Originally Published On:
January 1, 2016
Originally Published By:
Haliburton Echo
Fire and Ice: A Really Big Shoe
Written By:
Youkie Stagg
Local artist Charles O’Neil is well known for his wire sculptures of animal and human figures. It was not until shoe designer, Stuart Weitzman approached O’Neil at The Buyers Market of American Craft in Philadelphia and asked him to create a shoe sculpture for his corporate art collection that O’Neil branched into non-figurative forms. When Barb Bolin, principal of Fleming College’s Haliburton campus, retired after 35 years, her friends and co-workers created a fund to honour her with a sculpture of her choice. She asked O’Neil if he would create larger version of a shoe for the Sculpture Forest. Since O’Neil already had created a wire sculpture (Embracing Eos) for the Sculpture Forest, Bolin knew that he would be able to adapt his shoe design for the outdoors. The piece is made of stainless steel wire, steel rods, red glass beads from the Czech Republic, and clear, faceted glass beads from China.
The Sculpture Forest, in Glebe Park, Haliburton, offers free guided tours each Tuesday from 10-11:30 am and a shorter “Curator Selection” tour on Wednesday from 12:10 – 12:50. Meet at kiosk in the Fleming College parking lot. www.haliburtonsculptureforest.ca