This sculpture is part of the stump
series and is meant to set on the floor. It is a vertical piece.
It is made of an unusual twenty-three inch tall highly finished
mesquite stump with a seven inch tall hammered lead domed top. The
stump is eleven inches in diameter at the floor, thickening to thirteen
inches diameter in the middle and then tapers to ten inches where
it meets the lead dome. It has been debarked, sanded, oiled and
waxed. Most of the stumps surface is surrounded with dark recessed
grooves. The recessed grooves have a vertical nature. The smaller
recesses are one inch deep, one and one half inches wide and, three
inches long. There are two recesses that run the entire length of
the stump and recesses at some points are four inches deep. The
area with the two long recesses makes up about one third of the
circumference of the stump, with that surface being yellowish white
sapwood. Moving around the stump, the recesses get shorter and the
light yellow sapwood becomes an outline around the recess and the
dark red orange brown of the heart mesquite fills in the areas between
the recesses. There is one side that the grooves are almost nonexistent
and the most of that surface is dark heart mesquite wood. Where
the wood and the lead dome meet is a very straight line around the
circumference of the sculpture. The seven inch tall dome is very
irregular with the peak off center several inches. On most of its
surface you can see only light hammered marks. The lead has two
recesses where two of longest grooves continue as the lead surface.
One continues almost to the top of the dome and the other just several
inches up from where it meets the lead. The lead surface surrounding
the continuation of the groove patterns is wrinkled lead. Is this
a protective cap or a reaction to the environment?
For a more detailed description of this sculpture
please contact hank@chronicart.net.