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Great Art Inspires Great Art – by Herb Alpert

 Also referred to as Spirit Totems.

 Temporary Installation: Sep 2015 – to- Sep 2016.

 Location: Field Museum – South Plaza, also in museum’s main hall.

Description: Bronze / 13- to 17 feet high / 1,300 to 1,600 pounds.

The  Field Museum south plaza has 8 sculptures. West side has three sculptures and East side five of them.
West Side: Hope [2008], Lineage [2009] and Grace [2008] East Side: Warrior [2011], Gratitude [2011], Inspired [2011], Freedom [2011] and Ancestral Clan [2010].

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Great Art Inspires Great Art – by Herb Alpert
The sculptures seen here and in Museum’s main hall were created by musician and artist Herb Alpert, who was inspired by the work of indigenous artists: a display of towering cedar totem poles he had seen in Vancouver. Starting with same vertical proportions, Alpert “took the work in more abstract directions, and it became more like jazz response.” He eventually produced a series of monumental works – some over 18 feet tall. Although planted firmly on the ground, the pieces reach skyward, emphasizing the spirituality that makes art – and music – universal human language.

A wonderful article in Chicago Sun Times by Miriam di Nunzo on Sep 17, 2015.. click here..
An excerpt from the article..
“I’m not a ‘Sunday’ painter,” Albert said with a chuckle. “I paint or sculpt every day because I love to do it. It makes me happy. I get a pretty similar jolt out of painting and sculpting as I do from music. Music gives me energy. I practice the trumpet every day of my life because I love to do it, and frankly you never get to where you want to go as a musician, so you just [keep at it]. My good friend [iconic jazz trumpeter] Dizzy Gillespie used to say, ‘The closer I get, the further it looks.”

 

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Field Museum south entrance plaza – East Side [image above] – has five sculptures:
Warrior [2011], Gratitude [2011], Inspired [2011], Freedom [2011] and Ancestral Clan [2010].
Field Museum south entrance plaza – West Side [image below] – has three sculptures:
Hope [2008], Lineage [2009] and Grace [2008].

 

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