Sculpture

DALLAS -- People in Fort Worth, 30 miles west of here, have long had a pithy way of explaining the difference between the two cities. Fort Worth is where the West begins, they say. Dallas is where the East peters out.But in one enormous artistic undertaking on a 4.2-acre plot downtown, Dallas is now officially on a mission to redraw forever the boundary of the American frontier.The city is erecting a giant bronze rendering of a 19th-century cattle drive, with 70 6-foot-high steers and three trail riders herding them up a ridge and past a man-made limestone cliff a block from City Hall.

Thanks to 3D printing, American society may be about to boldly go where no one has gone before. A Johns Hopkins scientist is seeking to adapt the technology to grow human jaw bones - potentially revolutionizing implant procedures. A Halethorpe entrepreneur created a 3D model of a blind woman that allowed her to "see" herself for the first time. And the technique's potential to aid visual arts and science museums is a featured part of the three-day American Alliance of Museums conference in the Inner Harbor.

The marriage of two disciplines, mathematics and art, may seem an unlikely union given an artist's innate desire for free expression. Meet Helaman Ferguson, whose sculpture is known for its root in mathematical design. Ferguson, of North Laurel, recently completed a massive undertaking: a 2 1/2-story, 9-plus ton bronze and granite sculpture, Umbilic Torus SC. Commissioned by the Simons Foundation, a private institution committed to the advancement of science and mathematics, the torus is being donated to Stony Brook University, in Long Island, N.Y. Ferguson, 72, who holds a doctorate in mathematics, designed umbilic torus, a three-dimensional doughnut-shaped figure with a single edge.

Forget Fashion Week in Paris and New York -- high style calls Howard County home this year through a new fashion, hair and makeup competition. “ManneqArt: Sculpture on the Human Form” is the brainchild of Laurel-based designer Lee Andersen and will include events throughout the year. The wearable arts competition was created to “showcase the best in imaginative hair sculpture, special effects makeup, costuming and digital art,” according to organizers. Andersen patterned ManneqArt after the World of Wearable Art competition in her native New Zealand.

The forged iron sculpture of Bradley Silberberg has been shown from Santa Fe, N.M., to the British Isles. Currently he is the featured artist in the annual invitational sculpture exhibition at Montpelier Cultural Arts Center in Laurel. He says of his work, an example of which is shown here, "I try to give my work a feeling of timelessness and age -- like relics dug up from some ancient tomb." There are two other concurrent shows at Montpelier: "Palimpsest," an installation by Lisa Austin that explores the subject of landscape and culture through the use of recent and older maps; and the mixed media sculptures of resident artist Sam Noto.

In response to the letter "A Baltimore Eiffel Tower?" (Nov. 21), readers should know that John Henry is a world renowned, award-winning sculptor and that Baltimore is incredibly fortunate that he has chosen our city to place one of his magnificent tower sculptures. The reader from Eldersburg (Eldersburg?), who does not even live in Baltimore, may not know this or his work in general. One has to wonder how often she will pass by Westport after John Henry's sculpture is erected and added to our growing art culture so symbolized by the Walters and the Baltimore Museum of Art . Jack Fruchtman Jr., Baltimore

Margaret McGill, a C. Milton Wright High School student, created an anglerfish sculpture using compact discs, nails and light bulbs. It was her entry in Friday's 10th annual "Rethink Recycling" Sculpture Contest, hosted by Maryland Department of the Environment. Her creation earned her first place in the workmanship category and she won a Nook Color. The contest challenges Maryland high school students to use recycled materials to create artistic and innovative sculptures.

Following is a transcript of Brooks Robinson's speech at his sculpture unveiling ceremony Saturday at Camden Yards. “Thank you, thank you, and I promise you, this will be the last 'thank you' of my career. I know Paul Blair, the last six or seven years we played together would always say, 'Well, when's your next Brooks Robinson day?' This is it Pauly, you don't have to do that anymore. Thank you very much. And I just want to say to all of you fans here, I don't like to call you fans, I like to call you friends.

You see the jerseys every time the Orioles play at Camden Yards, often on boys born 20 years after the man shelved his famous mitt - No. 5. Robinson. The combination of that name and that number will always stir the souls of those who watched Brooks Robinson make impossible play after impossible play along the third-base line at Memorial Stadium. But even their children and grandchildren, who never glimpsed his magician's act, have heard the stories of Robinson's kindness - the way anybody could run into him at the mall and receive not only an autograph but a few minutes of genial conversation with a Hall of Famer.

Cal Ripken Jr. just talked before first pitch about his newly unveiled sculpture (and other things). Here are a few quick quotes for you: On the ceremony: “It's a totally different experience (than the other unveilings). I missed Frank's, then I've come to every one since. They're a little bit nerve-wracking, a little bit emotional. Many of the ones have mentioned my dad; Jim mentioned him, Eddie mentioned him and it starts to get you thinking. So today I thought by preparing a speech and practicing it about 100 times I could get the emotion out of the speech, but sure enough at the moment of truth, it hits you, which I guess is a really good thing.” On the timing of the unveiling and the Orioles' current run: “I think it is really symbolic of the connection to Orioles' history and the Orioles' past.

It was just after noon Saturday and a large blue-crab-mobile was drifting out into the harbor with four students from Arbutus Middle School aboard and unable to steer. The problem? A thrown sock puppet that had damaged their controls. The absurd moment captured the spirit of the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race, now in its 15th year, even down to the puppet as the source of mischief — carrying one is a requirement of the competition. School principal Michelle Feeney watched anxiously from a pier at Canton Waterfront Park as a pair of kayakers paddled out to tow the middle-schoolers back to shore, so they could continue on their way. "All they care about is who threw the sock puppet," Feeney said.

Walking through a giant hall in the Baltimore Convention Center, Susan Johnson and Sherry Mills stopped to admire a bronze-and-steel sculpture with water cascading out of it. "I need this," Mills said. "You may want to come around this side first," Johnson said, nodding at a sticker announcing the water feature's $18,000 price. The sculpture by San Francisco artist Michael Szabo was among the many pricey items at the American Craft Council show this weekend. Others among the 650 crafts people at the event were showing high-end jewelry, paintings, furniture and glassware, with prices reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars.

As a prelude to its popular Chocolate & Candy Festival next month, the Bel Air Downtown Alliance is planning a special movie night later this month, along with a new Chocolate & Art Walk. This year's Chocolate & Candy Festival, a rite of spring in Bel Air, will also feature the unveiling of the first "Hearts of Harford" sculptures, a new public arts project launched last year by the town government and the alliance. The first two events will be held Friday, Feb. 22, when the alliance hosts its second Chocolate & Candy Festival Movie Night at the armory, showing "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss.

He has used a chain saw to carve intricate wooden sculptures for years, but when Mark Acton won a commission to hew two big new statues by the reservoir in Druid Hill Park, he wasn't sure he could pull it off. His material would be two tree stumps, each more than 12 feet tall and 20 feet around. Both were red oaks, which have especially tough wood. And when he first inspected them, he saw that each had lots of termite damage - the reason the city had cut them down. "'I thought, 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?

Akis Anagnostou is in the zone. Anagnostou, the pastry chef at Ouzo Bay, Harbor East's new Greek hot spot, holds a saucepan at an angle, rapidly stirring its contents with a metal spoon. Every few seconds, he lifts the spoon, pulling with it a long tail of sugary blue liquid that extends back into the pan. After several minutes, he deems the sugar ready, dropping a dollop of the liquid on a nonstick mat. Dipping a small funnel-like tool in the sugar solution, the chef leans over, blowing gently into the funnel as he carefully and slowly draws the tool, and attached sugar, upward.

The marriage of two disciplines, mathematics and art, may seem an unlikely union given an artist's innate desire for free expression. Meet Helaman Ferguson, whose sculpture is known for its root in mathematical design. Ferguson, of North Laurel, recently completed a massive undertaking: a 2 1/2-story, 9-plus ton bronze and granite sculpture, Umbilic Torus SC. Commissioned by the Simons Foundation, a private institution committed to the advancement of science and mathematics, the torus is being donated to Stony Brook University, in Long Island, N.Y. Ferguson, 72, who holds a doctorate in mathematics, designed umbilic torus, a three-dimensional doughnut-shaped figure with a single edge.

The Orioles released a little teaser of what the Cal Ripken Jr. sculpture is going to look like, but good luck guessing the pose. The O's posted the above photo on their Facebook page today, no doubt to help drum up anticipation for Thursday night's unveiling at Camden Yards. There's been plenty of speculation about what pose Cal has been bronzed in -- perhaps more so than any of the other legends. Will he be tipping his cap, as he did on the night he broke Lou Gehrig's streak?

The children think the hulking metal structure is cool, even if they aren't sure what it's supposed to be. A 21-foot-high artwork unveiled in front of Thunder Hill Elementary School in Columbia has received rave reviews from schoolchildren, staff and parents. The school is the first in Howard County to receive such a major piece, and many say it is indicative of Thunder Hill's commitment to the arts. "In Howard County, you see such a focus on science and math, and I really love that the focus here is on art and creativity," said Suzanne Wilson, whose two sons attend Thunder Hill.

Many of the artists in "Art Maryland 2012" are not afraid to experiment with materials. That leads to some unusual creations in this group exhibit of regional artists at the Howard County Arts Council. Travis Childers, winner of the Juror's Choice award, has glued together hundreds of tightly clustered yellow pencils to make the tree stump-emulating wood sculpture titled "Stump. " In "Hive," Childers has glued together hundreds of ballpoint pen tops to make a hive-evocative black plastic dome.

The Bel Air Downtown Alliance, in cooperation with the Town of Bel Air, will be sponsoring a public art project entitled, "Hearts Of Harford. " The project will be similar to Baltimore's fish sculptures that temporarily graced locations in the Inner Harbor and other places in the city in the summer and fall of 2001. The city also later had painted crab sculptures installed at various locations. The purpose of Bel Air's project, which was discussed by town government officials during the summer, "is to enhance the public space in and around downtown Bel Air, provide visual appeal to the public landscape, establish downtown Bel Air as an art destination and to honor downtown Bel Air as the 'Heart of Harford,'" the alliance said in a news release, referring to the downtown alliance's slogan.