Wind Catcher

Title: Wind Catcher
LC Subject: Sculpture Public sculpture Public art Metal sculpture Bronze sculpture sculpture (visual work) public sculpture bronze (metal) direct metal sculpture
Creator: Blix, Weltzin B.
Description: A polished, metal sculpture that appears to mimic the shape of a sling shot. A bowed band of metal suggestion tension and movement between the arms of the "slingshot." Wind Catcher; [no.] 7; 1988 The Oregon Arts Commission has ten Regional Arts Councils that provide delivery of art services and information. The Council for this location is: Linn-Benton Arts. You may view their website at: http://www.artcentric.org/
View: front
Location: The Valley Library >> Benton County >> Oregon >> United States Benton County >> Oregon >> United States
Street Address: 121 The Valley Library, Corvallis Oregon
Date: 1975/2012
Identifier: 1995_osu_valley-library_06_a01
Accession Number: 1995_osu_valley-library_06_a01
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: Blix, Weltzin B. (Bill)
Type: Image
Format: image/tiff
Measurements: 51 x 22 x 10 inches
Material: Sculpture; welded bronze
Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Primary Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Relation: 1995 - 1997 Biiennium Valley Library Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 1995_osu_valley-library
Has Version: slide; color
Institution: Oregon Arts Commission University of Oregon
Note: To view a map of the artwork location in context to Oregon State University, see http://oregonstate.edu/cw_tools/campusmap/locations.php
Color Space: RGB
Biographical Information: I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Physics from Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1961 and a Masters of Science Degree in Physics from Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois in 1963. I began work on the Ph.D. in physics at the University of New Mexico in 1963. I stopped my graduate work to accept a staff position at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory which I held through 1965. While at Los Alamos I was in charge of the construction of a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber and its subsequent use in high energy nuclear physics experiments designed to map certain energy levels of the atomic nucleus. In 1966 I took leave to finish my Ph.D. work at Michigan State University. In 1966 I decided to make a career change from physics to sculpture. I had always been interested in both science and art from an early age but leaned toward science until being influenced by close friends in New Mexico and at Michigan State. After an agonizing period of introspection it occurred to me that architecture might be the logical way to combine both of my interests. I dropped out of the Ph.D. program and moved to Oregon where I was accepted into an accelerated program leading to a degree in architecture from the University of Oregon. To fulfill the requirements for this degree I elected to take a one year course in sculpture. I fell in love with this art form, gravitated to the graduate program and earned my MFA degree in June of 1969. My last 29 years have been spent as a working professional sculptor and teacher of sculpture, ceramics and drawing at Lane Community College in Eugene, Or. During this time I have completed many commissions and have received numerous awards. The largest commission if the "Oregon Capitol Fountain" located in Salem, Oregon. This 85' long by 20' high welded bronze piece weighing 15,000 lbs resulted from my winning a national competition made possible by a bequest from former Oregon Governor Charles Sprague. It was completed in 1980. I was a 1984 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship that ran from November 1, 1984 to November 1, 1987. In 1987 I entered a moquette in the fifth Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition, an international competition in Japan. I was one of 25 sculptors chosen from 463 submissions to be paid to execute the work in full scale (two of us were chosen from the United States). This piece was shipped to Japan where it was awarded the Hikone Open-Air Museum purchase award. It is now on permanent display at the Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum near Matsumoto. In doing work such as "Wind Catcher" it is my intent to create a piece that possesses an inner life and power that makes it a part of the natural order of things. It is my hope that this piece engenders a sense of mystery and vitality in the viewer - a sense of work done with integrity possessing a content that functions on more than a surface level. (Blix, 1995)