Coming soon to Downey, California...
​"Tree of Life" by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild is in the finishing steps of bronze casting at Art Castings of Colorado.

This installation is part of a series of Public Art placements that the City has commissioned from the National Sculptors' Guild for installation in 2020. The bronze and stainless steel sculpture will be placed in the new fountain at the Theater Plaza.

Our design team began working on this project in March of 2019.

Measuring 12-feet tall and 14-feet in diameter, the tree composed of eight life-size bronze figures out stretched from a single column are united by the stainless steel rings they hold; this sculpture is among our most complex figurative monuments to date. We are so excited to see this significant art statement in place. We will update this post as soon as installation is set.

Progression of the project is shown below...

Update 5/18/2020: attaching rings to figures, figures to trunk, metal chasing, and patina in progress

Update 10/11/2019: enlargement of the next set of figures in clay.

Update 5/8/2019: engineering and prototype for enlargement 

Update 3/25/2019: presentation of conceptual approach and maquette

Community by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptor's Guild was placed in Little Rock, AR December 2019.

Community creates a welcoming space and impression which reflects my experiences here.

Many stages and aspects of life are represented in "Community"; baby and family, sports and nutrition,
reaching out and education; all lending to portraying playfulness, warmth, hospitality, and love. These are the building blocks for a thriving community and are all present in Little Rock.

NSG Public Art Placement #512

Update 11/10/18: The dedication of SALUTE by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild was powerful and we are so grateful to have been involved in honoring our Veterans with this monument. #WeSaluteYou

Update 11/3/18: ​We had to fly back to Colorado - but SALUTE is on track for completion next week, and Clay will return for the dedication of SALUTE by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild next Saturday as part of the OrthoIndy Y Veteran's Day Celebrations. 

With all our respect and admiration to Veteran's everywhere, We Salute You!

Update 10/30/18: Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild are in Indianapolis all week to install and finish "Salute" at the OrthoIndy Foundation YMCA at Pike

Lots happened on-site for this project - the cast aluminum is attached to the wall, then foam is added to complete the figures, Clay sculpts this foam then stucco is smoothed over all but the aluminum to harmonize the sculpture and wall of the monument. Stainless Steel plaques will then be attached to the wall to house the dog tags honoring Veteran's. (Veterans’ names will be added to the sculpture with a donation of $100 at YLovesVets.org) Special thanks to all our subs, certainly a team effort on this one. 

Update 10/23/18: The aluminum castings are being chased in Loveland, CO this week, Clay is up from Colorado Springs to finish strong. We load the truck Friday.

Update 9/14/18: We just got news from Indianapolis that the walls are poured! It's coming together now.

Update 8/8/18: Clay has been hard at work sculpting the final portraits representing the five branches. two will be sculpted in the wax stage prior to casting. The objective was to create racially ambiguous male and female portraits for optimum inclusiveness of all service men and women. 

Update 7/12/18: Lots of schematics over the past year for this complex project since half will be sculpted on site involving multiple subcontractors. All of whom have been great to work with. 

Update 5/14/18: The figure portion with sculpted saluting arm has been completed, ready to mold and cast.

Update 9/18/17: Several months of designing and redesigning; working with the committee to establish several key elements including scale, depicting men/women which branch is placed where. The NSG and OrthoIndy have done our best to make this a monument every Veteran may be proud of.

“The sculpture will appeal to people of all walks of life and every generation,” said Aasif Bade, chair for the Pike Capital Campaign to build the new YMCA. “Salute will be a great place to gather and pay tribute to our veterans.”

7/5/17: We are honored to be selected for this project. Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild will be installing "Salute" at the OrthoIndy Y next year. Follow this post for updates as the project develops.

Designed with a universal approach and appeal it is our intention that people of all walks of life and every generation will be able to step into the art statement and bring their story to the piece. Whether they be a veteran and feel the strength of the collective salute, or they know a veteran and can show their reverence and gratitude for those who have served.

The design complements the architecture for continuity. Two serpentine walls fill the site forming an open ellipse. The walls graduate in height toward the center. At these highest points the silhouette of figures crest the wall drawing attention to the center area where the plaques honoring veterans are discovered next to five saluting figures. The shape of the walls creates an intimate, protected space for individuals or small groups to gather and pay tribute with quiet contemplation.

Emerging from the inner curve are five figures, each rising stoically in the line, bringing solidity and strength to the wall. Employing the figure as a stylized architectural element allows it to have universal appeal and convey strong emotion without extraneous detail.

The figures stand shoulder to shoulder, saluting each other to demonstrate the strength and camaraderie of all Veterans of the Armed Forces. Each branch is defined through the uniquely sculpted hat, depicting the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. We wish to work with the committee to best select the most distinctive hat for each branch so that it is an immediate and relatable image. A simple distinguishing insignia or patch may be included for further clarity. To the right of the figures are plaques engraved with the names of the Veteran's honored by the OrthoIndy Foundation.

The choice of materials has structural purpose, as well as symbolic significance, to emphasize the overall message of honoring Veteran’s services and the YMCA’s mission to help soldiers adjust to re-entering civilian life. This mission is emphasized in the change in material within the figure, from cast aluminum to modeled stucco symbolizing a veteran’s transition from service to civilian life while acknowledging that the uniform will indefinitely be a part of their life. 

​Aluminum has been a significant metal utilized within the military since WWII when the use of America’s supply of bauxite for metal production soared for aircraft frames, ship infrastructure, radar chaff and millions of mess kits. The saluting arm side of the uniform and head will be cast in aluminum. The rest of the figure emerges from an earthy material (sand being the primary makeup of stucco) to show that all service men and women are connected to the soil they protect.

Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild ​

09/22/2017 UPDATE: Honored to have seven of the Little Rock Nine at the Unveiling and Dedication of United by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild at Central High School, Little Rock, AR.

09/21/2017 UPDATE: We are in Little Rock for the installation of United by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild The 10-foot bronze commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the integration of Central High.

Clay states about the sculpture... “I wanted to try to shift the focus from the historical to the contemporary. There has been so much progress made. I wanted to create something that showed the strides that have been made — something hopeful and uplifting.” 

The design features allegorical figures with raised arms working to interlock their respective rings in the effort to be "UNITED". Incomplete rings indicate that there is still progress to be made. A secondary narrative built on the surface of each figure demonstrates that both sides have a foundation of ideals spanning generations that must be transformed into building blocks toward something greater

The dedication for this important monument is Friday September 22nd at Central High School where additional commemorations are happening this month to recognize the 60th anniversary of the integration of Central High. click for more info

09/15/17 UPDATE: United by Clay Enoch and the National Sculptors' Guild was loaded onto the truck this morning and is on its way to Little Rock. The 10-foot bronze will be installed next week. The dedication for this important monument is Friday September 22nd at Central High School.

Art celebrates post-integration progress
Story published monday in LR demgazette...... By Jeannie Roberts Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
This article was published April 25, 2016 at 5:45 a.m.

PHOTO BY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE / MITCHELL PE MASILUN

Little Rock contest’s winner to sculpt piece marking 60 years since Central High crisis
Shifting the focus from the historical scar on Little Rock to the strides that have been made in the nearly 60 years since Central High School was integrated was the goal of this year’s winner of the 2016 Sculpture at the River Market competition.
National Sculptors' Guild fellow Clay Enoch of Colorado Springs, Colo., was named Sunday as the recipient of a public art commission for his proposed piece called United. The sculpture, which will be 10 feet, 2 inches tall and 6 feet wide, will be installed in 2017 on the grounds of Central High School to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the desegregation crisis. The state gained national attention when on Sept. 4, 1957, nine black students attempted to enter the high school but were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard and an angry mob. On Sept. 25, 1957, U.S. Army troops, under orders from President Dwight Eisenhower, escorted the “Little Rock Nine” through the mobs and into the high school, officially ending segregation for the state. Enoch’s piece, which he will compose from silicon bronze and structural stainless steel, depicts two figures working together to connect two circles. “The thing that struck me is the history is kind of ugly,” Enoch said. “I wanted to try to shift the focus from the historical to the contemporary. There has just been so much progress made. I wanted to create something that showed the strides that have been made — something hopeful and uplifting.” 

Enoch and two other finalists — Kathleen Caricof and Denny Haskew, both of Colorado — were selected from 28 submissions. “This is cliche, but you’d like to be able to give all three of them the commission to do all three pieces because they were all three superb in every way,” said Dean Kumpuris, the founder of Sculpture at the River Market and a member of the Little Rock Board of Directors. Little Rock Central Principal Nancy Rousseau said she was thrilled about the commissioned piece and is eager to have it installed. “There were so many good pieces,” she said. “They’re all timeless. All had great concepts.”
Joseph Wright, a Central High senior, said the many sculptures to commemorate the desegregation crisis were inspiring to him not only as a black student at the school, but also as an aspiring artist. “The name United and the sculpture is very fitting,” Wright said. “I’ve taken an art class at Central every year. Sculpting is a passion of mine.”

Artist Longhua Xu of Hot Springs said the subject of the competition was especially meaningful to him as a 1989 immigrant from Shanghai. His piece Freedom commemorates the Central High School integration with a clay, three-sided sculpture of three representative students. One is a girl with a book held in the air, balanced on the tips of her fingers like a bird to illustrate the heights to which an education can take her. Another is a black male student with a backpack and the word “Explore” chiseled behind him. The third is a female Chinese student with a pen and notebook in her hand with the word “Express” embossed behind her. The last is representative of Xu’s daughter, Ann Xu, a 2010 graduate of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs whom Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed to the school’s Board of Visitors last year. “As an Asian-American, I had to teach her that she needs to speak up, to have her voice heard,” Longhua Xu said. “She wanted to be class president but said that you had to be popular, smart and white to get the spot. I told her to speak up. She became student body president. Now she’s in medical school at Baylor.”

More than 800 sculptures from 48 juried artists from around the nation were displayed at the RiverMarket pavilions during the two-day show. It was the ninth show organized by the Sculpture at the River Market committee, which commissions artwork and then donates it to the city to be placed in various locations around Little Rock. Last year’s winner, Michael Warrick’s Mockingbird Tree, was installed last week at the northwest corner of Chenal Parkway and Chenal Valley Drive.

The ​National Sculptors' Guild completed the Clearwater Crossing Fountain with the installation of fellow Clay Enoch's "Union" in Paramount, California this week. Advanced Aquatics created the fountain we designed for the space, and the overall impression is striking. 

7/27/16:
​The National Sculptors' Guild is working with the City of Paramount, California to enhance the corner of Paramount Blvd and Alondra Blvd with a striking figurative sculpture and fountain design symbolic of the coming together of communities. Clay Enoch and Advanced Aquatics ​will be creating the components.

John Kinkade and Clay Enoch from the National Sculptors' Guild are returning from Oklahoma today after another successful NSG public art placement. 

The National Sculptors' Guild is pleased to have 3 of our designs selected as the finalists for the 2017 Public Monument installation for a site at the historic Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Kathleen Caricof's ENLIGHTENMENT, Clay Enoch's UNITED, and Denny Haskew's STRENGTH TO ENDURE. The winner will be announced at the Sculpture at the River Market show on Sunday at 3pm.
If you are in Little Rock, please stop by the show to meet the artists and see some phenomenal sculpture from around the country. It's a great opportunity to take a piece home.

Memorial for Cindy Miller in Little Rock, AR. "ANGEL" by CLAY ENOCH, NATIONAL SCULPTORS' GUILD

​Three-Quarter life-size sculpture of a seated angel. From the bottom of the wreath to the top of the wings the bronze sculpture is approximately 36".  From the top of the base to the top of the wings is approximately 24".  The bronze sculpture will sit on top of a 54-inch tall pink granite base. Overall height is 78”.  

The bronze study is available for separate purchase in a limited edition of 50. Measuring 9” wide by 9” deep based on an ebonized 10" wood column with an overall height of 16". Order one today.

Another recent National Sculptors' Guild memorial installation is by Clay Enoch, whose bronze "Guardians" adorn the granite walls of the International Association of Fire Fighters' Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Colorado Springs. The Guardians offer a silent salute to their fallen comrades as they present the ceremonial axe. Enoch also sculpted the IAFF emblems embedded in walls at the entry.  #‎ClayEnoch‬ ‪#‎MemorialPark‬ ‪#‎Guardians‬ ‪#‎Sculpture‬ ‪#‎PublicArt‬ ‪#‎IAFF‬

Stationed as anchors along the granite arcs, these “Guardians” set a tone of solemnity and reverence for visitors to Memorial Park. They offer a silent salute to their fallen comrades as they present the ceremonial axe. Strength emanates from their firm grip and honor from their stoic posture. The elegant elongation of the figures raises the “Guardians up like sentries, offering protection over all who respectfully come.
Purposed as architectural adornments to the granite, the “Guardians” are executed with subdued detail. They evoke the proper tone in their minimalism and thereby serve to complement the existing primary focal sculpture. The consistency and symmetry of the site design is emphasized through their measured
repetition. -Clay Enoch, National Sculptors' Guild