Ancient Future
ARTIST: John Weidman
HOME: New Hampshire, USA
LOCATION: Broad Street Parkway
ARTIST STATEMENT:
“As our past supports future, time becomes a consistent place of the present.”
This sculpture represents the past and the future. As it ascends, the form becomes more refined, relating to the past being unfinished and rough, the future, (as we hope in our minds) is more perfect. We wish to make it better.
The bottom section represents the past, and the disc, in contrast, represents the future. In this representation, the past supports the future.
To me, time is a place we can come and go, a place where things happen that evidence our having been there: having done something. It would be nice if those something(s) would be for the betterment of the remaining people on this planet.
The sculpture is made of granite quarried in Milford, N. H., and stands 14 feet in height. The stone was worked in Nashua, N.H. The sections are mated together with stainless rods, as are the columns to the base (foundation). These rods are for the sake of safety and to maintain structure. The surface is a combination of rough pointing, blocking, flame (thermal shock) surfacing and (satin) polishing.
John Weidman was born on January 25, 1943 in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was educated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Additionally, in his pursuit of understanding the human form, he studied Anatomy and Dissection at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. John Weidman has continued to make artwork throughout his life and is a frequent participant of international sculpture symposia. He is co-founder and Director of the Andres Institute of Art, a non-profit arts organization in Brookline, New Hampshire. He has also served as director of these Symposia. John is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the 2008 Forrest D. McKerley Award for Sculpture at the Currier Gallery’s 60th Annual Juried Exhibition. Please visit the Andres Institute website for more information.
