My nephew Davidson and his sweet wife Andrea are expecting their first child a little boy in March. While shopping I found a delightful little boy bear and could not resist buying it for the soon to be cherish child. I decided that maybe I should write a story to go along with this whimsical bear.
Little Bear was in need of a little boy to play with. He was lost in a pile of stuffed toys in a great big store, and even though he had other toys all around him he felt all alone. " I know," he thought," that I am supposed to have a very special little boy in my life. But where can I find him and how will I know if he is the right boy for me?" The old stuffed camel in the pile next to him replied, "Don't worry, you will know, your heart will tell you. When you see your boy, you will feel your heart swell with love and that will be the boy for you. In the mean time you will just haft to wait." Just then a lady reached out and picked up the little bear. "Oh, isn't he cute!" she said. "He has on farmer jeans and looks like he should belong to a little boy." She carried he away from the pile of other toys and the old stuffed camel. "Bye," said the camel, "It looks like your adventure has just begun. I hope that you find your little boy soon."
The lady bought the little bear and took him out to her car, stuffed into a shopping bag with other things, but no other toys. Little bear managed to peek out of the bag a saw that the car was moving. "Oh," he thought, " I do hope that I will be able to find my boy." The kind lady took bear home and told him that she had plans for him, but he had to wait and be patient. There was a very special little boy that was going to need a special bear to hug and love. "I will make sure that you get to this little boy, but first we have to wait for him to be born, and you have to take a long trip from Virginia to Colorado where he will be born. You see bear he will be a tiny baby and you must watch over him and take care of him until you can play together. I will write and tell his parents that you will be his friend and to make sure that you have a place in his room where you can watch over him."
Little bear was so excited he was going to have a boy as his best friend. The nice lady made a comfy box up all lined with soft cushiony paper as a bed for bear. She then wrote a note for him to take with him to his new home where he would wait for the arrival of his boy.
The lady tucked little bear into his comfy box bed. "This is the first part of your journey," she said as she taped the box. She picked up the box and took it to the post office and then the journey really began. It was a long trip and a little scary for the bear being in that box, but he knew that he was now really on his way to his boy and his heart began to swell just a little. It seemed like forever before he heard the box being opened and two grown people took him out of the box and into a room where they said he could wait for the new baby. after a little wait the mother and father brought the baby home and when bear saw his baby his heart began to swell until he thought that it could not get any bigger for there in their arms was his boy.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Curtis Norton, Sculptor
We are so lucky to have creative friends in the area. Curtis and his wife Cate are two very good friends. They live and work in the area. Cate is a potter, and Curtis.....
Curtis Norton, sculptor, was born in Newport News VA. His father worked at Newport News Ship Building. Even as a five year old he knew that he wanted to build things. He would save up his quarters to go to the local hardware store to purchase a small bag of nails. He would take these home, and with scraps of wood and some of his fathers tools, he would try to build something. He built small boats to play with and the first large piece that he remembered building was a platform on his parents back porch.
Fascinated with the building process he would watch as they built homes in his neighborhood. He learned how to build by watching how others would do it. He has built two homes one for his mother, and another one where he currently lives and has his work shop.
He remembered that his grandmother would design and make patterns to sew her own dresses. In later years he would also make patterns that he could turn into his sculptures. Watching his grandmother take an idea and turn that into a physical item was inspiring. He loves the challenge of conceiving and idea and then actually bring that idea into being.
His family moved to Culpepper VA in the 1960s. His father worked at Old Dominion Manufacturing, becoming the plant manager. They made garbage trucks. As a teen he was able to get a job working at the plant. While he was there he learned how to do welding. He became fascinated by what you can do with welding. Because his dad was the plant manager he was able to go into the plant after hours and work on his own projects. He basically taught himself how to do welding on all sorts on materials.
After several years he decided to open his own welding shop there in Culpepper. He did welding for customers. Later he closed his welding shop, as most of the work was too repetitious and boring to him. He continued to work on his own designs from his parents garage.
He decided to make a copper teapot for his mother. He ordered sheet copper and started creating. An engineer friend helped him with making patterns. He would cut the copper sheet into his patterns and bend and twist until he got the form that he wanted and the he would spot weld until it was right. Being a perfectionist helped him at this point. He would keep trying until it was right. His mother's teapot was the beginning of his art work pieces.
In 1976 The Washington Post did an article on Albert Paley. Looking at Paley's work got him interested in doing work with steel.
He purchased an used power forging hammer from a friend and started making forged steel plant stands. These echoed the shapes and forms of natural growing vines. His biggest inspiration came from Jose de Rivera's work in metal. He was able to purchase an antique forging hammer from a machine shop in Kilmarnock, Va.
He made more art pieces at this point and started getting commissions. He began to make railings and gates.
He would order 4x8 foot sheets of metal cutting his patterns by hand without the use of a plasma torch. He then takes these pattern pieces and bends and twist them into the shapes that he wish to form. His patterns were made from ideas that he conceived and he first manipulated these so that he knew the the forms would work, then he could cut these from the metal sheets. He painted some of the stainless steel pieces drawing form pieces that he had seen as a kid back in the 1950s.
He rarely works with copper now as he finds it too soft mostly working with stainless steel and bronze. Sometimes he will work on a piece that he has in his head and it will not work out. These he will trash or set aside to rework at a later date. He constantly raises the bar of the challenges that he sets forth for himself to accomplish. It is the challenge as much as it is the work itself. He has never deviated from the path which he set for himself as a child. He followed his passion, even though he was never classically trained.
Curtis Norton, sculptor, was born in Newport News VA. His father worked at Newport News Ship Building. Even as a five year old he knew that he wanted to build things. He would save up his quarters to go to the local hardware store to purchase a small bag of nails. He would take these home, and with scraps of wood and some of his fathers tools, he would try to build something. He built small boats to play with and the first large piece that he remembered building was a platform on his parents back porch.
Fascinated with the building process he would watch as they built homes in his neighborhood. He learned how to build by watching how others would do it. He has built two homes one for his mother, and another one where he currently lives and has his work shop.
He remembered that his grandmother would design and make patterns to sew her own dresses. In later years he would also make patterns that he could turn into his sculptures. Watching his grandmother take an idea and turn that into a physical item was inspiring. He loves the challenge of conceiving and idea and then actually bring that idea into being.
His family moved to Culpepper VA in the 1960s. His father worked at Old Dominion Manufacturing, becoming the plant manager. They made garbage trucks. As a teen he was able to get a job working at the plant. While he was there he learned how to do welding. He became fascinated by what you can do with welding. Because his dad was the plant manager he was able to go into the plant after hours and work on his own projects. He basically taught himself how to do welding on all sorts on materials.
After several years he decided to open his own welding shop there in Culpepper. He did welding for customers. Later he closed his welding shop, as most of the work was too repetitious and boring to him. He continued to work on his own designs from his parents garage.
He decided to make a copper teapot for his mother. He ordered sheet copper and started creating. An engineer friend helped him with making patterns. He would cut the copper sheet into his patterns and bend and twist until he got the form that he wanted and the he would spot weld until it was right. Being a perfectionist helped him at this point. He would keep trying until it was right. His mother's teapot was the beginning of his art work pieces.
In 1976 The Washington Post did an article on Albert Paley. Looking at Paley's work got him interested in doing work with steel.
He purchased an used power forging hammer from a friend and started making forged steel plant stands. These echoed the shapes and forms of natural growing vines. His biggest inspiration came from Jose de Rivera's work in metal. He was able to purchase an antique forging hammer from a machine shop in Kilmarnock, Va.
He made more art pieces at this point and started getting commissions. He began to make railings and gates.
He would order 4x8 foot sheets of metal cutting his patterns by hand without the use of a plasma torch. He then takes these pattern pieces and bends and twist them into the shapes that he wish to form. His patterns were made from ideas that he conceived and he first manipulated these so that he knew the the forms would work, then he could cut these from the metal sheets. He painted some of the stainless steel pieces drawing form pieces that he had seen as a kid back in the 1950s.
He rarely works with copper now as he finds it too soft mostly working with stainless steel and bronze. Sometimes he will work on a piece that he has in his head and it will not work out. These he will trash or set aside to rework at a later date. He constantly raises the bar of the challenges that he sets forth for himself to accomplish. It is the challenge as much as it is the work itself. He has never deviated from the path which he set for himself as a child. He followed his passion, even though he was never classically trained.
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