“I’ve never done anything in the dirt before
Grab your pick and shovel
and join the nine Clackamas
Communitv College students
who are currently sculpting
figures in a wall of dirt as part of
their art class.
The young artists
are
creating on the theme of
“Oregon History.” The shapes
include an eagle head, beaver,
totem pole, Indian head, Dr.
John McLoughlin, George
Abernathy, Joe Meek, a
pioneer lady with child and
another woman.
“It should be interesting.
I’ve never done anything in the
dirt before,” Alvin Schafer,
creator of the totem pole, said.
_ Instructor Les Tipton
stressed the importance of
making sculptures larger than
.”
life with relationship to "the
contour of the hill by getting a
general idea of the shape and
working with, rather than
against, the hill. “You’ve got to
dominate the bank and kind of
take charge,” he added.
Students pick their own
themes. Student Shirley Nor
ton brought her eighth grade
art scrapbook for pictures and
ideas to do.
Traci Scott, maker of the
Indian head, picked her
design, “because it just appeal
ed to me and looked fun and
easy.”
The dirt wall, located on
John Adams and 14th in
Oregon City, was donated by
Lee Engineering. It was chosen
because of its good visibility to
the public.
COMMENTING ON THE chance of rain, sculpturist, Robert Waller remarked, “It
would give my beaver a nice thick coat.”
Story
and
photos
by
Duane
Hiersche
HOLD UP, PIONEER Joe Meek is held up on the dirt hill
by a hoe, while his maker, Gene McBumey, slowly carves
him out.
STARTING OVER, ALVIN Schafer, with his pet cockatoo
“Fritz” prepares sketches of his new idea for a totem pole.
ANN SAVAGE BRACES herself into the dirt as she chops
at her carving of George Abernathy.
Wednesday, October 20, 1982
TRACI SCOTT CAREFULLY picks away at her sculpture of an Indian head
in early phases of construction.
page 7