We are very pleased to share that National Sculptors' Guild Fellow Michael Warrick has been recognized by the Arkansas Arts Council as the 2020 Arkansas Living Treasure for his work and dedication to the craft of metalworking.

“Creating and teaching are very important to me,” Warrick said. “I have made it a personal goal to help others learn and create through the craft of metalworking. In my own creative metalwork, it is my hope that I can bring elements of our humanity and history through the craft.”

Warrick, who teaches at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has been shown locally and internationally. His work was shown in a solo touring exhibition in 1996 that appeared in the Strause Gallery of the Arkansas Arts Center. A recent sample of Warrick’s work sits in front of the main entrance to the new Windgate Art + Design building at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Warrick’s work has appeared in exhibitions and public installations locally and worldwide. He regularly does commission work, including a piece he created in 2017 for the Little Rock Sister City Commission to give to the City of Hanam in South Korea. A video about that project is available via UALRTV.

Warrick is currently completing an 18-foot stainless-steel with gold leaf sculpture "Mockingbird/Orange Tree" commissioned through the National Sculptors' Guild for The Groves in Whittier, California.

Warrick has studied his craft for more than 30 years. He started learning metalworking in 1967, when he took an industrial arts class in high school that included welding. He became a certified welder in 1972 and worked on large-scale mining equipment trucks, industrial fixtures and railroad cars.

He attended Illinois State University as an art student in 1976. There, he learned metal casting and sculpting, and as a graduate student, he learned to work with cast iron. By 1995, he had picked up the technique of ceramic shell casting, which allowed him to cast finer and thinner bronze works.

Warrick is constantly learning, experimenting and evolving. In 2015, he learned 3D printing with polylactic acid plastic (PLA) and used the new technology in tandem with traditional lost wax casting for his metalwork. The resulting large-scale, 21-by-15-by-15-foot sculpture sits today outside the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The sculpture is a fascinating mix of stainless steel, bronze, glass and concrete that celebrates the Louisiana Purchase.

“I am a firm believer that there is much value to learning traditional methods for creating in cast metal,” Warrick said. “I am also curious about contemporary techniques in the production of objects and how they might be enhanced by joining old and new techniques.”

Warrick is committed to maintaining and advancing his craft through mentoring, teaching, lecturing, demonstrating and building through teamwork. Since joining UALR in the fall of 1990, Warrick has been instrumental in securing grants, including one to build a foundry and kilns for metal casting for the university. Another grant allowed him to bring in renowned lecturers in metalworking. He also sat on a committee that brought public sculptures to the university to “embellish the culturally rich environment.” 

Warrick is known as a dedicated instructor who teaches multiple metalworking courses. He said being a mentor to metalworking students is vital because mentors perpetuate the craft and can change lives. He has mentored students at ULAR, supervised interns from the University of Central Arkansas and taught students from his home studio. He has consulted and taught workshops and classes in Indiana and Tennessee.

DESCRIPTION AND SYMBOLISM OF THE MONUMENT:
Anthony and Stanton writing the Nineteenth Amendment is the nucleus,  the beginning of the women’s movement. To the side of the authors stands the elder Sojourner Truth, a beacon for the movement. The young Harriet Stanton Blatch represents the future. From them rises the next generation of the movement, the “daughters” who ratified the nineteenth amendment, represented by Ida B. Wells and Alice Paul. Standing on the shoulders of giants, these women were elevated by what came before. From this height, the ratification flag cascades to the innumerable circles that ripple outwards.

Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women’s right activist, was among the first voices of the women’s movement.  She propelled the movement in its early days because she was willing to speak at time when few women did so.  I have depicted her standing on a pulpit to illustrate how she willingly projected her voice against injustices. Her gaze is to the future – to the horizon – looking to a place where women – together – will turn the world “right side up again.”  In my composition, I have sculpted her in her early 50’s, around the time she would have delivered her seminal speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” Within the composition, she is a guardian of the belief that women should have the right to vote.

I used the same iconic photograph of the coauthors of the Declaration of Sentiments as inspiration for Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, but I depicted them at their age at the time of the writing of the Sentiments. The two women are physically connected in the sculpture, forming a unified force that truly speaks of the oneness of their purpose. Their words, speeches and wisdom launched a worldwide, peaceful revolution. Even today, these two women offer us the courage and the tools to be the stewards of human rights.

At a joint appearance for Hilary Clinton’s campaign, Michelle Obama echoed Stanton’s words: “With every action we take, with every word we utter, we think about the millions of children who are watching us, who hang onto our every word, looking at us to show them who they can and should be.” Just so, Harriet Stanton Blatch hangs on the words of her mother. She has a look of intensity. She feels it. Blatch is nestled between her mother’s hand that holds a pen and foot that breaks the conformities of the base. She holds onto a bonnet, a symbol of the suffragist she will become. Blatch literally grew up during the suffragist movement, and when it was her time, she absorbed the sentiments of her mother’s words: “We’ve got to bring to the President, individually, day by day, week in and week out, the idea that great numbers of women want to be free, will be free.”

Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells are at the peak of the coalescence, one in their mission. Although these two women would not have marched side by side, their juxtaposition at the height of the sculpture, symbolizes their shared vision of equal rights. Neither one of these women would take no for an answer. In the photos of the suffragist women marching, they are wearing elaborate hats, an announcement of their presence in the movement. I have depicted Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells wearing such hats. Both women also hold a flag.

The portrait of Alice Paul is inspired by the photo of her draping the ratification flag with its 36th star over the balcony of the suffrage headquarters in Washington D.C. I chose to depict Paul and this celebratory moment to capture the monumental triumph of the nineteenth amendment, an accumulation of the efforts of thousands of American women. She appears youthful and weightless in this monument, and yet she was militant in her efforts. She dedicated her life to the movement and after the vote continued until her death the work for the equal rights amendment.

Ida B. Wells began her career as an activist at a young age. She fervently rallied against the practice of lynching even with the threat of being lynched herself.  Wells was known for using the pen and her voice to battle sexism, racism, and violence. In this sculpture Wells stands proudly with a flag of the United States, representing the hope for justice and the rights of every human being. The open gesture of her hand outstretched to the other women around her in this monument reinforces the invitation to join the cause.

Contributions to the monument may be made here. A 501(c)(3) status is pending. Proceeds from the sales of the maquettes make the monument possible. Please contact the National Sculptors' Guild to place the 5ft maquette in your public art program. #BePartOfTheCircle

The National Sculptors' Guild and Gary Alsum have been selected to sculpt a full-figure portrait of Gene Bess;  the coach of the men's basketball team at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Bess has been at Three Rivers since 1971. His career win-loss record was 1268-368, making him the all-time winningest college basketball coach. 

The College is completing their fundraising for the sculpture, and Gary will work out the composition and begin sculpting this Spring. 

We'll update this post as the project evolves. #WIP