April 24, 2024

Iowa Sculpture Festival switches up event for this weekend

By Orrin Shawl

Herman Deaton poses in front of the life-size version of one of his sculptures, “Old Paint In Paradise,” after painting it Tuesday at Center for Arts and Artists, 501 W. Third St. N. in Newton. The sculpture will be on display during “From Their Hands: The Artists’ Playbook” on Saturday. (File Photo)

If you like life-size sculptures, then you are in for a treat this weekend at the Iowa Sculpture Festival in Newton.

“From Their Hands: The Artists’ Playbook” will feature at least nine artists and their sculpted artwork. The event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 and noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 30 at Legacy Plaza in building 16, 403 W. Fourth St. N. in Newton.

Woodcarving, bronze casting, tile-making and mold-making pieces will be put on display, according to Linda Klepinger, president of the Iowa Sculpture Festival. A drumming performance will also take place that Sunday afternoon.

It’s a special art event where the artists who work on multiple types of masterpieces present their work, and they’re going to show people how they replicate what they created. A minimal amount of the art the artists bring will be for sale, Klepinger said.

This will be the first year The Iowa Sculpture and Fine Arts Festival will be broken down into two smaller events.

“The Iowa Sculpture Festival (usually) has 15 annual festivals. We will no longer have that,” Klepinger said. “We will have two or three smaller events during the year.”

The Iowa Sculpture Festival is redirecting its mission in hopes of putting more emphasis on art education, among other creative endeavors. Klepinger said they like to be more impactful within the schools and within the greater Jasper County area.

“Originally, we were going to do this the week that the fifth graders had an annual fifth-grade art and sculpture tour, where schools in and out of the county join us,” Klepinger said. “Somehow, their curriculum got changed to spring, but we were already planning this, so we decided to go ahead and do it.”

The event is sponsored by Des Moines Area Community College (facility sponsor), Smith Family Foundation, Geisler Penquite Foundation, Jasper Community Foundation, FNNB and Jean and Murray Nelson Foundation.

For more information about this free event for all ages, visit the Iowa Sculpture Festival Facebook page.

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or at oshawl@newtondailynews.com