Chapter 1
Sculptor and artist, Kiersten Dahl-Shetka, envisioned this community art project for an outdoor sculpture which included working with multiple generations of community members. All of the participants created bronze bas relief sculptures that were inspired by what they loved about their lives and their community.
Each side of the tower is dedicated to a different generation. The teenagers on the south side and the adults on the west side, came together to help with the elder community. This video shows the community – teens, adults, family and friends – interviewing the retirement home residents about the memories of their lives, positive and negative. We looked through these memories and we found three to five visual representations from their lives to use for creating their bronze bas relief plaque.
The total concept for the Towering To The Future sculpture in New Prague, MN, is that as we think about the things that we love and want for our life, and we come together and share those dreams, that is how our lives unfold. This tower holds 44 people’s dreams, desires and fond memories about their lives and community. It continues to be a witness to the community and an inspiration to the positive aspirations of people’s lives.
Chapter 2 – Towering To Our Future, Mala Strana Health Care Campus
This video shows the clay plasticine phase for creating bas relief plaques for the sculpture, Towering To Our Future, a community art therapy project. In this phase, teenagers, friends and family collaborated with nursing home residents from Mala Strana Health Care Campus in New Prague to build the clay model of their bas relief sculpture which will represent past memories of their lives. This video shows tools and techniques used in working with nursing home residents in building clay plasticine bas relief models for bronze casting.
The video ends with beautiful representations of the nursing home residents’ artwork ready to be molded for the bronze casing process.
Chapter 3 – Towering To Our Future Community Sculpture, New Prague
This video shows processes of the lost wax method of bronze casting. First you can see all of the plasticine molds created by the nursing home residents, teenagers, adults and friends in the community art therapy project. After the elderly clients and community finished their art project, volunteers from the community came together to make plaster molds of the nursing home residents’ art projects. The video illustrates the process of making waxes from the plaster molds. Following the wax phase, you can see the spruing, venting and plaster and grog encasement of the wax art piece. This makes the art pieces ready to be burned out and pour with bronze.
Chapter 4 – Tower To Our Future, Community Art Project
Using the lost wax method, we are creating investment molds of the art pieces from the Mala Strana Health Care campus residents’ art work. The investment of the micro crystalline wax art pieces are made using plaster, grog, silica sand and chicken wire encasements over the sprued and vented waxes. This video shows the investment process, the burn out and the gathering of the elderly community at the Gustavus Adolphus College campus to witness the bronze pour of their art work.
Chapter 5 – Towering To Our Future Bronze Pour
Video of a bronze pour using the lost wax method. Mala Strana Health Care Campus residents travel to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN to witness the bronze pour of the bas relief art work that they created in art therapy with Kiersten Dahl-Shetka and community volunteers.
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, along with Professor Stanley Shetka, volunteered the Schaefer Art Building and sculpture facility to bronze cast the art projects for the Towering To Our Future art project.
Chapter 6 – Towering To Our Future, Mala Strana Health Care Campus and Gustavus Adolphus College
After the bronze pour, this video shows digging out the investments, opening the investments and cleaning the investment off of the bronze art work. This video shows the happy nursing home residents, family and friends, witnessing the bronze pour and the clean up of their art work. You will also see Kiersten Dahl-Shetka and Stanley Shetka with volunteers cleaning up the bronze art work. Clean up involves cutting and grinding of sprues and vents with pneumatic and hand held tools.
Chapter 7 – Towering To Our Future
This video illustrates the final phases of the lost wax method for bronze art. The bas relief bronze sculptures that were created by nursing home residents, teenagers, volunteers and friends are cleaned up after the bronze pour celebration at Gustavus Adolphus College. The clean up and surface finishing of the bronze included putting the bronze art work in an acid bath, applying patina, and adding gold leafing to certain areas. This video is wrapped up by artist Kiersten Dahl-Shetka, reflecting on her work and art therapy with the nursing home residents, friends, family, teens, and volunteers on the Towering To Our Future community art project.
Chapter 8 – Towering To Our Future, Community Art Project
This video contains the images of bronze bas relief sculptures that are a part of the community art project, Towering To Our Future. Some were made by adult and teen community members. Some were made by Mala Strana Health Care Campus nursing home residents in a type of art therapy setting. These sculptures depict what participants love about their lives and community.