Pelican Sculpture

I graduated from St. Paul’s School, a co-educational boarding school located in New Hampshire, in 1993. SPS will always hold a special place in my heart, and I was honored to create a sculpture that will be prominently displayed in the school gymnasium beginning Fall 2018.

The pelican is the school mascot, and was my main source of inspiration for the sculpture.

I went on an observation trip to Santa Barbara, CA to research pelicans in their natural habitat.

I made several sketches.

Here I am creating one of the initial models.

I created several different models including a 3D computer model to define the best location for the sculpture in the space. You can see the 3D model in this video: Pelican 3D Model Video

I used silicon molds of plants found on the SPS campus to create textures for the pelican body and wings, and molds of cornhusks to create the texture of the Pelican’s pouch.

The silicon molds were then used to create wax models for the casting process.

Detail of the cast wings.

You can really see the cornhusk detail in this image of the Pelican heads.

Selfie with the Pelican!

The stainless steel casts were buffed to a mirror shine.

Then it was time to start attaching feathers.

Attaching tail feathers.

Wingtips.

The Pelicans were eager to learn how to fly! Here we are testing suspension cables.

The Pelicans are finally ready to leave the nest and go to their new home at SPS. We are looking forward to their installation Fall 2018!