CARTUNA EXCLUSIVE: STEVE WIRTZ TRAVELS BACK IN TIME

Hello, I'm Steve Wirtz.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time, maybe change something you did or didn't do? Well this has almost nothing to do with that. But I am going to show you a recent repair job I did on a cow sculpture that I first created waaaaaaay back in 1990 or so. I say 'or so' because this piece wasn't even SIGNED it is so old. FYI: I've created over 3700 sculptures in my career, and believe me, when I started out, I didn't think I'd be at it THIS long. So some of the very first pieces I made do not have a signature, a number or a date. This cow was purchased by art teacher Barb Bellmer way back then (I think she must have been just a teenager then) and she showed it to me when I made an appearance at Brandon School in March of this year. Well, the cow had sustained some damage over the course of time, including three cracked legs and a missing ear. I offered to fix her up (the cow I'm talking about)  and took her back to the studio.

The part where time travel comes in is, just holding this old sculpture of mine 'took me back' to the time I created her. You see, I don't own many works that I made when I first started out- they've all been sold, given away or burned throughout the years. The only 'old' pieces I possess are a few huge fish sculptures I made back in the 1980's. So when I come across an 'old' piece of mine, it is kind of weird. I'm usually a bit shocked looking back at the art I created back then, because my work continues to evolve, and usually I feel my older work is crude compared to what I am currently producing. Not to say I don't enjoy seeing the older pieces, because I do. I enjoy the attitude I was trying to establish with those works, and I enjoy the memory of the time when I created it. I find it fascinating how these sculptures take me back to the time when I was working on them. I often 'see' the table as it was back then, the papers I was tearing up, and I even remember the songs that were playing on the radio when I created the sculpture.

Anyway, at right are some photos of Barb's cow and the repair process.

Top: Here she is after I stripped off the broken legs. Her original wires are showing. It looks like her left ear might have been lunch for Barb's cat.

Second from top: Here she's fitted with new support wires to make her legs a bit more sturdy. This cow I made with modeling clay feet with a few layers of paper glued over them. Very rare. I didn't do many this way. So, I preserved the feet, and just attached the new wires to them.

Middle photo: Here's where the rubber meets the road; new lamination of paper over the new wires. No one does it better, baby! My fingers look like I have some skin disease, but that's just dried glue.

Second from bottom: Close up of the repair to her udder. Yes, I am milking this article for all it's worth.

Bottom: The repaired Bessie. I tried not to "modernize" her too much. The idea was to keep the old charm of this piece. She did get a shiny new paint job and a new tongue. Another project licked!

After she left the studio, I made it safely back to the present, which after all, is the best place to be. Although a little trip back in time once in a while can be quite...mooving.

Thank you for reading!

-Steve Wirtz