Two Regional Artists Win Honors for Sculpture Tour
V1 Staff, photos by Giles Photography |
An 8-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture inspired by a solar eclipse is the winner of the People’s Choice Award for the 2017 Sculpture Tour Eau Claire. The sculpture, “Celeste,” created by Crysten Nesseth of Rice Lake, will be purchased by the Sculpture Tour for permanent display in the city once the current tour ends next spring. “Celeste,” which stands in front of Mayo Pharmacy at the corner of North Barstow and Madison streets, features elements of the sun and moon and casts a beautiful shadow. It is valued at $18,500. Two other sculptures were also announced as award winners: Eau Claire artist Terry Meyer’s towering steel and ceramic embodiment of three horses, “Tres Caballos,” won Best of Show-Other Materials; and Bobbi Carlyle of Loveland, Colorado, won Best of Show-Bronze for “SunRiser,” a graceful female figure. Both Meyer and Carlyle will receive $1,000 cash awards, and their works remain available for purchase (as do other sculptures on the tour). “One of the things I’m most proud of this year is that one third of our artists are local artists … from the region,” said Julie Pangallo, the tour’s executive director. “And we did not compromise on quality to reach that goal, as is demonstrated by the fact that two of them won our annual awards!” And if you’re an artist interested in a future award (or at least having your work seen streetside), the Sculpture Tour has extended its call to artists until Saturday, Oct. 21. The tour is seeking as many as 36 new, original sculptures to be installed around the city next spring. Sculptures should be sturdy enough to withstand extreme Wisconsin weather and hands-on attention from the public. Selected artists will receive a $1,000 stipend, and all sculptures will be available for sale. (Over the past seven years, more than $400,000 worth of artwork has been bought or commissioned because of the tour!) For complete details, visit sculpturetour.org/call-to-artists.
