Damien
Jones has developed a unique construction process for monumental
sculptures, which involves constructing large slab-formed hollow
highfired ceramic sections (3-4′ tall), then stacking them onsite and
filling them with concrete.  This yields extremely durable public art
pieces, and can be used to create sculptures 50-100′ tall, at a fraction
of the cost of other public art methods.  He’s completed a few public
monuments up to 10′ tall, but trying to land larger projects has been
fruitless, due to the low number of projects that come available each
year, and the extreme competition for them, with hundreds of artists
applying for each project.

After applying unsuccessfully for dozens of public art calls, he
decided to take matters into his own hands.  When he found out about the
American Museum of Ceramic Art’s new facility in Pomona, he offerred to
create a monumental sculpture for them, and to crowdfund it thru
Indiegogo.com.  Pomona is the Roman goddess of the orchard, of
fertility, so the sculpture will be called FertiliTree — a woman
growing from a tree trunk — as a
celebration of Femininity and Fertility.  He’s attempting to raise $30K
for this project, and has developed a new line of Seeds, to acknowledge
donors for their contributions. 

Once this project is complete
he hopes it will help open many more doors to creating larger public
works.  Since this technique is so inexpensive, durable and versatile,
it has the potential to usher in far more art into our world than we
currently enjoy.  He says “Public art makes a place feel loved and cared
for, transforming the
cities we live in from primarily functional, utilitarian spaces to
places of genuine beauty, inspiration, and joy, which our world could
sure use a lot more of!” 

Have a look at his campaign, and
consider donating and spreading the word to support this wonderful and
ambitious project!  Post it on your FB wall, if you like:    bit.ly/YzIxfO