Seeking Sculptors: Caldwell Arts Council and the City of Lenoir, NC Outdoor Sculpture Sales Gallery

BLING BLING by Will Mueller from Valdese, NC

The Caldwell Arts Council and the City of Lenoir, NC seek sculptors interested in participating in our outdoor sculpture sales gallery located on pedestals throughout downtown Lenoir NC.   Tucker’s Gallery is a public/private partnership project between the City of Lenoir and the Caldwell Arts Council.

Interested sculptors will find the application form and more details at http://www.caldwellarts.com/245-tuckers-gallery/. This call for sculpture artists is ongoing; sculptures are placed in the gallery for one year.

To learn more about the Caldwell Arts Council call 828-754-2486 email info@caldwellarts.com or visit www.caldwellarts.com

TUCKER'S GALLERY

Tucker’s Gallery was started with a Grassroots Arts Grant from the State of North Carolina.  Caldwell County is known for its signature sculpture collection of 81 pieces of original sculpture that are on display throughout the county. People travel to our community to see this unique offering.  While the permanent collection is installed county-wide, Tucker’s Gallery allows visitors to see a concentrated number of sculptures within a small geographic area, and unlike the permanent collection, allows for purchases of artwork.

Tucker's Gallery gets its name from Lenoir's history books. The Tucker family settled in the area around 1797 and their barn was likely located on what is now Norwood Street, not far from the Caldwell Arts Council. Tucker's Barn was a voting precinct, a muster ground, a store and a place for "frolics" and celebrations. At least one large Fourth of July celebration included a drum corps, a march of Revolutionary veterans and speeches by General William Lenoir. Tucker's Barn became a large meeting place for many gatherings and was so popular a fiddle tune was composed and written titled "Tucker's Barn."  Doc Watson eventually recorded this tune in 1964 on an album titled, "The Watson Family Tradition."

Will Mueller's Artist statement: The inspiration for this sculpture came from listening to the news on NPR each morning; stories about how China's currency has been devalued; how financial institutions in this country are under the gun for illegal, and immoral dealings; how the Fed can't make up its mind about raising or not raising the interest rate; how middle ­class people are having an increasingly hard time keeping their homes and food in their stomachs. So much these days is about­­­­­ $$MONEY$$