Creating a Bust for a Ducal Family

Why should creating a bust for a Ducal family be any different than, for example, one for a non-aristocratic art collector? Well… as artist-in-residence for Belvoir Castle & Estate I feel a tremendous amount of challenge to measure up to the many famous and skilled artists that have preceded me in creating works for this ancient place! “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most challenged sculptor of them all?”

My patron, the Duchess of Rutland (Emma Manners) is right to expect the very best of me…When tackling the first bust of one of the Manners girls, it’s not just about creating another bust of another girl, it is pertinent to think I’ll be adding another layer to the cultural fabric of a very old Ducal estate in the form of contemporary bronze busts…

So I go to work on creating this first bust of Lady Eliza with a great deal of humility. The right kind of humility, not servile but genuine and elevating- the kind that honours all that has gone before me. Those great paintings that hang in Belvoir Castle, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jan Steen, George Stubbs, Matthew Cotes Wyatt, Thomas Stothard and others inspire me to hone my own artist skills ever deeper.

On Artists Creating Opportunities for Themselves

I really believe in the necessity for artists to create opportunities for themselves… and to learn how to do so if they don’t know how!

Personally, besides experimenting in 2010 with a host of new sculpture materials, working out for myself a sustainable sculpture practice strategy, starting not just one artist blog but two, and undertaking commissions for an art collector in Aberdeen, one in Washington D.C., another for the University of Virginia plus a further one for the Port Authority in Toronto, Canada –  I’ve initiated this year a large-scale community sculpture project on one continent (USA), and created for myself on another continent a 14 month artist residency on a Ducal estate in England, which I have just embarked on.

As artist-in-residence here at Belvoir Castle & Estate, thanks to my energetic art patron the Duchess of Rutland, I have pretty much carte blanche to initiate a host of activities that will not only satisfy me and further my art practice (extending it from artist-maker to artist-organiser), also and more importantly I will be in a position to help other artists further their practices.

Today I received the “go-ahead” for an ambitious sculpture trail, the Belvoir “3Rs – Reclaimed, Recycled – Raw” which is a total blast as I will be offering an opportunity for a number of emerging environmentally conscious artists at various levels of their art education to create artwork from junk/waste, disused stuff and sustainable raw materials locally sourced.

I would love to discuss starting a collaborative project by experienced artists / makers that results in a compendium of successful actions undertaken to create such art opportunities for themselves and for other artists.

This could be a useful tool for youngsters studying art at all levels – for art education. I welcome collaborators on this. Do get in touch if you have an interest or something to contribute to the project!

 

Bronze bust of former Chancellor "Papa" Dr. Joe Smiddy for the University of Virginia at Wise

 

 

Belvoir Castle Website and Progress with Artist Residency

I am really excited that the Belvoir Castle home page at www.belvoircastle.com now contains a link to my own website page concerning the Duke and Duchess of Rutland’s newly created Artist Residency – more info about which is at www.laurydizengremel.com/Belvoir

Things are progressing as artist-in-residence. I have now met twice with the Arts Officer for the Borough of Melton Mowbray, Dee Sowden, to discuss amongst other things ideas developed during meetings with two headteachers of primary schools in the Vale of Belvoir (Stathern and Redmile), both located in Leicestershire. Ms. Sowden, an artist herself with a great deal of experience in art education / teaching / mentoring in the arts, was very receptive to the idea of the Belvoir Castle & Estate Artist-in-Residence working with children of primary schools in the Vale to create lasting outdoor sculptures, sculpture installations and sculpture reliefs.

Interacting with a professional sculptor should give the Vale children a whole new perspective about sculpture. Who knows, perhaps I will inspire one or several to become a sculptor!

There have also been last week and during the week-end two preliminary meetings with a very enlightened farmer, Paul Sheardown, who is responsible for the Home Farm on the Belvoir Estate as well as his own large farm. We’ve discussed the idea of a sculpture trail for the Vale of Belvoir that will feature mainly the use of recycled, reclaimed and raw sculpture materials (basically sustainable sculpture materials), locally sourced from around the Vale.

Finally, I have recently updated an article about sustainable sculpture entitled “Designing, Creating Sculpture with Sustainability in Mind   – Musings of a Would-Be Eco Artist / Environmental Artist”” which you can find at http://www.laurydizengremel.com/sustainable_sculpture_design.html.

An example of sustainable sculpture I reference at the end of that article is “Log Henge – Spirits of the Forest” shown below.

Log Henge - Spirits of the Forest, a permanent sculpture installation created with sustainable materials

First Meeting with Headteachers in the Vale of Belvoir

Very interesting morning. Was picked up by Kevin Osborne (Community Outreach Co-Ordinator for Belvoir High School – introduced to me last week by Phil O’Brien) at the Old Hunt Stables and taken to meet Stathern and Redmile headteachers. The two primary schools are very different, each within its unique location. Redmile looks out onto Belvoir Castle itself – and that is extremely special! Stathern seems smaller, and just as friendly a place! Have discussed with both headteachers various things they need and want. More creativity, to complement what they are already offering, is definitely wanted hereabouts. Am now booked to offer a craft workshop from 2-4pm at Stathern’s Annual Autumn Fair at the school… And am discussing the possibility of finding funds (with Kevin’s help) to create a permanent artwork for each school, working hand in hand with all the kids, teachers and any parents that want to get involved.

Yep – interesting morning!

Press Release – Belvoir Castle – 6 October 2010

PRESS RELEASE – BELVOIR CASTLE

Fostering the Arts in the Vale of Belvoir  – 6^th October 2010

Creative times are ahead for residents and visitors of the Vale of Belvoir thanks to an art scheme being introduced by the Duke and Duchess of Rutland with the help of their newly appointed artist-in-residence, award-winning sculptor Laury Dizengremel.

“This great place is incredibly appealing to me. It’s a fantastic opportunity to create a rural arts facility and to make contemporary artwork for an ancient Estate, all in the very heart of rural England” says Laury. “Also following former artists associated with the family such as Joshua Reynolds is a great challenge and privilege.”

Besides large-scale, outdoor public works in Ireland, China, Vietnam, Honduras, the USA and France, with both large and small sculptures at Broomhill Sculpture Gardens in North Devon, as well as corporate clients that include HSBC Head Office in Canary Wharf, Laury Dizengremel has also for decades participated in or led a variety of art workshops.  She is looking forward to developing a programme to benefit children and adults in the Vale of Belvoir from her new home/studio at the Old Hunt Stables in Woolsthorpe-by- Belvoir.

Emma, Duchess of Rutland is keen on the whole concept of fostering the arts in and around the Belvoir Estate. She said:

“The Estate has a great history of art – from collections made by the 4^th Duke with his friend, Joshua Reynolds to Duchess Violet drawing pictures with Queen Victoria. We are so pleased that Laury has agreed to be our Artist-in-Residence to continue our investment in the arts. Laury is a world-class master portrait sculptor who has previously created sculptures of Roger Federer and other international names While Laury is at Belvoir, she is going to create busts of our daughters. As parents, we are delighted with that!”

The artist hails originally from France, previously lived in England for 20 years and has just moved back to the UK after a stint in rural Montana, where she acquired “a lovely videographer husband, a great rescue dog and a tiny feral kitten, whom I bottle-fed for a few weeks last year and was dubbed on arrival at Heathrow by Animal Reception officers as the first true Norwegian Forest Cat they’d ever seen!”

Laury hopes to receive suggestions from members of the local community. “It’s all about me learning what sculpture, art and design tuition is needed and wanted around the Vale. The programme I will devise will be based entirely on consultation with people at grass roots level.” The artist can be reached via her new e-mail address artist@belvoircastle.com or through her website at www.laurydizengremel/Belvoir. She welcomes all correspondence.

MEDIA CONTACT DETAILS & FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact Laury on (01476) 879071 and read more about Laury’s work at http://www.laurydizengremel.com

The special project on Roger Federer and the ATP Masters Shanghai / Wimbledon Museum tour sculptures can be seen at: http://www.laurydizengremel.com/Tennis_Terracotta_Warrior_sculptures_ATP_Tennis_Master_Cup_Shanghai_China.html

Hello Belvoir Castle & Estate world!

Welcome to my first post. Arriving here on the Estate has been an adventure in itself. From the wilds of Montana where my husband videographer Joe Caneen and I shared a log-sided cabin on 10 acres with nary a neighbour in sight, to being neighbours (as it were) with a Duke and a Duchess… imagine the excitement!

Great sense of challenge as I am preceded in association with the Rutland family by illustrious artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, accomplished sculptor Duchess Violet wife of the 5th Duke, and ithas also been reported to me that William Shakespeare may have visited the Estate. Wow! he wouldn’t have used that word, but I can!

Belvoir Castle, which I see from the window of my new studio, though not from this angle!