John Fisher’s Public Sculpture Project at Mendocino Art Center
Mendocino, CA - The Mendocino Art Center is inviting the public to assist world-renowned sculptor John Fisher kick off his three-month long, on-site stone carving project, “Reconstruction Thru Deconstruction,” Saturday, July 14, noon to 4:00 p.m., outdoors at the Mendocino Art Center. For this one day only event, attendees are encouraged to take their own chip off the Texas limestone block, weighing ten tons and measuring eight feet tall, by four feet wide, by four feet deep. Donations are requested.
Fisher will be working on his life-sized sculpture nearly every day through September 29, from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on the grounds of the Mendocino Art Center. By carving on-site, he provides the public with a rare chance to see the creative process evolve first hand.
The public will also have the opportunity to talk with Fisher during a special “Meet the Artist” reception, and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a tasting of premium quality wines from Anderson Valley’s Goldeneye Winery, Friday, July 13, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10. Fisher will also present two lecture and slide presentations during the summer, with dates to be announced.
“Reconstruction Thru Deconstruction” serves as a financial catalyst for Mendocino Art Center’s Building Renovation Project and the title figuratively applies to the demolition and reconstruction process the Art Center is embarking on to rebuild structures that range from 50 to 100 years old. One apartment building, converted from an early 20th century buggy barn, will be rebuilt in the first phase of Mendocino Art Center’s three-part Building Renovation Project. Building naming rights will be given to a donor of $100,000 or more. All event proceeds, from public donations to sales of limestone chips, jewelry and other event merchandise, will be used to renovate the structures on the Mendocino Art Center campus.
For more information regarding the “Reconstruction Thru Deconstruction” events, please call the Mendocino Art Center at 707-937-5818 (toll free 1-800-653-3328) or visit www.MendocinoArtCenter.org. The Mendocino Art Center is located at 45200 Little Lake Street (at Kasten Street) in Mendocino Village.
John Fisher is an American artist of intense passion and outstanding skills who takes a profoundly philosophical approach to art and its impact on communities. For over thirty years, his public, on-site carvings have fascinated the communities to which he is invited, as they observe his intuitive process. Without models or preliminary sketches, Fisher magically pulls figures out of the stone. The John Fisher Project, which is very social in scope, brings together the artist, the material, the audience, and the setting in a way that amplifies the beauty and strength of each. Recently, Fisher has created other public monumental works for Camden Monument Place in Fairfax, VA, and the Elings Park’s sculpture garden in Santa Barbara, CA.
Fisher lives in Fort Bragg with his wife, Sandy Oppenheimer, an outstanding mixed media painter, and their daughter Allegra. They moved to the Mendocino Coast in August 2005 after having spent almost twenty years in the small village of Querceta, near Pietrasanta in northern Tuscany. Visit Fisher’s web site at www.FisherOppenheimer.com.
Fisher will teach a Figurative Stone Carving workshop at the Mendocino Art Center, September 19-23. Students will be exposed to Fisher’s theories of composition, design, and correct use of tools.
The Mendocino Art Center was established on the grounds of the former Preston mansion, which was featured in the James Dean movie “East of Eden.” When the mansion burned to the ground in 1957, Art Center founder Bill Zacha acquired the entire park-like property with a $500 deposit. By 1959 the remaining carriage house had been converted to the nucleus of the Art Center, while other outbuildings and animal sheds became the first studios.
Today the Art Center campus boasts four art galleries, a gift shop, ten art workshop studios, a performing arts theatre and 12 apartments that house artists in residence, students and instructors.
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