Roger Small's sculpture honors town's visionaries

 

October 26, 2022

Marissa Conklin

"The Visionary"

A Small project is a big addition to downtown La Conner.

Skagit Valley artist Roger Small, whose work is on display at Earthenworks Gallery, is making an impact on the town's outdoor landscape.

Small, a retired union ironworker who grew up in Burlington, is creator of a stunning sculpture donated by resident Marilyn Thostenson and installed recently by the Town public works staff at the foot of the Benton Street stairway. It was relocated from the Skagit County Historical Museum.

Entitled "The Visionary," it poses an optimistic outlook for the future.

"The image came to me when I least expected it, in a dream, during a quiet time of the day," Small told the Weekly News.

"I think 'The Visionary' represents La Conner quite well," he added, "because what makes La Conner special is the many visionaries who live and work in La Conner."

The figure's elongated head represents foresight and focus on the future and the four fingers on each hand represent self-expression and self-fulfillment, he explained.


changing images of vegetables

"The hands reaching to the heavens speak of all good things coming from above," said Small.

Sculpture and working with steel come naturally to Small given his career, which he launched after his 1973 graduation from Skagit Valley College.

"I hand cut with a cutting torch," he said, "and weld all my sculptures myself."

In 2013, five years after retiring from ironworking, Small was commissioned by an anonymous donor to fashion a multi-image sculpture depicting the performing arts for McIntyre Hall.

"With a height of over nine feet and weighing 1,000 pounds, built with Corden steel, it was an enjoyable challenge for me," he recalled.


Another of his well-known works was a more somber assignment. It is the 2016 sculpture "Into His Wings," created as a memorial to homicide victims of the Cascade Mall mass shooting resulting in five deaths that happened that same year.

Small is as comfortable with a brush as he is with a torch. He is in demand as a painter for his authentic depictions of Skagit Valley, where as a young man he worked in its farm fields.

"A pivotal moment," he recalled, "was driving to work one early morning admiring the mountains out my window.

Suddenly a visual explosion of colors and intense landscape scenes were spiraling in my head.

"Shortly after," he said, "I spent two full years in my studio painting the images I had seen and experimenting with new painting techniques."


Small has developed two distinct approaches in his studio – a mosaic palette knife style with oil, and a mixed media style with industrial oil and artist oil for water features and acrylic for all surrounding areas.

As a youth he had an innate eye for art.

"As a teenager," he said, "I enjoyed drawing and painting pictures of my favorite music albums."

Growing up in Burlington gave Small what he terms "a special attachment" to the beauty of Skagit Valley.

"Over the years," he said, "I have witnessed many changes to the valley. I try and paint my landscapes as I knew them from my younger years with a vastness to the fields and concentration on crops, mountains, rivers and identical colors represented in the valley."


With "The Visionary" now in place, Small is already looking to make a dent in his to-do list.

"I have several very large canvases ready to paint," he said. "It will probably be a two-year project for me to accomplish. I've been saving them for the right moment."

Mayor Ramon Hayes spoke for townspeople upon installation of the new sculpture.

"Roger's work," Hayes said, "has a real sensitivity to it that integrates into the environment seamlessly. The community is blessed to have such a wonderful addition to its public art collection."

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/11/2024 06:22