Home  About Us Gallery News Artists & Farmers Tip Hats to Corn
|
Artists & Farmers Tip Hats to Corn |
BY PHIL HARTMAN
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Sculptor Howard Ruso with his work.
All
things corn were celebrated Saturday at a grain company west of Mount
Morris - such as a four-foot four-inch tall kernel-covered sphere made
of bronze.
"Cornball," the third statue from the Community Art
Legacy Program of Ogle County, was unveiled Saturday at Bocker Grain,
which hosted the "Corn Ball" event to show off the piece with dancers,
a scoop shovel drill team and many other events.
Howard Russo, a
professor of visual art from Elgin Community College, designed the
sculpture, while the statue was cast by Jeff Adams of inBronze Foundry
in Mount Morris, who cast the first two sculptures in the Community Art
Legacy program.
"It is just truly beyond my expectations," Russo
said after the 750-pound statue was brought out on a trailer pulled by
a tractor.
Doug Wean, outgoing executive director of the legacy
program and the Fields Project, said the objective of the program is to
place 10 sculptures in Oregon during 10 years.
The program
started in 2005 with "From My Waters Come My Boundaries," a human form
incorporated with that of a fish, by Ray Kobald of St. Charles. It was
placed above the dam at Kiwanis Park in Oregon. In 2006, "Agriculture,
Mother of Civilization," by David Seagraves of Elizabeth, was placed at
the Ogle County Judicial Center.
"Cornball" started about a year ago, Russo said.
"I
enjoy working with spheres. 'Cornball' popped into my mind," Russo
said, speaking about the design process as his wife, Kerrie, and
4-year-old son Joe stood nearby.
The casting process started with a wax model of one segment of the kernel-covered sphere, Adams said.
"We made a ceramic mold around that, and the wax was burned out. The brass was then poured into the ceramic," Adams said.
The
statue was made in 48 pieces, which were then welded into 16 segments
before being completed, Adams said. He declined to reveal exactly where
the statue will be placed in Oregon, saying that it would be somewhere
in the downtown.
Many different aspects of corn were honored
during the festivities leading up to the statue's unveiling. Food
products using corn were displayed in the "Taste of Corn" area, while
tours were given of the Bocker facilities and area agricultural
businesses displayed their products.
Six members of Perceptual
Motion Dance Company from Chicago - women from the ages of 23 to 87 -
performed "Corn Fed," a dance piece inspired by a mixed-media visual
artwork of the same name. The artwork was created by Catherine
Schwalbe-Bouzide of Chicago, a participant in Ogle County's Fields
Project, who served as the emcee for the festivities.
The
dancers were dressed in costumes partially made from feed sacks, and
moved to a spoken-word track written by Shook with some text by Betty
Fussell, writer of the book "The Story of Corn."
"Betty and Richard Adams, with the Fields Project, invited us," Shook said before the group performed for the first time.
Local
talent also performed, with a drill team made up of Bocker family,
friends and customers dressed alike in blue jean shorts with yellow and
green socks, carrying scoop shovels. The drill team members have
appeared in area parades, said Judy Bocker, wife of Bocker Grain owner
Gary Bocker.
"We saw a lawn chair brigade perform in downtown Chicago," Judy Bocker said. That inspired formation of their own drill team.
The
team started practicing in the spring, and have appeared in parades at
Polo, Mount Morris and Dixon. Their drill chant began, "We are Bocker
Grain and corn is our game!"
Also honored was Harry Nurmet, a
long-time Oregon resident and painter who founded the Eagle's Nest Art
Group in 1957 to help promote the legacy of the Eagle's Nest artist
colony founded in the late 1890s by artist Laredo Taft and others. Wean
presented Nurmet, now 98, with a certificate.
"He's been the mentor of the Eagle's Nest for 50 years," Wean said.
Reach Phil Hartman at (815) 625-3600, (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 524.
|
|
|
Gallery Hours
Tuesday - Saturday
8am - 4pm
or by appointment.
|
