CONTACT Arthur Higgins, dba OAK RUN STUDIOS

The following pages represent some examples of the variety of commissions I have done. The variety comes about from two sources. One is the commission itself and the constraints. The architect, use of the space, vandalism, installation, weather, kind of use the space gets, maintenance and many other factors enter and ultimately direct the design. I consider these things to be compromises and enormously challenging and one of the primary reason I have enjoyed doing commissions.

The other factor is me. I like challenges and almost never do the same thing twice. Art is problem solving, but I am never satisfied with one solution. Once I solve a problem and get another problem with the same features, I will always try to find another solution. Of course there are favorites, painted wood bas relief comes to mind. This is an excellent way to convey images with texture, depth and variety and I have used it often.

Site specific art is the term used for art that is done for a specific space with specific constraints. I don't always get to put into my personal ideas into the artwork, but I will always try. It is my belief that commission work is not the place for the artist's input unless specifically asked for. Public art in particular is usually accidentally viewed. People just walking by don't wanted to be assaulted by some artist's viewpoint: wrong place, bad timing.

That doesn't mean it has to be benign. Commissioned art has to become part of the owner whether that owner be a government or an individual. I think it is the artist's responsibility to see to it that the owner (commissioner) is satisfied first. If the owners' wishes and instructions are so far from my own, I simply don't sign the work because there isn't enough of my feelings and input. Public/private commissions are not the place for that. If you want to see what I do and feel as an artist, you can visit my Fine Art page. With fine art I do exactly what I need to do and everything in the work is there because it needs to be. This way I can have my cake and eat it too.

Overall I have done 38 public art commissions and I don't know how many private ones and I have enjoyed doing every one.

Romig 1%

Ravenwood 1%

This sculpture is in the combination gym/cafeteria of Ravenwood Elementary School, in Eagle River Alaska. It is 4' high and 40' long made of painted wood relief. The challenge was to make it basketball proof on one hand and ketchup proof on the other. For basket balls I made all the parsts loose and used rubber cushions in the wall fastening system so it would give when a ball struck it or a kid ran into it. The bottom is about 6 above the tables so I used high grade acrylic floor polyurethane clear paint, three coats, so food could be wiped off easily.

This sculpture has been installed at least 10 years and there has never been any damage.

I also consider this to be one of my most successful as symolic abstraction. Eagle River is short, starts at the base of the Chugiak Mountains and ends in the Knik River flats, part circles an island. The idea is the have a river form with the kinds of landscape and wildlife one would find along its length. In the loops of the river, I put in various liffe forms for clover to butterflies. Two samples are shown above. The basic parts of the image are cut out, carved and put back in the background and some parts are higher than others, making it a bas relief sculpture with lots of texture and interest. It is all clear pine.