Art keeps bronze sculptor busy in many ways

Bronze sculpture artist Jerry Halsor will be attending his third Iowa Sculpture Festival this weekend, featured not only as an artist but as speaker. He is busy not only with his art but heavily involved in art organizations, a workload that may seem daunting to the average person. Still, for Halsor, it is much less stressful that his previous career.

“I was a corporate controller for a New York commodity firm for 25 years,” Halsor said. “It was very stressful, and I just walked away.”

Halsor said he saw what his job was doing to him and wanted a new career. He had always admired the sculpture artists of Loveland, Colo., so he began taking classes and workshops, took a studio in Loveland, began studying with sculpture artists and began his new career. Now, 20 years later, Halsor is a respected sculpture artist and art promoter. His sculptures focus on the creation of motion through dance.

“I’ve always been interested in dance,” Halsor said. “I particularly like to put my dancers in the air, through the use of spirals, to accentuate their movement.”

In addition to his art work, Halsor had been active in art shows and other art organizations. He has spent 15 years as show chairman for the Northern Colorado Artist Association National Art Exhibition and Sale in Fort Collins; served as president of ArtLinks Jeffco, an umbrella organization for all art organizations in the county; served on the board of directors of the Windsor Fine Arts Festival in Windsor, Colo.; served as sculpture director for Lakewood Heritage, Arts and Cultural Center in his hometown of Lakewood, Colo.; and was past president of the board of directors of the Loveland Sculpture Invitational, the largest sculpture show in America.

Halsor will be speaking Thursday on what he believes is a responsibility of communities to get involved in the display of art. Art acquisition does not have to be an expensive endeavor, he said.

“I will be talking about what can be done to enhance a community, or a school or an organization through art,” he said. “And it doesn’t always take a lot of money, but a lot can be done through public relations and hard work.”

Halsor believes the community has a responsibility to promote art at all levels of the schools, as well as through its public institutions, something that Newton has done well.

“Newton, for its size, has been able to do wonderfully,” Halsor said. He praised the number of sculptures sited throughout the community, as well as the success of the annual sculpture festival.

“I hope they can keep it going,” Halsor said of the Iowa Sculpture Festival. “Part of its success is its stability. Not knowing where it will be from one year to the next makes it difficult to attract artists. And, the gas thing (high prices) are killing us.”

Halsor will deliver his address, “Art— A Community Responsibility” today from noon to 1 p.m. at the Krumm Learning Center at the Newton Arboretum. The event is free and open to the public.