Posted by | January 28, 2020

Portrait of Julia C. R. Dorr

The concept sketch for a monument to author and philanthropist Julia C. R. Dorr (graphite and gouache on paper). Her portrait is the ninth sculpture to join the Rutland Sculpture Trail (VT).

Excerpts below are by Julia C. R. Dorr (public domain).

Design Revealed for Julia Dorr Sculpture

Julia Dorr Sculpture Trail Press Release

Rutland Sculpture Trail

Rutland Herald

Rutland Free Library

Someone was in the library this morning (a distant place due to work hours and clay attire), and this tumbled out of a stack of books. The Someone recalled that I like to make collages from old publications and flipped open…
…to a ballad by none other than Mrs. Dorr…
…and when the book was delivered to the studio, I opened the pages to this ‘portraiture’ piece.
THE FALLOW FIELD
OVER THE WALL
PROEM
Julia at 60% – and what the physical eye is doing the whole time. To the creatures, now…
A FEW WORDS
There’s a Christmas Moose in here. It seems appropriately New England-ish, and a lamp is attached to its antlers for checking the progress on Julia’s braid.
THE JOY
A CATHEDRAL PILGRIMAGE
MY MOCKING–BIRD
One way to check your scale as the sun pours in…I listen to my mocking-bird sing from dawn until dusk. Now and again his courtship antics still…he flies over, peers in.
COME WHAT MAY
The 3D work began with crumpled newspaper taped to a pipe and flange (firmly affixed to a stable board) because the 1.5 life-size model would be quite heavy if created in solid clay. Many papers were ultimately recycled for the armature (I focused upon positive or poetic words/phrases, word searches, and crossword puzzles). The door is for scale for Dorr, and here you can see decisions being made about the shoulders, etc.
EXPIATION