Large Sculpture for the St. Louis Zoo

[RobC]

Installation is being completed for the May 25, 2006 dedication of Albert Paley's sculpture for the St. Louis Zoo. The piece (Animals Always) is 135 feet long by 8 feet deep and 38 feet tall. The Corten sculpture is over 100 tons and constructed of over 1500 individual elements. Follow and read more at:
http://www.stlzoo.org/pressroom/animalsalwayssculpturepres.htm
and through internet searches.

more available at:
http://www.stlzoo.org/home/featurednews/animalsalwayssculpture.htm

[justme]

Hi,
I'm right here in St. Louis. As soon as possible, I will go take some pics from a sculptor's eye view and share them all with you.
j

[sculptorsam]

I saw the cardboard model for this project a year ago and can't wait to see as many images as possible of the completed work.

[JAZ]

I heard Albert Paley talk about this commission at the ISC's symposium in New Orleans. He talked about having the maquette in his studio when a woman came in for a tour. She told him that she wanted to buy it and he explained patiently that it was only a model for something much bigger that he wanted to make in steel. She said she knew. He explained how very big it would be and she said she realized that. He explained that, well, it would cost (I forget how much, but a lot) and she said that's fine. Kind of blew him away. She wanted it for the zoo. You know, just doing a little shopping.
At least that's what I remember of the story.
He has ten full time employees to help with the work and farms out some too. I'd say he's doing alright.
JAZ

[RuBert]

I'm going to the dedication - it sounds like it is a big event, but worth seeing even though I hate large crowds.

And it's not such a bad drive for me. I still haven't decided how long we'll stay in St. Louis yet, but I'll snap some photos of it to post here.

[Merlion]

Here (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/visitstlouis/story/8C59B62934AA75F5862571780019522B?OpenDocument) is a news article today (May 24) from the St Louis Post-Dispatch about this very large sculpture "Animals Always". A photo is shown there. Some excerpts below.

Gateway to the Zoo

If you've never seen anything like it before, that's because there has never been anything quite like it until now. We're talking about "Animals Always," the spectacular sculpture that opens this weekend at the Hampton Avenue entrance to Forest Park. [snip]

The piece was created by Albert Paley, a sculptor who is to metal what Dale Chihuly is to glass. Born in Philadelphia in 1944 and based in Rochester, N.Y., Paley has been active as an artist and craftsman for more than 30 years.

But, he said, the sculpture is "the most complicated piece I've ever done - it's been about three years from conception to completion." [snip]

What makes "Animals Always" exceptional is that it is figurative. Nearly all of Paley's previous works have been abstract.

How "Animals Always" got here makes an interesting story.

St. Louis animal lover Thelma Zalk was on a trip with Craft Alliance to visit Paley's studio, where she noticed drawings he had made in 1980 for New York City's Central Park Zoo, a project that was never realized.

Zalk recalls thinking, "'We have nothing like this in St. Louis. So let's do it.'"

Zalk paid $1 million to have the piece fabricated; another St. Louisan, Steven F. Schankman, paid $1 million more to construct a plaza for the sculpture to sit on.

Zalk said this is the first time she's funded an art project. "I'm giving a library to the University of Missouri veterinary school, and I paid for a stable for the Humane Society. I'm a huge fan of large animals."

"Animals Always" abounds in large animals - life-size giraffes and elephants, among them.

"I had always wondered about under what circumstances I'd do figurative work, and the Central Park Zoo seemed the appropriate place to do it," Paley said. When Zalk saw the drawings, the opportunity re-presented itself. "The real conundrum I dealt with was to do something unique and personal. What's the point of rehashing old stuff?"

Paley emphasized that the work has gone through many changes for its St. Louis site. "The original concept was far less than what we have here, and my skills as a metalworker have grown." [snip]

[RuBert]

Some photos of the installation yesterday - enjoy!

[RuBert]

Very nice turn out - enthusiastic crowd to witness this historic event for the St. Louis Zoo.

[RuBert]

http://www.sculpture.net/gallery/data/500/1IMG_3020.JPG

[RuBert]

http://www.sculpture.net/gallery/data/500/1IMG_2986.JPG

[RuBert]

http://www.sculpture.net/gallery/data/500/1IMG_3036.JPG

[RuBert]

http://www.sculpture.net/gallery/data/500/1IMG_3038.JPG

[RuBert]

All in all I believe it is a tremendous achievement, very worth seeing if you are in the St. Louis area.

Albert - my hats of to you for creating another great work of art - free for the public to enjoy.

[sculptorsam]

Thanks, Russ. Simply Awesome.

[Merlion]

I thought this can only happen in fairy tales. We would love to dream of having rich doners who are generous to the local community and supportive of local artists. But this has happened to metal sculptor Paley.

And the awesome artwork shows that he does deserve the generous support.

[JAZ]

Ditto sculptorsam's thanks, Russ. Your photos give a good sense of what's going on. It's good that he left the steel naked rather than this being in color. The rust is more in keeping with the natural subject matter and will not be a headache for the zoo to maintain.
Although it is unusual to see such realistic imagery, much about the shapes is very similar to the familiar Paley style. I've just returned from six days in Florida and saw a Paely bench at the Polk Museum of Art, a 30' or 35' tall polychrome public commission of his in Lakeland, and a 20' long horizontal one in the Sarasota Season for Sculpture exhibit. The tall Lakeland one, though abstract, has many elements that suggest the foliage and lines he used in the zoo sculpture. Its exhuberant colors are energized by darker tones along the edges. The color works for this one, but would have been problemmatic for the zoo sculpture. Becasue of its size, and the kinds of imagery it includes, it would have leaned toward kitsch if it had been polychromed.
JAZ