Three new sculptures in town, July 2023
As part of the LAHC “heARTS” Outdoor Arts Collection program, three new sculptures were installed in downtown Lyons in July 2023, and are on loan (and for sale) for two years
This corten steel lizard “Largarto Loco” sculpture by Parker McDonald of Longmont was installed near Moxie Bread Co. on High Street and Fifth Avenue.
Colorado born sculptor, Parker McDonald, is having a blast with metal. “I am a maker. I have always had an insatiable drive to make things with my hands. With pencils; paints; wood; leather and now metal. My school years were filled with shop and art classes. My early career was construction. And now what my hands make is art, and I am loving it.”
“I love what I’m able to do with a welder. Working cold welded steel is a challenge, but it’s also immediate, and spontaneous and has a unique personality. The more familiar I become with steel’s personality, the softer it becomes. It becomes more of a cooperative participant. Freeing my imagination to turn inner vision to tangible reality.”
Kevin Shaffer, Leadville, Colorado, “Transitional Piece,” installed on Lyons’ Town Triangle (where Hwy. 36 splits into Main Street going west, and Broadway going east)
Kevin Wayne Shaffer was born and raised in a Mid-Western landscape of tall grass prairie and Oak savanna. This place in the Heartland, a work-hard-play-hard ethic was engrained on a horse ranch, and the ever present Prairie Style inspired Kevin’s development to eventually study architecture, land planning, landscape architecture, horticulture, and sculpture.
“For the creation of artwork, design of landscape, a building, a piece of furniture, anything… extracting the context is what inspires my creative process.”
The years of experience and progression in design thought has influenced Kevin’s art and design career to seek a minimalist approach; honest in the details with naturally rich materials. Kevin prefers to join art media and sustainable built environments in a way to inspire ways of living, create environmental awareness, and reduce maintenance and over-management.
Kevin’s design process is a product of project specifics. A common question at the beginning of any project would be, “What is found in the meaning of the context extracted from site specific research?” The research of history and region, responsibilities towards the environment, local culture, and functionality versus aesthetics; these are all important areas of study.
“High Desert Kelp” by local sculptor, Jon Corson-Rikert, Lyons.
Installed on south side of Hwy 36 (Ute Hwy) just east of downtown.
(Jon is a local LYONS artist, and the Lyons Recorder
will highlight him in a separate piece in the near future).
Artist’s Statement
My undergraduate visual studies major culminated in a one-man sculpture show at graduation, and led to a year experiencing architecture, art and art history first hand in Europe. Back in the U.S., I became very active in the arts community in Madison, Wisconsin, serving on the board of a cooperative gallery, exhibiting in several galleries, and competing successfully for public art projects in the city and surrounding areas. Sculptures of mine were selected for the 1980 Wisconsin Biennale and the permanent collection of the Madison Art Center, now the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
With children to support, I diverted to a career in computer cartography and software development, working in regional planning, university research laboratories, and a university life science library.
My wife Janet and I moved to Lyons following our retirements in 2017. With more time to pursue my artistic interests, I have renewed my skills and learned new ones, including attending a session of the 2019 Marble/Marble workshop in stone carving.
I am now designing larger public sculptures engaging users through blends of organic and architectural forms and spaces. My sculptures reference human scale as experienced through architecture and public parks, inviting exploration through bold color, playful alternation of symmetry and asymmetry, and figure-ground tensions.
HeARTS of Lyons program.
Photographs provided by Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission
LAHC thanks all the volunteers and Town staff who helped in the installation of these sculptures.
MISSION statement: The mission of the Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission (LAHC) is to beautify the streets of downtown Lyons, promote local artists, and educate the viewing public on artistic inspirations and procedures.
