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2012
04.16

Tejas clay exhibit

Some figures from the Blessings installation I did for Cox Arboretum years ago are part of this show at 513 East Third street through the end of the month. Gallery hours: Mon-Thu 9:30-5:00 Sat 11:00-3:00

2012
03.17
Reservations to the event at: auction@daytonvisual arts.org
My donation

My donation, Altar piece 1 is on display at DVAC from now until the auction

2012
03.17

Mark your calendars, Urban Nights are May 11&12  and my new installation will be at the Yellow Cab building on 4th street off Wayne Ave. Hope to see you there!

2011
10.11

Out of the Rubble

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Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors Inc. (DSPS) Sunday Oct 9 plus the next two weekends, through Oct 23rd

2011
09.18

Link to interview

Better late than never post! Here’s a very well written interview originally published in The Artists Interview:

http://theartistsinterview.com/archives/265

2011
09.04

Current Exhibit

glass

Sinclair’s Fine Art Faculty Show Sept. 6 – Oct. 6 , 2011

Reception: Sept. 15; 5:00 – 6:30

2011
07.11

DVAC

last canal man1“The Last Canal Man” which premiered at DVAC’s 20th Annual Open Members’ Show will be auctioned on Sep 15th at the Art of the Garden party to benefit the Wegerzyn Gardens Foundation

2011
05.10

Urban Nights!

This Friday, During Urban Nights,  there will be a viewing of the Canal Men
outside Canal Street Tavern on the corner of Patterson Avenue and First Street.
The “wake” will be held at The Southern Belle next door.
Come propose a toast to those who work for next to nothing,
their lives thrown away and forgotten.

I will be wheeling my flower cart around town inviting people to make flowers at the Dayton Metro Library from 7-9 p.m. and then heading over to 4th and Wayne to Garden Station and  the Yellow Cab building for the  Side Show 6 where I will be on Saturday as well. The Side Show is open from 5:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.

2011
03.29

Canal Men Installation

http://www.sculptsite.com/sculpture-headlines-Leesa-Haapapuro-04-10-11.html

canal men in carillon

Canal Men in the Miami-Erie Canal Lock at Carillon Park through Memorial day. Open Mon-Sat 9:30 a.m. -5 :00 p.m.  and Sun Noon-5:00 p.m.

I was invited to create a site specific sculptural installation to run concurrently with Patrick Dougherty’s Branching Out, a project sponsored by The Wegerzyn Garden Foundation in cooperation with Five Rivers Metro Parks.
During the month of  April, I installed figures, cast in natural and recycled materials, in the granite pools along Patterson Avenue which commemorate the canal that used to flow through downtown Dayton. The figures seemed to emerge from the litter that has obscured their history. They represent the lives of the thousands of men who labored from sunrise to sunset to dig the Miami Erie Canal. Begun in 1825, it connected Dayton to the rest of the world, but was rendered obsolete by the railroads before it was even completed. Abandoned and deemed an eyesore, it was finally filled in 1928. The installation sought to celebrate the lives and the remarkable stories that have been all but forgotten.
510project, the public art initiative launched last fall by Gallery 510 Fine Art and Blue Sky Project, arranged for me to move my studio to KeyBank Tower during the month of April. I  worked on the northwest side of Court House square in a space donated by Courthouse Crossing inviting the public to check out the process as I cast sculptures to be installed along Patterson Blvd in the memorial canals and to participate in the project by making  flowers from recycled plastic.canalman
photo

During Urban Nights, Canal Men were on view outside Canal Street Tavern and inside The Southern Belle next door where a wake was held and toasts were made. I was out and about with the flower-making cart.

flower cart

The final resting place for the Canal Men was the Miami-Erie Canal lock in the Carillon Historical Park where they were buried after Memorial Day.

I would like to thank Pam Houk  the Branching out project coordinator, as well as Peter Benkendorf and Loretta Puncer  for inviting me to participate in the 510 project. Thank you to The Metro Park system and Riverscape as well as Carillon Historic Park.
sam
2011
02.07

Dreamscape in progressI’ve made a huge mural-relief sculpture called Dreamscape for the K12 Gallery for Young People, 510 E. Third in exchange for working space in their new Teen Education and Joint Adult Studio,“TEJAS,” a Native American word meaning “welcome friends.”  I’m making a Canal Man in the window there this month, so stop by and see the work in progress or

foreshortened I’m showing a completed sculpture at the Dayton Society for Painters and Sculptors Gallery from Feb. 18- March 27 Gallery Hours are Friday: 5:30-8:30 pm Saturdays and Sundays: 2-5 pm Canal Man 1 is the first of a series of sculptures I am creating for my upcoming Branching Out installation. Branching Out is a project sponsored by the Wegerzyn Garden Foundation in cooperation with Five Rivers Metro Parks. I’ve been invited to create a site specific sculptural installation that will run concurrently with that of Patrick Dougherty’s beginning in April. I plan to cast many of these monumental figures in natural and recycled materials mixed with concrete. I would like to submerge my Canal Men in the granite pools commemorating the canal that used to flow through downtown Dayton.

The Miami canal, begun in 1825, was an amazing feat. A water highway connecting Dayton to the rest of the world, it required back breaking labor and the hours were long. German immigrants, who farmed nearby land, soon refused to do the work. Irish immigrants were brought in and paid in part with whiskey, because as one “jigger boss” said: you wouldn’t expect them to do this work sober would you?” It was said that there was a dead Irishmen for every mile of canal dug.  After the Irish moved on to work on the railroads, which were proving to be faster, more reliable way to travel, African American workers were hired to finish the job. Countless men died of disease and accidents. The Miami Erie Canal was known as the longest cemetery. It was obsolete before it was completed.

I will invite the community to help me make floating flowers as a tribute to the men of the canal in a series of workshops. The first flower workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 12 from 2:00-5:00 p.m at The Dayton Society for Painters and Sculptors. Another will be held on April 9th from 12-4 at The Dayton Visual Arts Center. Historian Leon Bey will present the history of the canals with a walking tour to follow.