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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 07.09.09 edition.
New
art at
old monument location
By Marshall Smith, Staff
Reporter
Last Thursday, in what promises to be the first of several “public art”
installations in Idyllwild, local sculptors Dore Capitani and Jan
Jaspers-Fayer and friends installed “Girl Reading a Dickens Book” at
the site of the previous Jonathan LaBenne Tree Monument on Village
Center Drive. The six-color, powder-coated steel, two-dimensional,
8-foot sculpture will remain at the site until David Roy completes and
installs his wooden sculpture.
Roy won the Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce contest to design, carve and
replace the LaBenne work, which succumbed to the elements. At present,
no installation date has been set for the Roy piece because of ongoing
controversy between Roy and the Chamber over contract payments and a
completion date.
The contract Roy signed with the Chamber called for the work to be
installed in late 2007. Roy did not meet that completion date and
although the Chamber has paid Roy $9,000 of a $15,000 contract price,
it has withheld further payment because Roy refused to sign a contract
amendment with a fixed completion date and other terms upon which
further payments were conditioned. According to outgoing Chamber
President Bill Triplett, a third-party mediator is trying to solve the
impasse.
Capitani, the other sculptor who competed to replace the LaBenne
monument, stressed that placement of his piece is temporary until Roy
finishes his work. When Roy installs his wooden sculpture, “Girl” will
move to the grounds of Idyllwild School. “I hope that this
[installation of ‘Girl’] is the start of more public art in Idyllwild,”
he said. “I also hope that this [installation] is not construed as a
rivalry with David Roy.”
Jaspers-Fayer drew the sketches Capitani used to fashion his piece. An
anonymous donor funded “Girl.” The piece is dedicated to children’s
literacy. The book the young woman is reading is Charles Dickens’
“Great Expectations.” A clue identifying the person who inspired the
work can be found on the sculpture.
Capitani said “Girl” would last forever, just as it is, with no patina
change. Capitani maintains a gallery, Dore’s Mountain Metals Sculpture
Garden, in Mountain Center at 28815 Highway 243. He is open on weekends
from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or by appointment. His work can also be
viewed online at www.mountainartgarden.com.
Jaspers-Fayer has two new public art sculptures in the works — one, a
mama bear and cub, will be placed at Guaranty Bank in Idyllwild. He is
completing negotiations for placement of another, a 9/11 memorial.
“Because of the economic downturn and loss of gallery space [in
Idyllwild], I will start placing sculptures in town by leasing [to
property owners] with an option to buy,” he said. “All that is required
is a rider on the home or business owner’s insurance policy.”
Jaspers-Fayer also paints and works in ceramics, bronze and wood. His
work can be viewed at www.idyllwildartandsculpture.com.
Capitani has exhibited his metal sculptures and art pieces at the
prestigious Chicago Merchandise Mart and in numerous galleries in the
Chicago area. His functional sculptures and furniture can be found in
hundreds of homes in the North Shore area of Chicago, and in La Jolla,
Palm Springs/Palm Desert and Idyllwild. The Art Alliance of Idyllwild
named Capitani the 2004 Artist of the Year.
Also last Thursday, the eagle, the top piece of LaBenne’s sculpture
that had remained on the monument site until last week, departed to the
Marion View residence of its owners, Dan and Nancy Swanson. “I’ve got
him perched on a large cement base in the front of our property,” said
Swanson. “He’s very stable.” Swanson plans to pour more concrete around
the base, have holes in the eagle plugged and then have it repainted.
The Swansons are part-time Hill residents and otherwise reside in the
Scripps Ranch area of San Diego.
Pieces of the old monument were auctioned off to raise money for a new
monument. LaBenne’s Indian also is in the Swansons’ Idyllwild backyard.
"Girl Reading a Dickens Book," the new
sculpture by Dore Capitani, made from sketches by Jan Jaspers-Fayer, seen here on its new site where the
Idyllwild Tree Monument had stood. When David Roy completes his tree monument, "Girl" will
move to a new site at Idyllwild School the sculpture is dedicated to
promoting literacy in children.
Photo by Marshall
Smith
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