Consultants: Paul Evans is an all around nice guy artist who knows a lot about structure using plastics and metal and Brian from Michigan Foam who was a great connection for info on materials and equipment.


Link to: MARY FREE BED REHABILITATION HOSPITAL


2 Public Relations Coordinators: Meg Duhrer and Darci Luykt from Mary Free Bed helped with mailing and scheduling special events.


3 Models: Emily Donahue was the primary model and gets all the credit but Danni Donahue, my daughter-in-law stopped by one day and agreed to model for awhile. Ruthie Garcia also helped out a lot because Emily decided not to have her face cast and Ruthie who had no idea what she was getting into stepped in.

2 Cooks: Mrs. Barton who brought the best burritos ever and my husband, Tim,  who can always be counted on for fast food delivery.

8 brawny men to move the sculpture and place it in the exhibit location at Mary Free Bed. At least 4 guys from the staff at Mary Free Bed helped along with my brother John Bjorlie.
Curt Veenstra and two of his sons helped to install the final bronze sculpture after ArtPrize was over.

Now I was really stuck. There was no way I could back out of this corner and the days were clicking by.  The foam was not working out and I had to insert an armature to hold the whole thing together. The armature should have been built before I even started but now I was working backwards.


I figured out a way to stabilize the structure with Paul Evan's help  but I would have to rely on castings for the hands, feet and face because of the foam. This was challenging and fun. The garage door was always open because the September weather was beautiful. 


Now it was time for the 'goop'.