There are always works that do not easily fit into larger portfolio themes. Occasionally a piece that is hard to categorize will appear on this page.

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I recently completed a commission for "The Clio Project," a collection being compiled by Chris McNew of artworks that act as witnesses to history. My sculpture is titled Epiphany. It is based upon the statue of Clio, the Muse of History, which forms part of Carlo Franzoni’s Car of History, created in 1819, after the British set the building afire during the War of 1812. It is located above the north door to Statuary Hall, precisely where insurrections breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

 

Clio looked down and witnessed the chaos. She seemed to be recording it all, carefully writing what she was seeing in her book. At least that’s how it looked from below. However, detailed photos obtained from the Architect of the Capitol show that her right hand is empty. Although the gesture suggests that she previously held a quill pen, it is nowhere to be found. The right hand in my sculpture holds a pen, but it is broken, with its feather quill lying upon one of the book's pages.

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Scenic Route is another commissioned piece. I was invited by Amtrak to create an artist interpretation of its route map for the onboard magazine, The National.

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For each bimonthly issue of The National, an artist had been asked to interpret the map in a unique manner. Others who had been invited to contribute designs include bead-artist Joyce J. Scott and mixed-media artist, Dustin Yellin.

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The magazine had taken itself in a new direction a few years ago with not only the map project,

but with feature articles on contemporary artists such as Laurie Anderson and Judy Chicago.

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The map I designed is composed of hand tools and railroad spikes cast into Hydrostone (much like Bones+Tools). It is similar to Spine of the City, which I did for Philadelphia's Art in the Open (2011), in that it envisions the national rail system as part of the skeletal structure of the country, analogous to the way the human skeleton supports our bodily structure.

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Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The National ceased publication.

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A PDF of what appeared in The National can be downloaded here.

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Jason Varney was the photographer for the magazine  project. Reproduction rights to images credited to him can be arranged directly with Jason.

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In April 2022, a 3-D version of the map, called Tools of the Trade, was installed at William H. Gray III/30th Street Station in Philadelphia. For more information, see Peter Crimmins' report for WHYY radio.

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A video of the press event/dedication by W. Keith McManus can be seen here.

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