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Local gets Gold Medal in art
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Olympic games have attracted world-class athletes on a four-year timetable to various sites around the globe. It's only fitting that world-class sculptors were tapped for permanent installations at Olympic Park in Beijing to celebrate the 2008 Summer Games. And one of those internationally known sculptors lives in Yellow Springs. Having a large-scale work permanently installed at a prestigious venue is not new to Jon Barlow Hudson. But he humbly appreciates every opportunity he is given.
"I guess another comparable world-class event would have been a 100-foot piece for the World Expo in Brisbane (Australia)," Hudson said. "Although I was equally thrilled and honored to do a work for Sinclair Community College a year or so ago. In sculptural terms, they all embody my ideas and concepts and are all equal in that respect."
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One of his most recent concepts is the Wind Dragon, which as a final work will rise to a majestic height of 29 feet. It is made of 3/8-inch steel that will be painted with the five Olympic colors. The design consists of vibrant-colored stacked cubes offset at a 45-degree angle. The aesthetics of this work is further enhanced by triangular cutouts that bring the immediate environment into the viewer's experience. The color concept will be slightly different from the small-scale model.
"If you look at the work straight on, you will see a serpentine form running up the center. Thus the dragon aspect of the title, relative to the China context of dragons," Hudson said.
He recently returned from Beijing, where he was supervising the construction of Wind Dragon by Chinese artisans at a sculpture factory. His journey to the 2008 Summer Olympics began in August of 2005 with an international Call to Artists to submit designs for the Olympic Park. That resulted in 2,433 proposals representing artists from 90 different countries. International judges narrowed it down to the top 290 proposals. In addition, another traveling exhibit of small models enlisting public opinion narrowed it to about 110 designs, with expert approval.
Ultimately, 29 sculptures representing the 29th Olympiad will be permanent installations at the Olympic Park to commemorate next year's games in Beijing.
"The Olympics may be more visible to more people and more PR worthy, but all my sculptures to me are part of my work, part of my life," Hudson said.
The majority of Dayton-area residents have heard of Hudson and his work. In September of 2002, he took part in "Kettering Rocks," the international stone sculpting exposition hosted by the public art program, CitySites. "Paradigm Shift," a mirror stainless steel work, was installed at the Moore Technology Center at Sinclair Community College in 2005. Hudson also is on the Kettering Percent for Art Committee.
Contact arts writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.
