Saipan Artist's Adventure in Changchun China: PART ll

I was selected. This Symposium was an internationally juryed competition with 1060 submissions from artists from all over the world. Twenty-nine artists were selected for this years symposium, out of the 29 artists, four artists including myself were asked to create two works of art. I was the only artist from this region, the countries that participated were from Slovakia, Romania, Germany, Ukrain, Russia, Bulgaria, Netherlands, South Africa, Turkey, Canada, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Am. Samoa, France, Qatar, Rwanda, Mexico, Armenia, Korea, Saint Lucia, Vietnam, India, Polynesia and Israel.

Changchun China International Auto Park

Bronze Sculpture-Auto Pod, and my trusted Assistant(L) and Translator(R)

World's Car- Red Granite Sculpture

Auto Pod- Bronze Sculpture


Each artist was assigned a full time translator, who was a college student from one of the cities large universities. In addition, each sculptor was also assigned an assistant, from a university and in my case I had more because of the two sculptures I was making, the difficulty of the medium and the short period of time allowed to complete the two artworks. All materials and tools were supplied to the artists, but this did not rule out difficulties that may have arisen from differences in tools, clay (not all clays are the same), stones (not all stone is the same), it was all a challenge to the artists, translators, and assistants. With-in a short period of time there was a real spirit of teamwork and an understanding of a common goal, and the vision of the artist’s concept behind the artwork. Weather was a real factor for many of the artists who came from warmer climates, half way through the symposium the average temperature during the day was 18C (64F) and early morning 5C (40F) a shock after living on Saipan for 21 years. Safety equipment was an issue, poor quality respirators and eye protection were supplied, so I had to have Maggie, my lovely wife, mail my good ones from Saipan. The artists had a general health screen early on, and all our medical needs where taken care of. We where really taken care of very well.