jimwilsterman
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Only a Grinch With Muscles to Spare Could Make Geisel's 300-pound Lorax Disappear Into Thin Air
Their intent was probably to melt down for scrap by now. All of us who run Foundries in the region have discussed this and are watching for chunks of Lorax to be brought in by shady characters or desperate art students. This was a stupid crime - there is no where to take this to melt down as no scrap dealer or foundry will touch it, and all of us will turn them in on sight. They will never be able to fence or unload this sculpture unless it is totally melted down. Unless it was the equivalent of kidnapping Bob's Big Boy back in the 1960's or a radical anti-environmental group making a statement - I predict it will be too hot to hold onto and they will end up dumping it somewhere just to get rid of the evidence....— April 3, 2012 5:52 p.m.
Unconditional Surrender Could Get the Kiss Off, But Hope Springs Eternal
I wasn't going to rat you out...— February 17, 2012 1:46 p.m.
Unconditional Surrender Could Get the Kiss Off, But Hope Springs Eternal
— February 17, 2012 1:39 p.m.
Unconditional Surrender Could Get the Kiss Off, But Hope Springs Eternal
By the way, great job Scott! The Photo of the guy looking up the woman's skirt is a nice touch, and illustrates perfectly why some claim this is popular: It is more freak show than sculpture, and would be better suited for carnivals or the Midway at the County Fair instead of the Midway Museum...— February 17, 2012 1:31 p.m.
Unconditional Surrender Could Get the Kiss Off, But Hope Springs Eternal
Why are the proponents of this statue so afraid to trust our local Veterans to run a national competition to solicit great original proposals for the public to choose from? They could even include 'Unconditional Surrender' as proposal for consideration too, but somehow I think deep down they know it would not be able to compete if other competent ideas were on the table. After all - Our veterans did a pretty good job selecting and developing the Vietnam memorial as well as the WWII memorial in Washington - did they not? I can assure you that with those projects - The veterans involved did not even consider cheapening their legacy by buying a cheesy, retail rent-a-statue like this one, but opted to develop a visionary work specific to their own criteria and experiences. And look at the great results! If we never allowed to see any alternative to this work - how can we ever know how great a memorial we actually could have here in San Diego to honor our veterans? Top down decisions by promoters and vested interests smack of crony capitalism, or something you would see in a socialist society where unelected leaders put up monuments to reinforce their own values. We could do so much better by our veterans if the SDUPD would simply raise funds and hold a national competition to make a memorial specific to our great local San Diego military heritage - instead of jamming through 3rd rate works like "Unconditional Surrender".— February 17, 2012 1:19 p.m.
Fletcher Hills water tank, Carlsbad's Split Pavilion
Ten years have passed, and the Cloud Project is now accepted as a very popular regional landmark. I hear from people all over the world nearly every week regarding this environmental artwork, but the greatest affection comes currently from those who live closest to the project. I guess the handful of folks that tried to censor this publicly selected, funded and constructed community project must have finally resigned themselves to the conclusion that this work was supported by more than 90% of the surrounded community. The project stands as a testament to the community volunteers who constructed it, and in spite of efforts to demean this environmental project and the volunteers that constructed it with derogatory and false assertions - good judgment and civil democratic processes prevailed in the end. Given the fact that we now face global climate change resulting in massive shortages of water in the region, I suspect my intent to create an environmental work to inspire people in the area to think about where our water comes from (instead of attempting to somehow make water infrastructure invisible as we have done for the last 100 years or so) has now been validated to some degree. I want to say thank you to members of the surrounding community that strongly stood up to political intimidation and manipulation, and did the right thing in this case. As a result, we can be proud that we now have a internationally known and highly regarded site-specific landmark (San Diego’s largest sculpture - on the same scale as the Statue of Liberty!) that contributes to the identity of our community, now and for generations into the future. Jim Wilsterman— November 22, 2008 6:34 p.m.