Harris Gardens

Steven Derks' art career began in the late 1980s while vacationing in Mexico. Seeking to help a remote Tarahumara tribal cooperative sell their drums in the United States he began decorating the drums with abstract patterns inspired by cultures of the southwestern United States. Finding initial success with the drum sales, Derks attempted to build display stands for the drums. Thus began his sculpture career. Derks now creates abstract sculptures using materials he collects from local junk yards in his home town of Tucson, Arizona.

Finding and collecting curiosities in thrift stores and junk yards is a life-long preoccupation and a passionate experience for Derks. Three or four times a month he visits one of Tucson’s four junkyards, looking at the forlorn piles of bent, twisted and rusted metal.

Most of his sculptures are conceived in the scrap metals yards where he finds both the vision and the ingredients for his work. Derks says: I just see a piece of metal and immediately imagine the completed sculpture it suggests. Most of the time, during one visit, I am able to locate all of the actual metal parts that will be necessary to complete many sculptures, but occasionally an exciting piece of rusted metal will languish in my studio yard for months, waiting for the day I will find the piece or pieces that are missing. In recent years, he has also become known for his large abstract paintings.

In 1991, while displaying large kinetic sculptures at the Aspen Art Museum, a storm brought strong winds to the area. As the sculptures began to respond, a crowd gathered, mesmerized by the rhythmic movements of this art form. That experience has fueled Mark White’s continued fascination and ongoing passion with kinetic art.

His sculptures are designed to encourage, facilitate and enhance meditation. They play with optical illusion, rhythm and cadence created by motions of repetitive pattern, hypnotic in light winds, pulsating in stronger winds. Sculptures are made with stainless steel structural elements and copper blades. They are precisely balanced to respond to extremely light winds yet strong enough to withstand 100 m.p.h. winds. They are mounted on powder coated steel poles which are easily installed in the ground.

Developed by the artist after many years of experimentation, each finish is a unique patina that is multi-layered, semi-transparent and rich in color. It is applied using a hot process which binds the color to the metal. The finish on this outdoor sculpture is applied in multiple layers and contains the best ultraviolet and corrosion inhibitors available, providing the best possible long-term protection. Health warning: extended viewing may cause extreme relaxation and bouts of pleasant daydreaming.

George Gulli, Jr. is a second generation carver. The Gulli carving tradition had its early beginnings in the stone quarries of Italy, where George Gulli, Jr.’s grandfather was a stone carver.

George Sr. started carving while living in California – his medium was wood. He and his wife moved to Montana and in 1993; George Jr. and his family also made the move to Big Sky Country where George began learning the art of totem carving from his father. Thus the business of Gulli & Son Totem Poles was born.

The senior Gulli passed away in 2000, but George Jr. continues the tradition of carving taught to him by his father. Gulli adheres to the style and traditions of the native inspired art of totem carving. Each totem pole is an original piece of totemic art.

Dale Rogers takes pleasure in creating work that inspires the public to think about the world differently.

He strives to create work that is thought-provoking, sophisticated, easily recognized and serves as a mental postcard. He believes in simple truths and enduring value. His work is an exercise in blending graceful, organic style with contemporary flair.

His art, sometimes referred to as American Art, is described as sophisticated, thought-provoking and sometimes, humorous. He works with stainless steel and Cor-ten steel, which offer the flexibility to design creative, high quality and textural pieces that will last for a lifetime.

Carol Fleming lives and works in Ladue, Missouri, in a studio of 800 square feet, with ceiling heights up to 21 feet. She specializes in creating arches, columns, eggs and site-specific projects for public buildings and universities.

Fleming says, “The columns possess an upward reaching nature. Their strength appears to power ever taller into the sky. Fleming has expanded their girth over the years, and now each column averages 200 pounds of stoneware clay. They are fired in a gas kiln to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The firing fuses the clay to be comfortable in all weather. The columns are often installed outdoors (like at NCMC) where they posture like trees and give lifelike companionship to rocks and plants in the garden.

Fleming usually works with a specific landscape in mind, incorporating the needs of the client’s site.In contrast to the square slab-built columns, she also takes ropes of clay and coil them into egg forms on which she leaves her thumb prints showing. The eggs express the soft, comforting feminine presence of clay in the struggle for a meaningful life.

Like the Hobbit’s keyless box, the egg suggests a ‘golden treasure inside hid.’ What will come hatching out, what renewed faith will spring hope eternal in our human breast?”

Vilona began his sculpting career after college in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1978. His works have been created using natural stone materials and have gravitated to more fluid metals, to include bronze and steel sculpting. He and his wife have also designed fine jewelry in both New York and Brazil.

His bronze and stainless steel sculptures celebrate life, interpret underlying joy in the world, and his artistic goal is to convey these emotions to the observer. His focus is to create work the viewer will never tire of enjoying; work that create a permanent sculptural landscape.  Owning his own foundry has given Vilona limitless opportunities both with his own sculpture and the ability to create custom and site specific works for collectors.

Vilona says, “I am passionate about creating communication within each piece of sculpture. I love mixing contemporary and organic shapes into art that can have direct communication through contact with the artwork.”

Vilona’s bronze sculpture is collected and placed with both private and corporate collections, municipalities, airports and museums, designers, architects and developers. His large scale pieces are perfect for creating a prestigious and harmonious environment while creating the perfect statement of artistic dialogue.

Gino’s work combines in a contemporary context his love and energy, both for the classical figure and objects found in nature. Often, using only parts of the figures reminiscent of the fragments of ancient cultures allows his work to be conceived in a timeless attention to form.

In fall 2003, he opened Sculpture 619, a gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

Melanie Yazzie is talented as a sculptor, painter and printmaker.

She is a university professor who teaches two-dimensional art and is much sought after as an informative and insightful lecturer. She often takes part in collaborative art projects with indigenous artists in New Zealand, Siberia, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Japan, and in addition to teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the College of Santa Fe, University of Arizona, and now at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  Yazzie has also conducted classes at the Pont-Aven School of Art in France.

Of her journeys, she says, “It’s at these gatherings and traveling from place to place that fuels my work and revitalizes my spirit!  My work speaks about travel and transformation. The insects and bugs of the Tucson desert have inspired me within the past two years to make many prints. I also use images or symbols from different places I have been to. For example, I made a series of prints speaking about Hawaii, using images of flowers and seed pods symbolizing growth and coffee beans symbolizing morning beginnings."

Mobius Bench is part of Vilona’s contribution to the Public Seating Project, which places artistic bronze work in public spaces. It invites the public to sit down, relax, reflect and interact with its collection of bronze functional art. Vilona says, “My objective for functional art is to make work that will fulfill the environmental spaces in appropriateness of setting and function.”

Vilona works in bronze and stainless steel. His abstract and interpretive style captures movement with beauty and grace through these metals. He blends contemporary, organic and abstract shapes into art. He has his own bronze casting business for his works.

Vilona’s bronze sculpture is collected and placed with both private and corporate collections, municipalities, airports and museums, designers, architects and developers. His large scale pieces are perfect for creating a prestigious and harmonious environment while creating the perfect statement of artistic dialogue.

Jim Vilona began his sculpting career after college in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1978. His works have been created using natural stone materials and have gravitated to more fluid metals, to include Bronze and steel sculpting. He and his wife have also designed fine jewelry in New York and Brazil.

Jorge Blanco is a Venezuelan-American artist. He has a degree in Industrial Design from the Neumann Institute of Design of Caracas. In the late 1970s he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy. During the past 30 years, Jorge has developed distinguished careers as a sculptor, graphic designer, satirist and illustrator.

Blanco’s sculptures are a combination of precision and exhilaration, of discipline and liberty. His skill is obvious in the sweeping and lyrical graphic lines of his sculptures. To the casual observer, his work might look spontaneous, but it is achieved through a thoughtful and carefully studied geometric process. His visual language is one of positivism, and his sculptures can be read as icons or symbols.

Since 1999, he lives and works in Sarasota, Florida. He was featured in Florida International Magazine as a creative individual who helps make Florida a destination with unlimited potential.

Jorge has directed his efforts to the creation of public art, convinced that through works that are vibrant and full of optimism, he can contribute to the cultural development of our communities. Jorge has successfully installed large-scale works in different public and private sites. His sculptures are in private collections worldwide.

Jim Vilona began his sculpting career after college in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1978. His works have been created using natural stone materials and have gravitated to more fluid metals, to include Bronze and steel sculpting.  Echo is made of powder-coated stainless steel.

"I love using a blend of mediums as my passion for change dictates," Vilona said.  "When I bend metal or pour a casting it gives me great pleasure to see what the fluid metal will do with my ideas.  I love working with rich woods and bronze and have created beautiful functional designs with both elements blended into design."

Jim is currently using bronze to showcase natural mineral specimens and has found the marriage of materials most exciting.

"Using what I have learned in metalsmithing together with my passion for natural minerals has given me inspiration to see where I can take my work," he said.

Jim works with fine galleries nationwide, and his bronze sculpture can be seen in the Time Warner Center in New York City, Art Quest in Marco Island, Florida, River Walk in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Tyson's Galleria in McLean, Virginia.

Vilona has two other works in the Jack Harris Gardens: "Northern Lights" and "Mobius Bench."

Think for a moment about the similes we choose to describe the strength and grit of horses. We also measure our machines by equine standards. Horses often seem like divine works of sculpture, as if made of the strongest metal turned fluid, miraculously springing to life.

Those links we imagine between horse, metal and machine may explain why Oregon sculptor Dixie Jewett’s equine sculptures seem so perfectly right, despite how undeniably eclectic and strange their constructions may appear on close inspection.

Her steeds are usually life-sized, and are composed of materials ranging from auto parts and farm equipment to baling wire, railroad spikes and broken tools. Held together with sturdy steel frameworks and assembled with the painstaking detail of intricate three-dimensional puzzles, these steeds are a result of the artist’s love of horses and her background in Montana.

She began sculpting horses 14 years ago.  Using a soapstone sketch on the cement floor, she welds steel tubing to create the steed’s interior. Then, using her own horses as models for the musculature, she begins adding the bits and pieces of metal she’s collected from garage sales, scrap yards and farm auctions. The entire process, she explains, is a little bit planned, a little bit intuitive.

“I start at the nose and just work aft. It is pretty much like building airplanes. You have this frame, and then it’s fleshed out," Jewett said.

Lisa and Phillip are self-taught artists with creative backgrounds. Phillip, formerly an award winning jeweler, and Lisa, in retail design, work side by side creating their kinetic sculptures.

Their spellbinding kinetic wind sculptures are both exhilarating and serene. While interacting with the wind, these sculptures called Art4Wind will capture your attention and awaken your curiosity.

Their studio includes custom machining capabilities where they engineer and produce prototype style mechanisms. They form, solder and weld to produce a solid, long lasting sculpture. Their current body of work utilizes copper, brass, bronze and glass. They have developed a patina process which adds a variegated finish to the copper and is unique to each sculpture.

Already nationally recognized and award-winning metal sculptors, Lisa and Phillip have recently been presented with a United States Utility Patent, doing special designs and installations for major utility companies.

Inventing a new mechanism and creating extraordinary designs are only two of the elements that set these wind sculptors apart. Utilizing a well-equipped studio, the self-taught techniques the couple uses result in highly textured, aesthetically pleasing copper wind sculptures which range from whimsical to abstract to sci-fi.

Always interested in form, Jeff found sculpture to be a rewarding path. The satisfaction of working with his hands to create a beautiful line—a form from raw steel—gave life meaning.

His work began with stylized forms representative of the Native Americans. With his sculpture, he endeavored to honor this mystical and spiritual culture and in the process, remember his connection with spirit.

As he has gained experience in his medium and confidence in his own artistic expression, Jeff found his creative process branching into conceptual art. He uses his work to express emotion, to connect with the viewer, and to express the joy of creating.

Currently working in stainless steel, bronze, and copper, he creates work recognized for its simple elegance and flowing lines of light. Many works utilize negative space and color to draw the viewer in, letting interpretation be determined by the viewer’s own experiences. Wheel of Time is stainless steel with colored glass and stands 88 inches high.

A lifelong resident of Loveland, Colorado, Mark Leichliter apprenticed with Dan Ostermiller and Kent Ullberg. In 1994, he began sculpting full time and has since participated in a number of juried shows including "Sculpture in the Park" in Loveland, Colorado.

Leichliter uses a collaborative working model, allowing input from many sources to incorporate a multitude of means of producing artwork. The result is one where the line between artist, client, and audience is blurred and the sense of accomplishment is shared by all.

The materials Leichliter uses are very important to him. Until recently, he operated under the assumption that to fully honor the beauty of each particular material, it was necessary to utilize only one type in each piece. He then realized that the interplay created between different substances can serve to underline and accentuate each material’s intrinsic qualities. Thus in new pieces, he tries to juxtapose vastly different natural elements into forms cohesive enough to convey a unified idea.

"Interdependence" is powder-coated steel, crafted on the wood lathe. The symmetry of the lathe-turned shapes enhances the viewer’s experience of the pristine beauty that lies within common, unadorned objects.

A 16-foot version of this statue is installed at the Little Rock, Arkansas, airport.

Simplicity is primary in Carol Gold's continuous search for forms with which to best express the essence of motion and mood.

Using wax as her creative medium, she strives to communicate her feelings about nature and human character through her figures and animals. Balance and human interaction are recurrent themes in her sculptures.

Carol's work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and Canada. Among numerous awards are those received from the National Sculpture Society and the North American Sculpture Exhibition. Public commissions include sculptures for the City of Bakersfield, CA, Benson Park, Loveland, CO and the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

James Russell began his education in a community college in Torrance, California. He transferred to California State University at Long Beach, ultimately obtaining his master of arts in sculpture and his master of fine arts in monumental sculpture.

Russell has sculpture in both corporate and private collections, and has handled national, state, corporate and private commissions. Elegantly crafted, fastidiously polished, his monumental sculptures are ribbons of steel gracefully arching and twirling in space. Through the reflective surface of his sculptures, the environment becomes its own mirror image, thus unifying the sculpture and the environment.

Russell combines the skills of sculptor, engineer and architect when he designs and installs his sculptures. He utilizes over 30 years of extensive experience collaborating to create site-specific sculptures from foundation through installation.

Russell’s clients include national, state, corporate and private collections, including a major sculpture in Beijing, China. These innovative and durable sculptures range in size from wall reliefs to gallery to fountain to monumental. Polished stainless steel resists corrosion, remaining beautiful with minimal maintenance.

The shape and form of animal shapes, body parts, postures, symbols and vessels are recurring themes in Matt Gil’s sculptures. His strong stylized pieces are shaped in bronze, aluminum or stainless steel. His sculptures are an on-going dialogue with the elegance and economy of line reminiscent of the turn-of-the-century early modernists.

"Catsuit" is aluminum stainless steel, powder-coated red orange. It stands 10 feet tall.

Gil was born in San Jose, California and educated at San Jose State University.

In 2005, he was the artist in residence at Kunststiftung Lutz Ackermann in Gaufelden-Nebringen, Germany.

Dale Rogers believes in simple truths and enduring value. His work in stainless and Cor-ten steel is an exercise in blending graceful, organic style with contemporary flair.

His art, sometimes referred to as American Art, is described as sophisticated, thought-provoking and humorous. From his early beginnings repairing metal farm equipment, he developed a passion for art and began welding full-time in 2002. The process for creating the art takes about six months from conception to completion.

His work includes sculptures for home and garden, all of which are on display at fine galleries throughout the U.S. and are included in exclusive private and corporate collections.

Dale Rogers takes pleasure in creating work that inspires the public to think about the world differently. His strength is in creating thought-provoking work that is sophisticated, easily recognized and serves as a "mental postcard." The contemporary curves of his pieces convey a feeling of graceful motion and at the same time, a sense of tranquility.

Rogers launched a traveling three-state exhibit of his unique 8-foot high by 10-foot-long "American Dog" sculptures. Residents and visitors encountered a gathering of 20 compelling, larger-than-life "American Dog" sculptures that are accessible to everyone.

This is part of Roger’s broader vision to launch a 100-dog traveling exhibition through eight major U.S. cities in partnership with a growing roster of corporate and nonprofit sponsors.

Hanneke Beaumont was born in Maastricht, The Netherlands, in 1947. After studying dentistry in the United States, she moved back to Europe, to Belgium, where she still lives today.

Beaumont started her artistic studies in 1977 at the Académie de Braine l'Alleud, then at La Cambre & in Anderlecht; she received her first solo exhibition in 1983. Hanneke currently works in Brussels and in Pietra Santa, Italy.

An important turn in her career happened in 1994 when she was awarded the major award of the Centre International d'Art Contemporain Château Beychevelle for her sculpture group "Le Courage." Shortly after, she participated in the second Exposiciòn Internacional de Esculturas en la Calle, organized by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Canarias in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where her work was permanently installed.

Many other public and private collectors have manifested great interest in her work. She now enjoys an international reputation with exhibitions in the US, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Beaumont's sculptures are realized in terracotta, bronze and cast iron. “Man” is one of eight sculptures in terracotta and bronze, on a rusted steel base.

The elements of Rob Lorenson’s work exist in suspended animation. They are situated as though to freeze a moment in time in which they exist effortlessly in space.

"The Grand Princess" is constructed of aluminum painted yellow. It is nine feet tall. It has boldness and exactness that is inspired by the martial arts where grace and precision are practiced until they are effortless.

Lorenson lives in Middleboro, Massachusetts, and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from Northern Illinois University.

Dale Rogers believes in simple truths and enduring value. His work in stainless and Cor-ten steel is an exercise in blending graceful, organic style with contemporary flair.

From his early beginnings repairing metal farm equipment, he developed a passion for art and began welding full-time in 2002. The process for creating the art takes about six months from conception to completion.

Dale Rogers takes pleasure in creating work that inspires the public to think about the world differently. His strength is in creating thought-provoking work that is sophisticated, easily recognized and serves as a "mental postcard." The contemporary curves of his pieces convey a feeling of graceful motion and at the same time, a sense of tranquility.

"The Hand" is the third rusted steel sculpture by Dale Rogers at North Central Michigan College.

Abstract expressionism, modernism and monumentalist experimental art have influenced the work of this contemporary sculptor.

Kishel's sculptures have the look and feel of floating forms, virtual weightlessness. Kishel gravitates to aluminum as his preferred material. His creations are unique original artistic expressions that are both easy to live with as well as environmentally friendly to our planet.

Kishel was born in Muncie, Indiana. His father, a high-school art teacher, taught him to appreciate nature, express himself in art. He came to love sculpture, especially welded metal sculpture, early in life.

Kishel now lives in the Carolinas.

Intrigued by the Japanese culture, the Horns capture the ancient art of Kanji in contemporary form, creating sculpture that embodies synergy.

Each piece is a one-of-a-kind stylized representation, hand formed out of sheet bronze and stainless steel. Casey Horn contemporizes the two-dimensional art form of calligraphy into three-dimensional sculptures. Skillfully and brilliantly communicating the human emotion behind the ancient art form, Casey enhances his bronze creations with accents, colors and textures that outwardly express each character’s insightful meaning.

With more than 20 years of sculpting experience, Casey has worked on both public and private collections.  His desire is to create sculpture that moves the viewer from a state of curiosity to discovery.

Kendra Fleishman is a professional sculptor and Colorado native. Her monumental bronze sculptures are included in public and private collections across the United States.

In Colorado, you can see her work outside the black box theater at the Arvada Center in Arvada, at the Lakewood Cultural Center in Lakewood, on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, and in Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland.

She has experience working in carving stone, casting bronze, ceramics, jewelry and video. Mrs. Fleischman comes from the Jefferson County Public Schools, where she was an arts educator for more than 10 years.