Jay's View - an artist looks at Life: 2012

While I was at the dentist's I got a call from the Field Gallery which I was unable to answer. Turned out the woman who is head of the committee overseeing a big art project in NYC was at the Field Gallery and liked some of my outdoor pieces. She thought I should apply.

Swordfish Harpooner/Town of Chilmark’s Tricentennial Celebration Permanent Installation, Ferro Cement 18’ x 14’ x 6’, 1994, Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard (MA), project budget: $10,000 Artist’s labor donated.

Photo Credit: from the book “Best of America Sculpture Artists”

Photo by Susan Safford of the Martha’s Vineyard Times

Swinging Jenny
Cast Bronze, 21” x 6” x 16” h, 1995
For sale at the Granary Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, West Tisbury, MA $3,600
This edition is signed and numbered with over 80 sold.

Reading Dog; for Jay’s Wild Island Sculpture Garden
(Part of a series of 7 Dogs engaged in various activities);

Mixed Media (Steel, recycled foam, sculptural cement) 19” x 26” x 63”, 2011;

Located in the Wild Island Sculpture Garden.

Breaching Whale Weather Vane

Higashihara Park Kamakana Playground Renovation

Copper and Stainless Steel, 3’ x 3’ x 6’ ; May 2009

Harold H Higashihara Park, Kuakini Hwy, Kailua Kona, Hawaii

The cost of materials was under $1000 all labor was donated

Jump Rope Girl

Painted Steel, 62” x 34” x 20” 1991

Field Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, West Tisbury, Massachusetts

Swinging Jenny (model for cast bronze commission for private residence in Beverly Hills, California)

Sculptural Cement over Steel armature, 94” x 26” x 77”h

Presently in the Wild Island Sculpture Garden, Chilmark, MA, cast bronze version will be on the grounds of a private residence in Beverly Hills, California.

Speedo

Painted Steel 20” x 80” x 60” h 1998

Wild Island Sculpture Garden, Martha’s Vineyard, Chilmark, Massachusetts

The Dance
Cast Bronze 16” x 11” x 9” h 2001
For sale at the Granary Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, West Tisbury, MA $3,600
This edition is signed and numbered with over 70 sold.

The Dance (life size version) Commission for a Private Residence in Chilmark, Massachusetts

This is the model for a cast bronze finished piece. It is constructed out of steel, aluminum, foam, sculptural cements and whatever else is needed. Presently under construction. Project to be completed by fall of 2014.

Jay Lagemann’s studio, Chilmark, Massachusetts

Swinging Jenny

Painted Steel, 92” x 25” x 73”h

Field Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, West Tisbury, Massachusetts

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I also had to submit an Artist Statement.

Jay Lagemann

Artist Statement

As a summer kid in Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard I had grown up greeting the swordfishermen when they returned with their catch and unloaded the huge fish onto the dock. I idolized them. In 1994, when Chilmark celebrated its tricentennial, I had a vision of my sculpture of the Swordfish Harpooner floating above the dunes. It felt like a perfect fit with the fishing village of Menemsha. The Tricentennial Committee approved my proposal and commissioned building the sculpture. Two years later the town voted to keep the sculpture there forever. Over the last 18 years it has become an icon and the symbol of Menemsha.

In 2009 I was went to Hawaii to recover both mentally and physically from prostate cancer surgery. After two months of camping on the beach, swimming with the wild dolphins, and mountain biking on the volcanoes, I was given the chance to make a copper weather vane to complete the renovation of a children’s park south of Kona. The local artists would not do it because there was no pay. My studio was 6,000 miles away, I hadn't worked in copper in 30 years, and the opening was in three weeks. The whole idea was absurd. But that night as I lay out under the stars I thought of how during my time in Hawaii I had become physically strong and mentally at peace with my mortality and ready to create new work. Fate had given me a chance to give back to the people of Hawaii and create a public sculpture. I postponed my flight home and three weeks later, with the help from many members of the Kona Rotary club, the weather vane was installed the day before the reopening of the park. The names of my grandchildren are inscribed on the inside.

During the recession of 1991 a decrepit old colonial house was foreclosed on. I visualized my wife's screen printing business on the inside and my sculptures on the outside where people could see them and fall in love with them. We bought the building. I designed the renovations and was the de-facto general contractor. My vision became a reality.

I was born and raised in New York City and was badly burned as a two year old. So when I looked at the Call to Artists my first thoughts were of the children and their parents coming to the hospital and what a stressful experience that can be. I thought of my "Swinging Jenny" sculpture with the child flying through the air, scared but secure in their parent's grip, the joy of the two of them connected as the world spins around them in a blur. In my mind's eye I saw a very large "Swinging Jenny" across from the entrance to Hassenfeld Pediatric Center. The sculpture would be an image of joy and connection between parent and child to greet visitors and staff and be their last image when they leave the hospital.

The "Swinging Jenny" is one of my best images. In the 21 years since I first created it, I have made over 100 small and large: in steel, bronze, and multimedia (sculptural cement over steel and fiberglass over steel). They are all over the world. It is an image that is universal and stays fresh. Cast in bronze or aluminum it would become an iconic symbol of the Hassenfeld Pediatric Center.

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The final submission was a Professional resume/CV (limit two pages)

Jay Lagemann

EDUCATION

Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, NY 1962

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 1966

Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa

BA in Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 1971

PhD in Mathematics

Thesis: “Embedding Countable Lattices in the Reducibility Ordering of the Partial Degrees”

WORKSHOPS

Johnson Atelier, Mercerville, NJ: Ceramic Shell casting 1996

Johnson Atelier, Mercerville, NJ: Sculpting the Human Figure 2000

recognition

Best of America, Sculpture Artists, villi, 2009 Juried Selection 2009

Martha’s Vineyard: A Photographic Essay by Charles Field 2011

Selected exhibitions

Field Gallery, West Tisbury, MA, One-Person Multimedia outdoor sculpture exhibition 1993

Hale’iwa Arts Festival, Hale’iwa, HI, Juried Selection, Carved Wood 1998

Chilmark Library ,Chilmark, MA. One-Person Show, outdoor sculpture, bronze, structural cement, 1998

Steel,

Martha’s Vineyard Family Planning Art Show, Juried Pieces in bronze, clay, sculptural cement, wood 1990-2011

West Tisbury, MA.

Beauty and the Best, Juried Selection for the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club, bronze, structural cement. 2003, 2007, 2012

West Tisbury, MA.

Artists at Long Point: Evolution, Juried Selection for the Trustees of Reservations, two bronze , one steel, 2004

one structural cement. West Tisbury, MA.

One Person Show, exhibition at “The Gallery”, Vineyard Haven, MA. Bronze, ceramics, wood. 2004

Central Square Theatre Exhibition, Invitational Exhibition, future home of Nora Theatre Company, Boston, 2004

MA. Bronze “The Dance”.

Gallery Representation

Granary Gallery, West Tisbury, MA 1997-present

The Gallery, Vineyard Haven, MA 2003-2005

Field Gallery, West Tisbury, MA 2005-present

North Water Gallery, Edgartown, MA 2008-present

Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs, MA 2007-present

selected Public Art Installations

Swordfish Harpooner 1994

Ferro cement, H 18’ x W 14’ x D 6’, in recognition of the Town of Chilmark’s Tricentennial Celebration

Red Cat Restaurant, outdoor sculpture installations. North Tisbury, MA 1995-1998

Jitterbug Dancers 1998

Painted stainless steel, H 62in x W 86in x D 74in, Hamilton Elementary School, North Kingston, RI

Breaching Whale Weathervane 2009

Copper and stainless steel, H 6’ x W 3’ x 3’D, Harold H. Higashihara Park, Keauhou, Kona, HI, Commissioned for the Rotary Club of Kona Renovation of the Park

Bittersweet Restaurant Outdoor Sculpture Garden 2005-2007

Bronze pieces on brick pedestals, large steel sculptures including “Swinging Jenny” and “Jitterbug Dancers”. North Tisbury, Massachusetts.

Wild Island Sculpture Garden, Chilmark, MA 1978-present

Press

“RoadSide Art and Food”, by Gerald Kelly, Martha’s Vineyard Times 1995

“The Season for Swordfish”, Eniko DeLisle, Martha’s Vineyard Magazine 1996

“Vampire Danser” by Jay Lagemann, front page photograph, Martha’s Vineyard Times 1997

“The Gallery is New Venture for Artistic Couple”, Martha’s Vineyard Times 2003

“Jay Lagemann Propagates Sculpture”, Vineyard Gazette, by Sam Teller 2005

“Arts”, by Brooks Robards, Cape Cod Life 2006

“Three-dimensional Influences”, by CK Wolfson, Arts Section, Martha’s Vineyard Times 2009

Jay's View - an artist looks at Life

Cleanup of fallen trees from Sandy

Smoke Alarm battery change, though the beeping was the CO Monitor.

Mountain biking up Snake Mountain, Vermont

Morning Paddle on Chilmark Pond with Marianne

September Day at the beach

Call to Artists—Outdoor Art Installation for Hassenfeld Pediatric Center

JV 50 Christmas Special 2002 ©

Building the Swordfish Harpooner - DVD