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Summer Newsletter Now Available

gchaney — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:46:13 +0000

The Museum Musings newsletter for Summer 2010 is now available to read online. Click the link below to read:

Vol 5 Issue II

Friendly Dragon Coming Soon

gchaney — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:31:40 +0000

One of Marshall Fredericks’ great whimsical works the Friendly Dragon will soon be completed for all to view at the Museum. The sculpture was first created in 1979 and enlarged to a 12 foot bronze for Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Be sure to stop by and see the first new sculpture to be added to the Main Exhibition Gallery in over 22 years.

From the 1981 Joy Colby interview about the creation and meaning of the Friendly Dragon:

MF (Marshall Fredericks)

It’s sort o a great big smooth frog and it has great big round polished gold eyes that are half a sphere and they’re just like mirrors so when you look in them you can see yourself all distorted like you do in a circus. So every time you go there you see all this. It worked out fine. So I did three, that’s all. I did another one but it was of a dragon, I called it The Friendly Dragon. The architect said he didn’t think he would use it because he said the children would be frightened of a dragon. But children love dragons and it’s not an ugly dragon, it’s a friendly dragon with a big smile and it’s cozy and you can sit on its back on those humps on its back. It’s just that he never was a child, I guess, so he doesn’t know. So they put up a thing, a structural beam thing. I’ve never seen a child near it so maybe they didn’t get the audience that they wanted really. I think maybe I’ll do that Dragon. I like dragons anyway, they’re special.

JC (Joy Colby)

Why are dragons special to you?

Well, Rozzie- one time I guess it was when I was sixty, Rozzie and the children got Earl Krentzin to make a walking stick for me with a dragon on top, which I love. And because she said that all these things, like all these big commissions which, you know, could kill you almost believe me the problems, Joy, are so manifold you can’t believe in a thing like that Cleveland fountain… And to do it all alone, I mean without a big staff or anything, or if I were some company that does it for you like they do today, you know, their sculpture things are manufactured things, the things I do are sculpture things. And she said that all these things have been dragons that I’ve fought against, you know. And in a way that’s really true, they been sort of dragons that you have to conquer and slay one way or another.

Summer Art Camp Session 3

gchaney — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:02:25 +0000

Summer Art Camp Session 2

gchaney — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:00:50 +0000

Summer art camp session 2 concluded today. Here are the students and their favorite artworks.

Summer Solstice 2010

gchaney — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:54:20 +0000

The 4th annual Summer Solstice, coordinated by the was held Tuesday, June 22 at Nancy Holt’s Annual Ring sculpture on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU). Over 40 people attended and were entertained by music and poetry readings. For the 4th year in a row we have been fortunate to have sunshine on the day we celebrate the solstice.

Summer Art Camp 2010 Session 1

gchaney — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:17:31 +0000

The students were shy and quiet at first, but quickly bonded as a group. They enthusiastically jumped into all of the different projects and medias. Students remained patient with us, even though we challenged their comfort levels. Students left the camp exhausted but inspired. However, we gained as much, if not more, inspiration from each of their unique contributions.

Awesome work Session 1! We enjoyed having you! Have a great summer!

Miss Katie

Miss Laura

Storytelling Series at the Museum

gchaney — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:14:46 +0000

A new series at the Museum focus on Storytelling. Please click on the storyteller flyer for more information.

Marshall Fredericks’ Torso of a Dancer on the cover of American Art

gchaney — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:51:43 +0000

Torso of a Dancer (second from right) a 1938 sculpture by Marshall M. Fredericks on the cover of the Spring 2010 American Art journal

After modeling the Torso of a Dancer in about 1934, Fredericks carved it in Belgian black marble for the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He subsequently used the original plaster model to create several bronze casts such as this one. Unlike all the other bronze casts in the museum, the Torso is not patinated with chemicals to produce the green or brown surface color commonly found on bronzes. Fredericks chose to leave the Torso with its raw bronze color. He finished the statue with a high degree of polish to emphasize the smooth forms, graceful lines, and strong muscles of the figure. This cast, made in 1984, exhibits the fine craftsmanship that Fredericks demanded of his founders. The Sculptor’s Studio displays other versions of this sculpture. The sculpture is also in the collection of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Read the online journal at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/amart/current

Featured Items from the Gift Shop

gchaney — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:01:50 +0000

The Museum gift shop at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum features many unique gift items hand crafted by state and local artists. Here are a few items we are featuring for this month. Vist the gift shop: https://web.svsu.edu/mfsm/zcart/

Harlequin print by Marshall Fredericks

Joy Thomas jewelry

Myra Leeper jewelry

Lon Baker wood vessels

Spring Newsletter

gchaney — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:10:14 +0000

The new Spring Newsletter is available to read online now. Click HERE to read the Newsletter. So much is happening at the Museum and now you can read all about it.