Leesa Haapapuro's News

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

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!

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

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

http://theartistsinterview.com/archives/265

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

Reception: Sept. 15; 5:00 – 6:30

“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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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’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

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.