A Call to Action

The Don Wiegand Studio

A while back, I blogged about a friend who is an incredible sculpter, Don Wiegand. Little did I know then that a storm was brewing that threatens to destroy the work of a lifetime.

There is a move underway to condemn Don's studio and property, and level it in order to fortify an existing levee in the Chesterfield, Missouri valley area. Don't get me wrong, I'm for protecting people from floods. However, I'm also for protecting a site that has historical and artistic significance. Especially since it appears there is an alternative means to gain the same end. Is it more expensive? Yes. But isn't it better than simply taking Don's home and studio? I believe it is.

Don often says his place and work exist not just for him, but for everyone who visits there. And oh, the visitors he's had, from the most famous to the most humble. Every person leaves with a sense that a tiny piece of the place belongs to them, too. They can see, touch, and marvel at what has evolved from a decaying slaughterhouse to a showplace over the course of 45 years work. It's been rebuilt after fire and flood. And it stands as proudly today as it will in the future if action is taken to stop this deliberate threat.

I urge those of you who support the arts, who believe in the individual rights of a property owner, and who reject the notion that it doesn't matter what happens as long as the job is done, to write or call local authorities and urge them to Save Our Studio. For more details than I can include in this post please check Don's website.

Government is big and powerful. But so are miracles.

Sculpter Par Excellence

Sculpted by Don Wiegand

I'm lucky enough to have a dear friend who also happens to be a world class sculpter. His name is Don Wiegand, and his studio is located in Chesterfield, Missouri. He's sculpted the likeness of such notables as Bob Hope, Cliff Robertson, Pope John Paul, Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, August Busch, and Stan Musial, just to name a few.

Don is not only exceptionally talented, he's one of the most humble and down-to-earth people you could ever meet. Yet he knows everyone (and I do mean everyone) from the White House right on down the line. One day when I was at his place he put in a quick phone call to Loretta Swit out in Hollywood so the whole group of us could seranade her for her birthday. He says Miss Swit enjoyed our song, but I'm not deaf and imagine that she was just being polite.

Don lives in an incredible place that started out as an old slaughterhouse. He's worked on it from the time he was 16 years old and it's become an impressive structure that now serves as both home and studio. The place reminds me of an old castle with 20+ foot tall ceilings and oversized gothic furniture. Truly amazing.

While Don really doesn't sculpt animals, he does have a colorful menagerie of ducks, geese, and peacocks that share his spacious yard. They have their own little house complete with heat for those cold Missouri winters.

And with the cacophony of honks, quacks, and screeches, they make a pretty effective natural doorbell.

More Thrills at Blueberry Hill

A few blogs ago, I started to describe an evening we spent at Blueberry Hill helping Mr. Chuck Berry celebrate his 85th birthday. If you didn't see it, here's a link to the post. 

Continuing the story, I walked through Blueberry Hill with eyes bigger than a harvest moon. If I had a dollar for every cool piece of memorobilia I saw that night, I could retire right now. 

After about an hour of exploring the place, Mr. Berry and his entourage finally arrived. They stepped into the restaurant and a full sized crowd broke into applause. So many cameras flashed, it felt like a red carpet premiere. My favorite sculptor, Don Wiegand (creator of the hand casts), gave an introductory speech. Note the strange camera angle. In order to get decent pictures, I had to knee-crawl to the front of the crowd. Luckily, the crowd did not object (well, not much anyway).

Next, the owner of Blueberry Hill, Joe Edwards, spoke.

Then came the official unveiling. The display, set up in a glass case, looked fantastic. It seems as though Chuck Berry's hands are floating. How in the world did Don do that???

Pictured from left to right are the men of the hour: Don Wiegand, Chuck Berry, and Joe Edwards

For me, visiting Blueberry Hill was a treat in and of itself. Add to that helping to celebrate the achievements of someone who's had an amazing career in music and all I can say is...

Hail, hail, rock n' roll, and happy 85th birthday, Chuck Berry!

Marking Time

It's wonderful to have great friends...especially when those friends have more than a few special talents.

Don Wiegand is one of those people. I've blogged before about Don. His studio is more museum than workplace. Outside his geese, ducks, exotic chickens, and peacocks roam the yard. I received my first goose egg (no, not a knock on the head) from Don. It sat in the refrigerator making all the regular chicken eggs look the size of a robin's.

And then there are his bronze sculptures. They're best described as "scary good". It looks as though they could come to life any moment.

When he's not working on a myriad of other projects, Don is kind enough to do hand casts. Last year, on our wedding anniversary, he did ours.

First, oil up hands and arms. Sort of like greasing the frying pan for that "no stick" effect.

Next, get hands in proper position.

Then in comes the gooey pink stuff. If you've ever had a dental impression before, you know what I'm talking about. Hold perfectly still and wait about 5 minutes. Slowly and carefully pull out hands. Then plaster is poured into the impression which sits for a few hours. Finally the bucket is dumped and a giant pink rubbery mound is revealed.

The next task is to carve away the pink stuff. Careful! You could lop off a finger!

Finally! My ring tore a little groove in the cast which makes my hand look like the aftermath of a knife attack.  But not to worry. Don can fix it. About one month later...

Voila! The finished product. Interestingly, the cast captures every line, bump, crease, and wrinkle. In other words, you may not want to biggify this picture.

Though we did the cast last year, a few days ago, on August 21, 2010 we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. It got me to thinking just how much our old hands have been through over the years...

Palms together on our wedding day, signing papers on our first home, digging in the garden, scrubbing, painting, pounding a nail, writing endless checks, cradling a baby, applauding accomplishments, wagging a finger of admonishment, carrying a load that sometimes felt far too heavy, wiping away tears, surrounding a loved one with a gentle hug. I guess we really have earned every single mark that's detailed on our cast.

And I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Churchill's Journey

Many of you may recall me writing about our friend the sculptor, Don Wiegand. For the past 2 years, Don has been working on a bas relief of Winston Churchill, commissioned by the Churchill Foundation to be placed at Westminster University in Fulton, Missouri.  This is the location where Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain speech.

We got a call to come and see the piece before it traveled to Fulton.

Time is getting tight, but perfection is Don's motto.

Apparently Sir Winston needed a few touch-ups before making his grand entrance to Fulton.  Here you see him being lovingly buffed and polished before a final sand blast occurs.

Sir Winston needs a bit more sparkle to his eyes. A light brush of a special artist's compound should do the trick.

Once the piece is assembled, this will form the top of Churchill's podium.

Don chats with another visitor, the Mayor of Chesterfield, Missouri.

This gentleman is filming the process for a locally produced documentary.

Here's the plan for the finished project at the Winston Churchill Memorial Plaza.

A few days after we visited, the heavy bronze pieces were trucked to Fulton and assembled on site. 

Ta-da! The finished product.

Congratulations to Don and his hard-working crew. He's produced yet another masterpiece.

Am I ever lucky. I know some of the coolest people!

I Found My Thrill

Seems like forever since I've posted.  Being out of town for a few days certainly does shake up my routine! But here I am back in the saddle (or should I say office chair) again with a story about a fun evening.

I've blogged before about my friend, Don Wiegand, sculptor extraordinaire. Don is an awesome person to know.  He's not only talented, but also kind and caring and has many friends.  About a month ago I got to meet one of them.

Don did a special hand cast for rock legend, Chuck Berry, who happens to live in our area. The cast was done for Mr. Berry's 85th birthday. I got to be there for the special presentation at a well known bar and grill called Blueberry Hill. This is an amazing venue where Mr. Berry (and other musicians) regularly perform. 

It was my first visit to Blueberry Hill, which seems more like a memorobilia museum than a restaurant. In my brief time there, I couldn't begin to take in everything there was to see. Here's a few snippets from Blueberry Hill.

A Howdy Doody collection.

"His Master's Voice" high atop a shelf.

Critters of all shapes and sizes watching over us.

Joe Edwards, who owns Blueberry Hill, is almost as fascinating as the place. Throughout the building are hundreds of framed photographs where Joe is posing next to some celebrity or sports star. He's been collecting these photos for decades, and I'll bet you can't name anyone famous that isn't on Joe's wall. Even my idol, Eric Clapton is featured on a photo from many years ago. I asked Joe if he thought Eric would ever come back to St. Louis. Joe says he'll try and convince him, to which I calmly responded, "YOU TALK TO ERIC CLAPTON????"

Pardon my teenage girl scream. Here's a celebrityless picture of Joe...who is actually kind of a celebrity himself.

I'll have more about Blueberry Hill and Chuck Berry's special birthday celebration next time.

Feather Fight

My friend, sculpter Don Wiegand, has a menagerie of animals. Among them are a pair of lovely peacocks. People with peacocks generally collect a wide assortment of peacock feathers. Don is kind enough to share.

The feathers he gave me are perfect for a wispy table arrangement. It sounds like a great idea until you consider my situation. I have Bogey. Cats love feathers. And not always in a good way.

Bogey has been investigating the feathers, and batting at them a bit. So far, his sleuthing has occurred with me standing watch. What he'll do when I'm not around, heaven only knows. Remember, this is the same cat who enjoys jumping on the mantle to merrily knock down vases, framed art work, and various bric-a-brak. All soon become bric-a-break, but that's another story.

Today is the test. We'll see what the inquisitive and often destructive Bogey will do once I leave the house.

I have the vacuum cleaner on stand by.

Your Tour Guide Returns

Have you ever dreamed of discovering sunken treasure? If so, the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum would be right up your alley. Long ago, the waters around the Keys presented difficult navigating for ships. As a result, it wasn't unusual for wrecks to occur, taking lives and other precious cargo to the bottom of the sea. To this day, underwater archaeologists look for mysterious sunken treasures from long ago.

One of the most famous of these hunters was Mel Fisher. His dream of finding treasure began as a child when he read Robert Louis Stevenson's, Treasure Island. He and his crew were successful in discovering many lucrative shipwrecks, but Fisher had his cap set to find the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha which he had read about in Potter's Treasure Diver's Guide. It was a royal guard galleon with 40 tons of gold and silver aboard which sank in a devastating hurricane along with other ships in 1622.

For 16 years he told his crew every morning, "Today's the day", until finally it happened. They found the ship. Thousands of artifacts were discovered worth many, many millions of dollars. It was considered the richest treasure find since the discovery of King Tut's tomb. Mel Fisher was truly an example of what can happen when you never, ever give up.

We saw gold and silver, emeralds and goblets, jewelry and pirate muskets.

This small sampling shows the beauty and detail of the artifacts found by Mel Fischer.

And we we saw something else that widened our eyes. For those of you who recall me writing about our local sculptor friend, Don Wiegand, upon entering the museum the first thing we saw was a bronze sculpture Don did of Mel Fisher.

Talk about finding a touch of home in Florida!

If you get a chance, I strongly recommend you visit the museum. You won't regret it.

Next time I'll show you one of the highlights of our trip...the home of Ernest Hemingway and the fabulous felines that live there.

Critter Creative Poetry

Marcel Toussaint

Sunday we made our monthly gathering at the Don Wiegand Studios. I'm happy to report that though there's still work to be done, progress is happening to save his home and studio, which I'll update on a later blog.

One thing about Don's place is you never know who you'll meet. This time, I was introduced to a French poet named Marcel Toussaint. We discussed a book signing planned for his recently released autobiography, "A Poet's Life" scheduled for August 7.

Coincidentally, I discovered that Marcel is acquainted with Dr. Michael Fox, the holistic vet and syndicated columnist. I've used Dr. Fox's homemade dog food recipe for years and its helped my auto-immune challenged dog, Indy immensely.

Turns out that Dr. Fox and Marcel work together to bring poetry to animal lovers. There is a section on Dr. Fox's website that includes animal poems by both Dr. Fox and Marcel. The public can also submit poems for website publication (alas, no pay). Marcel reviews each poem, which upon his approval, will be published on Dr. Fox's website.

So if you're a critter poet or just plain like to read critter poems, be sure to check it out.

SOS Answered

The wonderful typewriter is from the collection of my friend, Don Wiegand, artist extraordinaire. Previously I've blogged about the fight to save his studio from eminent domain seizure. Today I received a confirmation email that the battle has been won! The studio and property have been preserved. What a wonderful gift for the holiday season!

The typewriter reminds me that in between household chores and working to get ready for Christmas, I need to get back to writing. I have a Chicken Soup idea simmering, and am even thinking about starting to toy with Behind City Streets, my NaNo novel (can you say NaNo novel three times fast?).

Whatever you may have on your busy weekend agenda, I hope you can take some time out to relax, and enjoy the gentle sounds of silver bells.

The Egg and Us

Goose egg...courtesy of our friend, sculptor Don Wiegand. Chicken egg...courtesy of our local grocery store.

We put a select group of consumers to the test. Which one would they prefer?

The verdict is in. Bigger is much better. Both consumers chose the goose egg. In fact, they liked it so much that a heated discussion over who should claim it erupted.

As a neutral party (sort of like Switzerland), I took possession of both eggs. They are now safely stored in the refrigerator.

Or are they????