Weathering creativity Winds force sculptor to adapt in crafting Neptune
Photo by Tammy Bankoski Eric Jones, of Eric Jones Studios in Cuba, sculpts his recreation of the historic King Neptune statue.
A recreation of the historic King Neptune statue, formerly located in the City of Dunkirk’s Washington Park, now located at Steele Hall at SUNY Fredonia, is underway on the shores of the Wright Park beach in Dunkirk.
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Sculptor Eric Jones sprays water on the King Neptune clay, sand, and silt sculpture on Friday afternoon in hopes of keeping his work from drying out from high winds off Lake Erie.
Photo by Tammy Bankoski Eric Jones, of Eric Jones Studios in Cuba, sculpts his recreation of the historic King Neptune statue.
A recreation of the historic King Neptune statue, formerly located in the City of Dunkirk’s Washington Park, now located at Steele Hall at SUNY Fredonia, is underway on the shores of the Wright Park beach in Dunkirk.
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Sculptor Eric Jones sprays water on the King Neptune clay, sand, and silt sculpture on Friday afternoon in hopes of keeping his work from drying out from high winds off Lake Erie.
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Sculpting a statue of King Neptune overlooking the Lake Erie shore at Wright Park is a challenging task in itself. Add extreme winds to the mix and the task is even more daunting.
Sculptor Eric Jones planned to spend most of the day Friday sculpting a clay, sand, and silt version of the renowned King Neptune statue that formerly rest in the Washington Park fountain.
But that all changed when the weather became too much to handle on Friday. Now, it's a race against the clock to see if he will finish in time for the Beach Bash celebration Saturday afternoon at Wright Park.
"I'll be working on it throughout the night," Jones said Friday afternoon. "I'll be out here in the middle of the night making sure it's ready."
High winds coming off the Lake Erie shore on Friday made it too difficult for Jones to continue to sculpt during the afternoon. The winds quickly dried out the mixture of clay, sand and silt Jones is using to construct the sculpture. Jones sprayed the sculpture with water shortly after noon on Friday with the hope that it would not be too dried out to continue sculpting later in the evening once the winds died down.
The King Neptune statue Jones is modeling his work after was originally created in 1883. It was donated to the city of Dunkirk in the 1930s and became a centerpiece in the Washington Park fountain from 1938 until 1967. It was removed to be repaired, but did not ever return to the fountains and was eventually transferred to the Dunkirk Historical Society in 1985. Residents helped fund a restoration of the statue, which was then loaned to SUNY Fredonia in 2001 for display at Steele Hall, overlooking the university's pool. It has remained in that location for the past 22 years.
To recreate the statue, Jones had already invested approximately 12 hours of work into the project as of Friday afternoon before the weather forced an interruption of his work.
"I planned on getting most of it done (Friday) then just painting it (Saturday), but I'm going to need the day (Saturday) to finish it because of the weather," Jones said. "But it will be fun for people to watch."
Jones -- of Eric Jones Studios -- is based out of Cuba, N.Y., and has been an artist his "whole life." The focus of his artwork is outdoor sculptures, with a majority of his work being sand sculptures, ice or snow creations during the winter and pumpkins during the fall. The King Neptune sculpture is one of the most challenging projects he has taken on.
"The design is challenging enough. You add the weather element to it, it makes it even more challenging. But it's fun – as an artist, it's always good to be challenged and to push yourself," Jones said.
Jones noted that as challenging as some of his tasks can be, Mother Nature is often the biggest obstacle in his line of work.
"The weather is almost always a challenge, no matter what you're sculpting," Jones said. "You can modify everything else. ... You can't control the weather."
Guests at the Beach Bash this afternoon can check in on Jones' progress throughout the early morning, as he hopes to paint the sculpture bronze throughout the early afternoon. The target for completion is set for 2 p.m. this afternoon. The sculpture is located just above the beach entrance near Wright Park.
"It's a beautiful setting. It's a wonderful place for a sculpture," Jones said. "I couldn't think of a better setting for it."
Wright Park Beach will be accessible with lifeguards today from noon to 7 p.m. The splash pad, playground, basketball courts, skate park and Beach House Bar & Grille will also be open to the public.
Other Beach Bash events, sponsored by National Grid, DFT Communications, Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, include kickball, mush ball, pickleball and volleyball tournaments; live music by Kokomo Time Band, Pedro and the Smooth Cats, KISS THIS!, beach deejay Joe Gould, craft/gift and food vendors, children's entertainer Marty Bubblegum's Machine, inflatable bounce houses, dunk tank, chalk art/sand building/water balloon toss contests and "The Mummy" movie at dusk.