Parks & Recreation

Arts & Culture - Sculpture360
Art in the Cleveland Street District

Information About the Artists

Claudia Jane Klein

claudiajaneklein@bellsouth.net
www.claudiajaneklein.com

To be located on median between Osceola Ave.
and Ft. Harrison Ave.

"Shanti"
"Shanti (Peace) is part of a group of abstract figurative sculptures that emulate humans striving to another plane of existence as achieved through the disciplines of sports, yoga, dance, and meditation.  Shanti in particular reveals that stabilizing and calming effect of meditation on one's own personal life by balancing and containing total uncertainty, confusion, and chaos.  Spiraling energy circles are a recurrent theme in most of my sculptures.  For me, they allow engagement to an invisible force of light and motion while they define space.  This gives me the openness and illusions that satisfy my mind."

Artist Statement
An artist needs to have perseverance and stamina.  As with life, nothing just happens with the wave of a magic wand.  Recently, I read a quote of Sir Winston Churchill that I think describes the life of an artist very well: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm."  It is not enough to just sketch or visualize a sculpture, but to take hold of the material and make it happen even if it requires many attempts.  Creating something that has not existed before is always unknown and requires the nature of fearless adventure.  It is a great help to learn from others the tools of the particular process such as welding, fabricating, forging, painting, carving, and casting but no one can teach a person to find the sculpture within them - it takes determination and focus to do this.

Artist Background
Claudia Jane Klein began her artistic training at Albert Lea College in Minnesota where she majored in art.  She went on to study drawing and design at Metropolitan City College in Denver.  Upon returning home to Warwick, NY, she apprenticed with master ceramic professor Louis Mendez.  While in nearby New York City, she continued her education, studying life sculpture at The Greenwich House and pottery and ceramic sculpture at the Art Students League.  In 1990, Claudia began studying metal fabrication and welding in trade schools in New York and Florida.  Since then she has been focusing on metal sculpture in her studio in Lake Worth, Florida.  Claudia has participated in a number of shows and public installations including the Palm Beach Sculpture Biennale, the Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition, the 10th Annual Sculpture Celebration in Lenoir, NC, and the 80th Annual New Rochelle Art Association Show.  Claudia's work has also been selected for the permanent collections of the Broward County Art in Public Places Program, the Sally Millman Taft Day Lily Gardens of Lake George, NY, and the Hazel and Jimmy Sanders Sculpture Garden of Cleveland MS, among others.

Bruce White

bwhitesculpture@mindspring.com
www.brucewhitesculpture.com

To be located on the median between Garden Ave. and Ft. Harrison Ave.

"Sorcerer's Gate"
This striking piece is constructed of powder-coated aluminum and measures 15'H x 10'W.

Artist Statement
Bruce White's work has been described as "an elegant union of ancient symbolism and contemporary science." His preferred materials are stainless steel and aluminum, although he has also created works in bronze and granite. In addition to sculpture for residential and commercial interiors, he has done numerous large scale exterior public works.

White has never been content to stay with one specific idiomatic concept. However, the viewer will note clear connections between his works when viewed in sequence. The artist does not usually begin with a specific idea in mind, but rather, relies on manipulation of paper or thin sheet metal to generate a "surprise" solution which can only be fully realized three dimensionally. He then pursues the idea on a larger scale. In recent projects he has been experimenting with tall columnar forms which gain their supporting strength through surface geometry rather than internal framing. In some, he takes advantage of the open interior by randomly piercing the surface and then installing electric light to radiate from the interior at night. During the day, sunlight is captured within and "bounces" around to make the sculpture shimmer from the sun's movement as it reflects on the different angles.

Artist Background
Born in Bayshore, New York, White grew up in New Jersey, spending most of his summers on Long Island and the Jersey shore and developing a keen interest in boat building and sailing. He earned a Bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland and Master's and Doctoral degrees at Columbia University in New York City. After graduation White taught at Florida State University, Garden City High School, Adelphi University, Queens College, and Southern Illinois University and finally settled at Northern Illinois University due to its proximity to Chicago--the city internationally recognized for contemporary public sculpture. While teaching at Northern Illinois University, White received a Distinguished Research Professorship award.

Hanna Jubran

jubranh@ecu.edu
www.hannajubran.com

To be located on median between East Ave. and Garden Ave.

"In Harmony – Earth, Water, Wind, Fire"
Each section of the sculptures combines stainless steel and bronze cast elements.  The stainless steel sections are sanded to represent and evoke a feeling of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.  The bronze sections are also forms that relate to these elements.  The process utilized for creating the cast bronze sections of these sculptures was done by directly cutting into a block of sand.  Layers were cut to produce the open lattice patterns.  The latticework represents the crystallization of nature's elements and minerals.  It represents the natural process of growth and distribution - the control as well as the freedom.  The power of these forms in cast bronze comes from their existence in nature.

Artist Statement
"If a goal is sought either consciously or unconsciously in the form of a work of art, one must solve innumerable problems and make innumerable decisions in order to achieve that end.  One of the many decisions I have made is maintaining and preserving the natural quality of the materials I work with.  My work addresses the concept of time, movement, balance and space.  Each sculpture occupies and creates its own reality, influenced by its immediate surroundings."

Artist Background
Hanna Jubran received his MFA in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is currently a sculpture professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.  Hanna's work addresses the concepts of time, movement, balance, and space.  The work does not rely on one media to evoke the intended response, but takes advantage of compatible materials such as wood, granite, steel, stainless steel, iron, and bronze.  Hanna consistently pursues opportunities to create enjoyable sculptures for private and corporate collections.  Additionally, Hanna regularly participates international art shows, competitions, and symposia.  Some of his most recent activities are: the creation of "A Monument to a Century of Flight" in Kitty Hawk, NC; the International Sculpture Biennale, in Chaco, Argentina; The Elements of the Earth Symposium at Pedvale Sculpture Park in Sabile, Latvia; International Sculpture Symposia in Canada, Cuba, Finland, Israel, Lithuania, and Mexico; and the Toyamura International Sculpture Biennial in Toyamura, Japan, where he received a semi-grand prize.  At each symposium Hanna participates in a sculpture is created and retained as part of the host's permanent collection.