Rustic NZ Eagle Installation

May 2017

   One of the most beautiful big Eagles made… found its roost and home, on a natural schist rock mound.. itself sculpted smooth and formed during the recent Ice Age in the Wakatipu Area, ending about 5000 years ago.
For this install, a new set of talons were made on location, followed by cutting and removing the massive 7m wingspan bird from its production mount atop a concrete plinth in Glenorchy.
Pretty cool having the right tools and men to assist with this in the form of Gilly, with JCB, placing the bird on his bespoke high quality articulated trailer unit combined to his Falcon flat deck…. And then the owner of the sculpture, Tony, lifting the bird up to the schist outcrop with his 20 ton digger and holding it in place for the welding of the ankles to the new talons.
With this installation, the images say it all. Easily one of the most supreme locations and install for the massive Rustic NZ Eagle, resulting in the presence of the bird being beyond Tony’s expectation of what he thought it would be like. 

Jacks Point NZ eagle

mid April 2017

   Up to Glenorchy one day to see us, came Guenther and his wife Louise. It was his birthday and his gift to himself was the commissioning of a BIG eagle.
It was to be sited on a prominent natural schist rock outcrop on the edge of his uber cool half underground Thunderbirds are go type slick mansion on the premium lake proximity strip at Jacks Point. And what's more.. he wanted a Helicopter to lift the Eagle in to place
A year went by and we were able to find ourselves with Guenther s big Eagle at the front of the queue - it was game on, let's get welding.
The talons were made on location, form fitted to the rock and then the rock map topography was re created on our new big " sculpture platform " trailer and from there, the bird grew at the workshop.
It was delivered to Guenther's place at 5.30 am in mid April, with the massive bird braced and towering on the trailer, making its way safely through the quiet roads of Queenstown, in the dead of the night.
Heli install happened the following day, with Nick Nicholson piloting his heavy lift Squirrel with a 100 foot long strop D shackled to the birds flight hook on its powerful shoulders.
Thanks Guenther, for this job
I was born for this type of commission

NZ EAGLE Installation

June 2017

   It was about a year ago when Matt phoned out of the blue and said he would love to have an Eagle and could we meet to discuss. Well, this is my kind of meeting and it was one of those " oh man, this is so neat, these people, the way they present, the current chapter of their lives - it felt good to be part of the same race as this wonderful tight couple with a not yet 1 year old young son.."
Matt and Mandy & Lenox
Could have been auditioning for their own movie.. think not just good looking but both of them super model type good looking and as it transpired, kiwi as, the same as us, down to earth and on a roll. The little we learned about their lives, seemed to be perfect as a movie script in a simply serendipitous way.. Currently residing off shore and with a newly purchased NZ super home at Tuckers Beach Queenstown..
It became clear that their love of fine things - collecting beauty and purpose to surround them. And so they commissioned a NZ Eagle, to be perched / landing on a rock and also purchased the " fleeing Young Moa " sculpture, counter balanced on a schist rock.
Thank you, you charming humans
It feels very good to realise our sculptures are in the company other very fine artworks you have. 

The Sheelite Shelter

February 2017

   A Glenorchy artist has taken inspiration - and materials - from the town’s former scheelite mine to create what will become the heart of the Camp Glenorchy project. Designer, sculptor and avalanche specialist Dan Kelly has been constructing the Scheelite Campfire Shelter and Cookhouse by hand.
Mr Kelly is using large ancient stones, recycled timber and the remnants of an old scheelite mining trolley and railway track for the project which, on completion, will comprise a 26m-long, 5.5m-high stone fireplace and a mobile brazier barbecue made from the mining trolley.
A kinetic water sculpture, inspired by the old water-driven scheelite ore battery stamper once positioned at Glenorchy Batter on Mt Judah, will be built into the shelter to collect rainwater, with additional overflow directed to the nearby wetland.
Mr Kelly said stone ruins could often be found around the district and what was always left standing was the fireplace, which was the "heart and soul of the house".
"It was where you cooked and where you lived in winter.
"We want to create an outdoor fireplace that is built from giant local rocks and weaves in details from our local heritage and landscape."
Camp Glenorchy, founded by Paul and Debbi Brainerd, will be New Zealand’s first Net Zero Energy campground.
Mrs Brainerd said the shelter was a "wonderful" example of how having a talented local artist like Mr Kelly could pay dividends.
"Dan can combine extraordinary natural beauty with cultural and historical details that will make the campfire shelter the jewel of Camp Glenorchy.
"It will be a beautiful juxtaposition to the more traditional-looking energy-efficient buildings adjacent to the structure." - from Otago Daily Times   https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/huge-outdoor-fire-inspired-mining 

drawings by Dan Kelly

Artist Dan Kelly (left) and John Golden take a break from work on Camp Glenorchy’s Scheelite Shelter and Cookhouse, which Mr Kelly is constructing using ancient stones, recycled timber and remnants from an old Glenorchy scheelite mine. Photo: supplied.

Phantom Eagle

July 2016

   A lady had been to the Glenorchy Cafe some months early on this year and taken photographs of the big Phantom Eagle. When she was visiting her friends, Nigel and Debbi, at their new corporate function / wedding venue, overlooking Mt Maunganui in the Bay Plenty.. she mentioned about the big eagle and showed her photos. And this is what started the big sculpture install journey. Nigel rang to discuss if I thought the Eagle might suit being installed on a rock next to thefunction centre.. so I measured and emailed photos and then all agreed it would most likely be suitable. Next thing was a plane ride south for Nigel and Debbi to come to Glenorchy to visit the bird up close. So this happened and then Nigel also could not resist buying the Giant Man as well. The idea was also hatched that as we would be accompanying the sculptures to install them (and having tools with ) that it would be worthwhile to look at doing a third job and this involved enhancing the feature doors/entrance to the function centre by overcladding the existing cedar doors with rusted steel and bolted texture with bespoke rustic door handles.
Part 1 of the trip was to commission a 10m deck low loader truck to make the journey from Glenorchy to "Bella Vista Lodge" (as it was known). Next was extracting the sculptures from the GYC and then carefully laying down the Giant Man with the JCB on the old Glenorchy Tennis court, so that he was suitable to load laying down on the truck. Then on went the bird, which required substantial bracing with timber, tech screwed to the trucks wooden deck to prevent wobble and movement of the big wings, on the 1000km journey north.
Myself and Christine flew up and stayed in the very plush apartment accommodation wing of the main lodge... being fed and watered and pampered by Nigel and Debbi.

Grace Totem's Eagle Commission

May 2016

   In Autumn 2016, my agent phoned to say would I come into Queenstown to meet a client, who wanted to see if it might be possible to commission a classic NZ native Eagle. Pauline described the client as a very good one but with a tendency to be very fussy, with maximum attention to detail. Uh ha I thought... I can handle this. The customer is king, they shall get what they want and I am their servant... was the frame of mind I put myself in as i drove down to town on the worlds most scenic drive.
Grace lives at old Frankton and is not an average person in any way. She is of mixed blood and from various parts of the world like Asia and Canada. She is very exotic looking, like an an Inuit Indian, Pokahontas style, dressed immaculately and living immaculately in a designer home. Wow... this girl is fussy!
Grace is an interior designer and her home is bespoken of her exquisite style with so much attention to detail that I realized that it was a MAJOR privilege to be selected as the artist to create what is the finishing touch for her entire property... a proud and powerful NZ Haast Eagle perched on a rock, directing guests to the main entrance door... a super slick Corten steel door that presents itself as a slab...no handle, no hint of it being the door except for the gaze and stance of the eagle.
I came away from the meeting realizing that I had my work cut out on this job. Never before were there so many parameters in place about the size of and dimension and height of the wings and their spread so that the body of work would fit correctly into the space. Also the rock the eagle would be on had to be just so powerful and monumental and its installation into the decking was to be to the millimeter... encased in concrete and with an engineered steel rim.
The pathway to producing this work took 6 months. During this time I got to know Grace and we became close friends in that neat way where by each discovers a whole lot more about the other so that like a magnet there is a bond of respect and admiration for the other. The job did not rush but was fitted around other things going on and there was time for stuff to roll out and for things to be done succinctly.
I got to be shown around inside her home. It is stunning slick minimalism. When she explained unseen things about microscopic details and showed me these I knew I would like to work with her or for her again sometime. It was kind of like bering on Thunderbirds Island, in that super slick abode, home to the Tracys.
Grace said she had waited a long time, thinking about what would be the finishing piece for the entranceway. No matter how hard she tried to look broadly at other works, she kept coming back to realizing she wanted a NZ Eagle... rustic style, creature, mother substantial bird of this land. 

Bob's Cove Glen Tuis

March 2016

   2 Tui Sculptures for Glen Tui ... the new subdivision on the Queenstown to Glenorchy Road at Bob's Cove.
This was a neat commission to get, during late summer 2016. It came about in a random neat way, when I casually was in Queenstown one afternoon and I saw this attractive woman in a black Range Rover Sport pulling in to drive underground in an attempt to get a park at one of the Wilson's Carparks. I think she was unsuccessful and drove out and had to keep looking for a carpark. I re call thinking at the time that this is typical, with wealthy foreign looking people swarming all over the place, adding to the dynamic growth and mix of Queenstown 's fortunes and woes.
In a few minutes, the same woman appeared on the footpath right next to me, dressed to the nines in jet black everything, with dark skin and a smatter of freckles on her perfectly made up face. Next thing I was surprised and delighted when she said easily something like... " its fuck near impossible to get a carpark these days isn't it... " and I realized to my delight that she was a good down to earth kiwi girl and so we became fast friends and introduced ourselves and got talking. We actually had a business meeting 1 hour after that and formally began to plan the nuts and bolts of a dynamic sculpture commission.
She is Janine Twose and is the development force behind the high quality new Glen Tui sections, along with her equally other great two Kiwi business partners, Mark and Tracy Wikstrom.
The Tuis would be a cheeky pair and be installed one each side of the main entrance to the subdivision. They would be mounted on 2 big blocks of Blue Gum hardwood, which are from the area.
Once I had the blocks at my workshop I began the works as the scale could be established. One tui would be perched horizontally and the other vertically. One would be twisting one way to look and the other would be doing something else. Rustic recycled steel was used and the differing textures of shadow play defined what would be the colors of the feathers. The white bridal veil of the tui's shoulder cape and the prominent wattles they have under their " chins " were done in cut up strips of old white oven ware. ( with white enamel, rather than a white paint.. )
Each tui ended up being quite big... 2.5m from beak to tail and this was a result of the way the bird sculptures always autoscale to their feet / talon size.