2020 Sculptures

Messenger

Messenger

What does “Messenger” mean to you? Today when we hear the word messenger most think of the app used to communicate with the world. But if we look up from our social media for just a second … We may realize we are missing the real message. 
This “Angel Messenger” is hand forged solid iron, its body and wings traditionally joined together with rivets.

Clark Martinek
Mitchell, South Dakota
Descending Angel

Descending Angel

This sculpture symbolizes the spirit guide that accompanies the soul of the deceased  as it leaves this temporal world on it’s journey to whatever the soul goes. It is coming in for a landing to complete it’s mission, spreading as it brakes to a fluttering landing.

Mike Helbing
Limestone, Tennessee
Masai Bride

Masai Bride

This was made from photos I took of a young girl in a Masai village. Behind her was Mount Kilimanjaro. In the Masai world. the young men, as they mature, sort themselves naturally into a pecking order, with the strongest and best at the top. When the men reach the age of 20-23 or so, there is a ceremony. All the young girls of childbearing age line the edges of the central space, and the men choose brides from them. I tried to show this young girl as apprehensive about who might choose her, and being very much aware of everything that was going on. Look into her eyes and see that she is looking to the side, checking out the progress of the selection.

Tuck Langland
Granger, IN
Books Beyond Books

Books Beyond Books

Young girl enjoying reading books.

Lawrence Starck
Loveland, Colorado
Incandescence

Incandescence

An incandescent flame of iron and bronze.

Clark Martinek
Mitchell, South Dakota
Signetron

Signetron

A balance of mass and space that takes the observer through cycles of thought as the visual cortex solves the image.

Elton Bishop
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Piles

Piles

A chained group of pilings that protrude from the muck of a harbor.
They are placed in front of places where damage from ships and barges is likely to occur; such as docks, piers and bridges. These are resting places for sea birds and sometimes sprout weeds and even trees. Mine didn’t have anything on it, so I put a person stepping off into the abyss. To inject a bit of irony, there is a shark fin below.

Mike Helbing
Limestone, Tennessee
Pipe Trapped Apparitions #1

Pipe Trapped Apparitions #1

An 'apparition' CAN lead to our goals, dreams, aspirations, hopes of peaceful cooperation. Even if we feel 'trapped', our apparitions can be inspirations.

Can't we all get along?

In collaboration with Shelby Nower

Charles Yost
Chicago, Illinois
Solitude

Solitude

Solitude is part of a series of the four seasons and represents winter. She is alone and huddling in a heavy coat, contemplating the white drifts around her.

Tuck Langland
Granger, IN
Fowl Ball II

Fowl Ball II

Geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens are the descendants of dinosaurs that ruled the earth, but now we eat them. They had fierce and fearsome ancient ancestors, but today they can represent someone who’s silly, foolish, witless or cowardly.
Twenty-seven bird silhouettes form a sphere where the bird profiles become abstract disjointed shapes among random spaces in between.  It’s a just-for-fun study of positive and negative spaces with equal emphasis on the solid forms and the empty shapes.
Get the Peckture? Quack you up!

Lee Badger
Hedgesville, West Virginia
Clean up Crew

Clean up Crew

These two animals are nature's best cleanup crew, and I am showing them on the prowl looking for dinner, and in doing so, helping to clean up our environment. This is a life size sculpture of a 6 foot black bear with a crow getting a free ride on his back.

Judd Nelson
Wayzata, Minnesota
Social Fabric

Social Fabric

It seems like we all think we know what makes us "tick". But if we sit back and listen, we begin to realize that the daily clicks of our rhythmic relationships are who we really are in this life.

Matt Miller
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Space Bloom

Space Bloom

I love the surprise that we get from seeing out of the ordinary things in ordinary places.
It is these things that help bring awareness to our surroundings and creates the opportunity to reimagine our sense of place. Use your imagination and discover new blooms.

Nathan Pierce
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Persons of Interest

Persons of Interest

As an artist, I thrive on the diversity of the universe. It's such a strange and amazing place, and sculpture lets me explore it in new and exciting ways.

Craig Snyder
Plymouth, Minnesota
Forty/Love

Forty/Love

Forty/Love is one of my favorite pieces. The pleats of the skirt and the relaxed yet powerful pose make this piece special.

James Haire
Fort Collins, Colorado
Beginnings

Beginnings

This sculpture abstractly captures the moment a seed bursts open with the new life that lies within-- marking the beginning of something new and full of potential.

Benjamin Pierce
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
The Cabbage King

The Cabbage King

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter – recited by Tweedledee and Tweedledum to Alice in Through the Looking Glass, this walnut piece started as a single half ton log.  Using traditional mallet and gouge carving methods this is what is left.  Midway through, a very nasty crack was discovered that necessitated using a second walnut log for the top hat, so , as the Queen of Hearts said "Off with his hat" (sorta)... The show must go on.   The piece's title comes from the poem “The time has come," the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—Of cabbages—and kings—And why the sea is boiling hot—And whether pigs have wings.”

Doc - Lawrence A. Wiedman, PhD
Huntington, Indiana
Fair Feathered Friends

Fair Feathered Friends

In collaboration with Jim Perrine

Gary Hovey
New Knoxville, Ohio
Heaven on Earth

Heaven on Earth

“Heaven On Earth”

(Symbolist Sculpture is made of Birch & a portion of the trunk of an unknown tree.)

Dianne Kay Rose & Curtis Delk Rose

A symbolist expression of some of the differences between where we are physically & where we Hope to be Eternally.

Curtis Rose
Decatur, Indiana
Punk Rock Barbershop

Punk Rock Barbershop

The Punk Rock Barber Shop is a crazy, colorful sculpture illustration, playing with the possibilities of storytelling through experimental mediums. This piece relishes in the pride that comes with being completely yourself, no matter how unique that look may be. From pink braids to rainbow dreads, the possibilities for self-expression are endless.

Shelby Nower
Decatur, IN
Immortalized

Immortalized

Carolyn Kile
Fort Wayne, IN
Lady

Lady

Helen Buescher
Decatur, Indiana
To Bee or Not to Bee

To Bee or Not to Bee

What’s all the buzzzz about?

Alex Mendez
Decatur, Indiana
People's Choice
Psychedelic Ruin

Psychedelic Ruin

Hallucination in Ruination

In collaboration with Shelby Nower

Neil J. Wiffill
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Committee Choice
Hazel

Hazel

Gregory Mendez
Decatur, Indiana
X Marks the Spot

X Marks the Spot

There is no way anybody could miss this

Alex Mendez
Decatur, Indiana
Unwavering Discipline

Unwavering Discipline

In collaboration with Tiffany Mendez

Gregory Mendez
Decatur, Indiana
InspirationAward
Come Together

Come Together

Like a song, small parts make the whole thing come together.

Alex Mendez
Decatur, Indiana
Mayor's Choice
Piles

Piles

They are placed in front of places where damage from ships and barges is likely to occur; such as docks, piers and bridges. These are resting places for sea birds and sometimes sprout weeds and even trees. Mine didn’t have anything on it, so I put a person stepping off into the abyss. To inject a bit of irony, there is a shark fin below.

Mike Helbing
Limestone, Tennessee

Titanium Sponsors

Adams County Community Foundation
Arts United / Indiana Arts Commission
Indiana Arts Commission
Porter Family Foundation

Platinum Sponsors

City of Decatur
Decatur Arts Commission
Hoosier Pattern Inc

Gold Sponsors

Adams Memorial Hospital
Adams Public Library System (In Kind
Ambassador Enterprises
Berne Ready Mix
Complete Printing Service
John Brune Digital Video
Terry & Anita Myers