The City of Kettering’s Art in Public Places Committee is pleased to announce the acquisition and installation of three bronze sculptures by Santa Fe artist, Glenna Goodacre.

Two works, Old Man and His Dog and The Runner were selected for installation at Commons Way entrance to Lincoln Park Civic Commons.  Placed on the concrete wall, both pieces are completely integrated into the park’s beautiful surroundings. The two bronzes are from Glenna Goodacre’s series entitled Park Place and are an edition of 16.

The installation site for the third bronze figure is the Rob Dyrdeck/DC Shoes Skate Plaza at Indian Riffle Park.  Ollie is a larger-than-life skater frozen in a skate maneuver of the same name. This bronze piece is from Glenna Goodacre’s series entitled Sidewalk Society and is an edition of 5.

Who Are They?

Glenna Goodacre chooses her models for her bronze figures from people she knows and has become acquainted with in and around her hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The dog in Old Man and His Dog was modeled from a mixed lab owned by Glenna Goodacre’s business manager and was very much part of Glenna’s extended family.  The old man was modeled after Don Blair, a 90-year old gentleman in Santa Fe.  He has an interesting early aviation history and still retains the honor as the oldest individual to have an active pilots license.

How Are They Made?

These bronze figures are produced through a casting process known as Lost Wax. The figure is first formed in clay from an actually model or idea depiction.  The clay is then covered with a plaster cast known as the mold.  The cast is applied in sections to easily pull from the clay and pieced back together to make a negative space of the clay figure.  The plaster mold is dampened to allow wax to be poured into the mold to about ¼ inch thickness, leaving a positive hollow shell, exactly like the original clay figure.  The wax is then in cased in a high temperature investment and heated in a kiln until the wax is evaporated.  At 2300 degrees, silicon bronze is melted and poured into the investment.  A very rough version of what you see in the parks is the results.  Many, many hours of cleaning, polishing and refining goes into each figure before a potash patina is applied. The mold is retained for editions to be made from each figure.

Public Art Postcards in Kettering

If you have a great photo you would like to send us for our Public Art Postcard collection to be posted on this page, please forward a Jpeg image to connie.campbell@ketteringoh.org.  All we need is the image and the individual submitting the photo.