By now most of you are familiar with my artist friend, Bill Loyd (see previous post Farmer’s Mantra). He’s the maker of remarkable bells and wind chimes here in Truchas, New Mexico, as well as stunning metal sculpture. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: in this artful life I am privileged to live, Bill Loyd is probably the most creative person I have ever known. He is always devising something—almost always using some piece of scrap he’s found somewhere (scrap to the rest of us, artistic treasure to Bill).
Recently he got his hands on an enormous cylinder and, immediately, began to conceive of a new sign for his business. What many people don’t know is that the life of an artist isn’t just about creating art. It also entails running a business. For many artists on the High Road to Taos, that includes creating a gallery so the public can drop by to see our work. Bill has an outdoor bell “gallery” where any of you can enjoy a diverse selection of stunning bells. It’s great to see and hear them in person, but you can also order them online from his website, Gong With The Wind.
Bill decided he needed a new sign out on the highway so more of you can find him (see previous post Working Artists: A Day In the Life). I wasn’t there for the making of the sign, but I was there for its installation. Consider a couple of things: not only did he have to design and make the sign, he also had to dismantle the old sign and make the new one fit perfectly in that same spot. AND this sucker weighs a ton. Most people wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Add to that the fact that Anna, Bill and I are up against a deadline to create our primary advertising for the year. And Bill wanted to use a photo of his sign in the ad—installed. Yeah. A bit of pressure there.
But, the owners of the advertising publication cut us some slack and extended our deadline a bit—just enough for Bill to accomplish this Herculean feat. Many of you enjoyed watching the installation of another sign Bill made (see previous post Bill Loyd’s Sign For Tooley’s Trees), so I knew you wouldn’t want to miss this. Here he is folks, Bill Loyd in action.
Love to you all,
Jeane
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WOW that is an AMAZING new sign!! It was good to see the first one in the process of changing it out to compare the size etc. 🙂 Nice little film! I have to post this to my siblings specifically to see if it reminds THEM of our Dad…lol. So Awesome the with the larger size, 3-D more birds…I imagine the Black colored birds (Ravens?)will stand out more when the metal oxidizes that the globe shape is made of – is that the idea? I LOVE IT. BRAVO!
I put a few too many words in there…forgive my sentence structure and grammar lol.
NEVER too many words from you. We all type things in so fast. What’s a little grammatical glitch among friends?
Yes, it is a beautiful piece of sculpture, isn’t it? They are ravens and they’re all chasing the one in front who has an apple in its mouth–very whimsical. You can actually see all the birds better than the video showed. The back-lighting of the time of day has a tendency to make them less visible. You’ll just have to come see it in person 🙂 And, yes, the metal will rust more. Let me know what your siblings say, OK?
What a great sign!! I like the apple in the beak.
I enjoy watching Bill on his tractor. We saw him on his tractor in a recent video.
Looks like it was a communal event. The sun-drenched mountains in the background caught my eye. Thanks for sharing.
ShamanArtist, Manitoba Canada
It is a beautiful sign, I agree. I,too, like the apple in the beak and all the other crows chasing after the one with the treasure. How often have we seen that? Yes, Bill was on his tractor in a recent video when he was MAKING this sign.
Great to see that old tank put to such good use!!
Yes, that was the one from Phil and Eva. You probably recognize it.
Equal parts brilliance and magic! I can’t imagine anyone passing by without being compelled to stop and visit.
Indeed. He’s just completed an amazing sculpture, too, that I must go photograph and share on the blog.