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A Sculpture Commission that Highlights Core Values & Achievement

March 1, 2023 By Ballard Road Gallery

Check out the video-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3CI5JsjjW0&t=36s

The Fingerpaint Advertising Agency requested a sculpture commission from artist Michelle Vara of Ballard Road Art Gallery. The request was to create five sculptures that would represent five important attributes of the company’s core values. FPAA put out a vote amongst the more than 400 employees to choose the winner of the sculptures to be awarded among their three locations and be displayed at their home office in Saratoga Springs NY. There’s a lot unique to be uncovered about these sculptures, the artist tied common objects. color, line, and historical crystal glass into the final presentation.  

“Trust” (Sculpture No.885)

“JOY” (Sculpture No. 884)

880.Commitment_ Michelle Vara_WN

“Commitment” (Sculpture No. 880)

“Connection” (Sculpture No.888)

“Amalgam Four Qualities” (Sculpture No. 883)

“Amalgam Four” -sculpture No. 883

Sculpture details-

For this sculpture series, the piece Amalgam Four is the culmination of four core values – (A.) Connection, B.) Commitment C.) Trust, D.) Joy,) that the Fingerpaint Marketing family chose and holds in high regard.

This sculpture piece is finished in a unique color, whispering commentary of standing apart in excellence, while highlighted by antique glass embellishments that bring Bling to an unnoticed level of smoothness.

The sheers are two pieces the same yet opposite to create one working order, offer a forward thrust of energy- bring thinking to new levels, and hold a unique degree of balance in success. A leader is not one person but a team of people working as one united energy which is signified by the centerpiece, a gold crescendo.

The glass embellishments are some of the first Austria Kristall made and traveled with a family to the United States during war times. The embellishments are meant to highlight the positive energy experienced while the artist spent physical time in the FP Saratoga NY office interacting with the staff.  

The artist uses reclaimed objects as a placeholder for memory and energy to stimulate personal narrative from the onlooker. The reclaimed objects naturally come loaded with history which enhances the context of the sculpture’s subliminal conversation.

The base of the sculpture is in response to the FP building’s upstairs windows. The base is made of small pieces of metal which were collected from around the City of Saratoga and meant to represent FP’s deep community roots.  The lines follow a trail left by the story FP shares in a small town.

The angel or pyramid where the sheers balance on, in a forward motion, cut into the atmosphere of the circles that bring hundreds of years of metaphoric meaning to the table. The sheers hold an intricate square- die, signifying the unique box of advertising and the shaped holes let light and air into a complicated and competitive field of work as their employees sparkle like the highlighted Kristall which embellishes it. The past life as a commercial threading die, wink- at the long hours of labor and its physical job of connecting opposites as a joined union. The painterly lines highlight a winning marketing team that works within advertising’s unique box. On the square, die are two open locks which symbolize security, and with the lock open it screams the ethos of trust.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: #MichelleVara, #trust, #wiltonNY, Amalgam Four Qualities, art for sale, Art of our time, Artist for hire, Ballard Road Art, Commishion, Commitment, Connection, Contemporary art, Crystal, Finger paint Advertising, Joy, Reclaimed Material, Saratoga Springs NY, Sculpture, Trust

Sculpture- Things that go Ka-Bloom!

January 11, 2020 By Ballard Road Gallery

Things that go Ka-Bloom!


#SculptureSeries

Artist statement-

“I felt the anxiety of the current world climate. The doom and gloom linger like a rock, slung around the necks of so many. This makes me sad to watch, so I began to think what metaphors could I put together using discarded home objects (JUNK) and design to embody the Buddhist notion of growth, harmony, and joy. I then opted to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, during the welding and painting process. The paint is a handmade stain that keeps the scars of memory and past, visible while remembering nothing is perfect. The scars become sealed badges of honor in the fished piece. The process, became the embodiment of life’s conditions- to see obstacles as opportunities, as turning points, for developing our best qualities as human beings and moving into natural beauty which all of us carry inside.”

  • _Secret Garden_Detail_Michelle Vara
  • No.850_Secret Garden_Michelle Vara
  • Sculpture No.850_Secret Garden
  • No. 851_KaBloom
  • Sculpture No.849_Floral N Hardy
  • Sculpture No. 849_Floral and Hardy

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Art, Flowers, handmade, Michelle Vara, Reclaimed Material, Saratoga Springs NY, Sculpture, Upscaled, Welded

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