Artemis at the Mystic Valley Sculpture Park

 

"Artemis" is one of our most popular sculptures. It was a collaborative project between Kyle and I. This owl stands 7ft tall and is completely hand made. Kyle sculpted it from foam. Then we covered it in mesh and exterior foam coat from Hotwire Foam Factory. I created all the ceramic tiles as well as the hand cut stained glass mosaic to decorate the owl form. 

In 2020, we began to work on the sculpture trail at the Mystic Valley Sculpture Park. Artemis was going to be our first installation. For the installation, we chose a prominent spot on one of the dunes. Above is a glimpse into the pedestal construction.

Kyle created the form into which he later poured a bunch of concrete into it. This would create our custom pedestal. 

Great work-out!

The concrete setting in our custom base.

I was pretty, pretty pregnant with Wesley during our installation. So Kyle and Ethan did most of the prep work =)

"Artemis" had to be properly strapped for the trip up the trail, toward the dune where he would be installed.

Kyle is very innovative. Uuually, its just the two of us doing all this work so we have to come up with creative ways to move the heavy/awkward sculptures.

Exciting moment before loading "Artemis" on the cart for the big move.

Of course, Ethan inspected the whole set up before we headed out!

We got our friend Armando to give us a much needed help and push.

It was so exciting to see the owl slowly roll toward his final installation site.

Go! Go!Go!

Before the final push up the sandy dune.

Going up! This part was pretty easy, due to Kyle's clever set up.

Next came the tricky part of determining the exact direction that "Artemis" should face before securing the base plate to the pedestal.

 

Securing the base to the pedestal.

I was very pleased with how all of this came together. It was a long time coming to have Artemis installed. So much work and effort finally paid off!

Kyle and Ethan enjoying the fruits of everyone's labor =)

Ethan has been witness to the whole project along the way - the creating of the sculpture, the installation in Colorado Springs, the de-installation, then the transportation to our sculpture park and the final installation. He was very excited to see Artemis in his final spot <3

He loves every part of the sculpture but it is most exciting to go up, up, up!

Artemis is beloved by all our visitors and friends. Here isKyle with our sons and his cousin Tony and partner Katie.

Artemis has been installed here for over a year now and we've loved seeing him at all parts of the day, throughout the changing seasons and the changing weather patterns.