Shidoni Foundry

RIBBIT!

The giraffes and lion are life size but the frog is not.

He (she?) is 4' tall.

Located 5 miles north of Santa Fe, the Shidoni Foundry represents 140 artists, whose works are displayed on 8 acres of lawn and in 2 indoor galleries.  The Foundry itself works in bronze, using the lost-wax method.  On Saturdays, visitors can watch the 'the pour': molten bronze heated to 2200 degrees F and poured into similarly-heated molds that are components of bronze sculptures.

Mobiles appeal to me.  

This one has several branches, each with several whirligigs lazily moving in the breeze.

The tripod on the left supports a huge plumb bob.

Today, we toured the gardens and galleries, then watched a pour.  The whole thing was fantastic!  Santa Fe has lots of major attractions but Shidoni merits the # 1 slot in my opinion.  I'm prejudiced however, sculpture being my favorite art form.  I have the utmost respect for the skill, creativity, patience and dedication it takes to produce these works, some of which took several years to complete.

$94,000

This larger-than-life bronze piece is the most expensive item in the garden.

Other large bronze pieces average $25,000.

Welded pieces are considerably less, start around $2,500.

Now, the fun stuff: welded, funky, whimsical stuff that makes you smile.

Bacon and Eggs.

Moo!

Junk Pig.

I'll cover the pour in the next blog post.