The Gallery Art Show, 2016
Serenity took 1st Place in Fine Arts at The Gallery at Dove Mountain, and John's chess set received an honorable mention.
Pl. 1 · Serenity at Dove Mountain at dusk, the first-place ribbon in her hand.
John wrote this for his old site:
Recently, I submitted two of my pieces of art to a show at The Gallery at Dove Mountain. Serenity took 1st Place in the Fine Arts category and my chess set received an honorable mention. Both pieces will be on display for a few months at The Gallery Sports Club at Dove Mountain. This is a very prestigious golf resort here in Tucson, so we are very proud of our girl, Serenity!
Serenity is a standing figure, one arm raised high. Her body is built from many small pieces of steel, and long strands fall from her head like hair. In the photographs from the show she holds the blue ribbon in her raised hand, once at dusk under strings of lights and once by daylight. "FIRST PLACE" is printed down its tails.
The chess set sat indoors on its own table. A green ribbon lies across one corner of the board, the word "MENTION" printed on it.
In The Artist and the Algorithm, John describes how he came to choose his shows, after early years of entering every one he could get into:
I was learning which events worked best. I started focusing on juried fine art shows, where the audience truly valued handmade work.
In the same chapter he writes about what a finished piece is for:
I like to think of art as a vibration. When I make something beautiful, it lifts me up. When someone sees it and feels something, it lifts them up. And in that way, each sculpture becomes a little tuning fork for the soul.
Serenity also appears on John's old Sculptures page. The chess set has a story of its own in this Journal.
The plates
