the process of creating public art

When you stroll past a sculpture in the park, and you wonder how it came to be, you might look at it for a second and then shrug your shoulders. Because no matter what you think of it, it is there. And it is there for a long time... maybe forever. The following pictures illustrate one such project, that will probably not reside forever in its present home, but was certainly designed so it could be.

A major airport retailing company contacted me several years ago, looking for someone to paint a mural around a stuffed longhorn head, which would be mounted in front of a Stelzigs store at the Terminal D in Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. After some discussion, and vainly shopping around for a champion longhorn head, they agreed to let me just sculpt a semi-dimensional longhorn that would be attached to the wall.

First I sent them several drawings, proposing different poses. The one above was their choice.

Then they asked for a sketch of an overhead elevation, that would show just how much the head would stick out from the wall. There were concerns about its accessibilty to passers-by.

After the design was approved, I welded up a steel armature. Every time I get a commission like this, I head out to my favorite place, Torres Wrecking Yard. I find and recycle steel elements that will work to make a super strong substructure.

Then epoxy putty is mixed and applied to the wire mesh on the armature. A thickness of about a half to three-quarters of an inch is plenty to establish a near indestructible sculpture, safe and durable for ages.

On this project, I made the final details on my front porch.

On delivery day, "Bevo" was loaded up on a lowboy trailer and towed to the Airport, where he was rolled in on a custom welded dolly.

Houston Bush Airport's greeting to the world...

The sculpture was to be placed in a very strategic place, in the middle of a storefront near where the international travellers ascend from the baggage claim below. For many foreign visitors to Houston, this longhorn will be one of the first things they see when they arrive in Texas.

When the store was almost completed, I was allowed to bring a crew into Terminal D to bolt him to the steel studs in the store wall. I had to finish it and paint the background behind a privacy wall, giving me only about two feet, in jake-leg lighting to see what I was doing... and unable to back off and see it until the wall was taken down upon the grand opening. I also installed a mural I had painted for the inside of the store. Ah the agony and the ecstacy...

The morning Stelzig's opened, I came back to do finishing touches to get him ready for serious posing as international tourists discover him.

So now if you happen to see him, you will know how he got there, and what the artist went through to place a piece of public art... and thankfully, without the use of taxidermy!

You can see much more of my sculpture work at russellcushman.com