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Advocate; June 5, 1989

Cast in bronze

Young artists recognized for sculpture

By Mara Rose

For three months, Lucey Lyons toiled over a lump of clay. A month ago the work won her honors and recognition, giving her the courage to pursue a career in art.

Her bronzed sculpture of a hummming bird hovering over a flower will forever have a place on the wall around the Peace Fountain at the Cathedral Church St. John the Divine in New York City.

"I had no idea anything like this would happen. Wow. I mean just the fact that I can go there any time. I can take my amily my grandchildren and say 'Look. I did this.' That is really neat. I feel like a real artist," Lyons said.

Lyons' sculpture, along with the work of three other Stam­ford High School students, was chosen last month from among 200 other pieces in an international art competition. Work was submitted by high school students from the U.S., Bermuda and Northern Ireland.

Along with Lyons, 17, a junior, other local winners included Matt Kelman, 17; Dave Newcomb, 18 and Jennifer Koch, 17. They competed for 30 places along the fountain wall in a contest organized by Greg Wyatt, artist in residence at the church.

The four student artists are from Pat Archer's art class at Stamford High School.

"The theme was animals of freedom and artists of peace," Archer said.

"The students, working with clay had to first sculpt a book. On one side they sculpted a likeness of an artist of their choice, and on the other side an animal symbolizing the artist.

"Then they had to write in the clay in rchef an explanation of why they chose that artist and that animal and we fired the clay," Archer said. "It was a dif­ficult assignment I thought. The animal and likeness of the artist were attached to the book."

The contest format and theme were chosen by Wyatt and a panel of artists and com­munity members who judged the competition.

This was the second year that students from Archer's class entered the contest, but the first year she has had so many winners. Last year there was one winner, Jason Mitchell. His statue will be beside those chosen this year.

The students had three months to complete their works.

"They deserved to win," Archer said. "They all worked very hard."

For Lyons, winning the contest was the first big step down the road to an art career.

"I have always been very in­terested in art." Lyons said. "But the question for me has al­ways been. am I really good· enough to do something with art. This helped to answer that question."

The contest was part ofan art· educational program created by

Wyatt, 39, of Rockland County N.Y. He was commissioned bi· the church for the 200th anniversary of the New York Episcopal Diocese. On a 12-year assignment which began in 1985, Wyatt's first project was to sculpt the 40-foot tall Peace Fountain.

"In conjunction with the monument, the program is called the Animals of Freedom Sculpture contest," Wyatt said. "I signed and dedicated the monumen to children's creativy because I feel strongly about the next generation of artists. And to put some creative muscle behind that motto I developed this program to do several things.

"One of them is to build New York City's first children's sculpture garden, consisting of 120 small bronze miniatures to surround the fountain."

Twenty-four of the miniatures - the 10 by 120 inch pieces include the book and animal of freedom - already have been mounted on individual pedestals around the fountain. The students responsible for creating them were selected over the past three years. There is a contest held each year.

"It is not a cutesy ... approach," Wyatt said. "These pieces are well-selected and quite good. I think everyone is amazed when they see the artistry of the next generation."

The students said their work was painstaking.

Sculpting the intricate details of the hummingbird's wings and the flower was time consuming, and given the limited time the artist had to complete their works, it was also frustrating, Lyons said.

"The hardest part was the poetic vers explaining why I chose the hummingburd and Georgia O'Keefe. I chose her because as a painter she does a lot of flowers and all of her paintings are very tranquil. I had to explain it in 50 words. I realized how few words that is.

Kelman, who choase the late Mahatma Ghandi as his artis of peace and a lamb as his animal of freedom, said he too had a difficult time because of the size limitations of the sculpture.

"I did a whole body so I had to do a lot of detail on the face and then but glasses on him," said Kelman, who doesn't consider himself an artist. He plans to study government at Cornell University.

"The only thing I have ever had bronzed is my baby shoes," Kelman said.

The students used such instruments as tooth picks and dental tools to work the clay and to detail the specific likenesses they chose.

Newcomb, who will study engineering design at Pennsylvania State University, chose Mark Twain as his artis and a dog as his animal. Koch, who intends to major in business at Bucknell University, chose Henry David Thoreau as her artist and a deer as her animal.

"I didn't think for a second that I would be a winner in a contest like this," Koch said. "I mean I have always liked art but I got dis­couraged because I didn't really think I. had it in me. Besides this was an international contest."

The miniature sculptures will be unveiled during a June 17 ceremony at the cathedral in honor of the 30 students, including the four from 'Stamford High School.

"And believe me they are well deserving of bronze and well deserving of permanent placement at the world's largest Gothic cathedral."

However, Wyatt said the project's best aspect is impact it will have for the students and their families in 1O to 15 vears.

"That new family will probably be brought here by one of the young winners, who by that time will be grown up. and this will be a source of tremendous pride and more important a new encourage­ment towards enlivening the cultural experience both for the adult and the new children," he said.