In April 2020 and in the interest of legacy I wrote a Wikipedia entry recording the thoughts and notable works of Harveywetdog. I admit I was ignorant of the rules concerning self promotion on Wikipedia and consequently my entry was correctly deleted and my account expunged from the system. As a result my original words and links were sadly lost but nevertheless here is a rewrite. Perhaps when I'm gone someone will be able to enter it onto Wikipedia as a fitting epitaph for my time on the Harveywetdog Project.
Sculptor Georgie Welch
brought four months of detailed work to a successful conclusion on January 4th
with the final acceptance of her original maquette of Valegro by Carl Hester,
Charlotte Dujardin and Alan Davies. In a short interview featuring Valegro and
the maquette Carl described it as a “most beautiful piece of work” and went on
to explain how the whole team at Oaklebrook Mill were delighted with Georgie’s
work and couldn’t wait to see the final half-life sculpture installed in Newent
Town Centre in order to “keep Valegro’s memory and all his wonderful wins alive
in our area”.
Acting on feedback from
Charlotte and Carl during previous visits Georgie had made some small
adjustments to the maquette as well as adding a signature plate in the arena
sand featured at the base of the sculpture. A limited edition of 12 bronze
maquettes is now being produced by Georgie for fund raising and to act as a reference
for the half-life sculpture.
The plastiline and wax maquette
has been safely handed over to the Talos Art Foundry in Hampshire to create the
first three editions of the bronze maquettes. It is aimed to have one of the
maquettes available for display at the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage
Championships at Hartpury (3 to 7 April 2019).
Maquette Sales
The trust are delighted to announce that maquettes 1 and 2
are now sold. Maquette number 1 has been reserved by Valegro part owner Anne
Barrott with Mindy Hammond reserving number 2. These sales, together with keen
interest in numbers 3 and 4, mean that if people
are interested in owning one of these unique and stunning sculptures of Valegro
there are only 7 chances left before the raffle.
Committee member David Robinson explained that the team have
worked hard selling prints of Georgie’s design drawings however having people
being generous enough to put deposits down on maquettes and original drawings
had made a significant increase to the campaigns funds. “There’s a lot of love
out there for Valegro; people have been extremely generous and trusting.” David
added that while it has been helpful to have photographs of the plastiline
maquette to illustrate progress it will be seeing the model in bronze that will
really make people sit up and take notice.
The People’s Maquette
At Georgie Welch’s suggestion maquette number 12 is being
made available by raffle to give everyone the chance of owning one of these
unique celebrations of Valegro’s achievements. The tickets, which will be just
£10 each, will go on sale in April 2019 with the Grand Draw taking place just
before the half-life sculpture is unveiled in late 2019/early 2020. It is hoped
that the lucky winner will be able to receive their prize from Valegro,
Charlotte and Carl.
Developing the Mould
and Casting the first Bronzes
Having completed the first phase of the project Georgie has
now taken the original maquette to the Hampshire based Talos Art Foundry to
produce maquette’s 1, 2 and 12. Georgie explained that she was “tremendously
relieved he’s now at the foundry in one piece” adding “the mould is going well
and it is in safe hands; all good!”
The bronze maquettes will be produced using the very precise
lost wax technique (cire perdue) with some of the tack designed to be cast
separately. In order to produce the wax model of the maquette a silicon rubber
mould is first created from Georgie’s plastiline maquette. These processes
require time and attention to detail such that the first cast will not be
available until early March with the next two following a couple of weeks
later.
These dates should make it possible to have one of the
bronzes available and on display at Hartpury University for the NAF Five Star
Winter Dressage Championships (3 to 7 April 2019) to publicise the campaign and
mark the launch of the raffle for maquette number 12.
Each bronze is numbered and at the end of the edition the
silicon rubber mould is destroyed to ensure that the run is truly limited; so
if you want one you have to act now!
Social Media
People can keep up to date with progress through the Foundry
via Facebook and Instagram. As well as making use of David Robinson’s “Harveywetdog”
video channel the campaign have been very fortunate to have Rose Lewis of Daydream
Equine Art & Photography on hand to record some of the significant stages
of the project. Part of the benchmarking of the design was to recreate Rose’s iconic
black background shot of Valegro at Olympia during his retirement but this time
with the maquette. One social media comment suggested that “Valegro deserved to
be knighted – if not by the Queen then by the FEI!”
The Trust remains keen to hear from serious sponsors and
Valegro enthusiasts alike who would like to invest in one of the remaining nine
limited edition maquettes which are priced at £6000 each (plus shipping costs).
Sales of the maquettes will govern the speed at which the project moves
forward.
The aim remains to have the sculpture in place in Newent to
coincide with the 2020 FEI Dressage and Eventing European Championships for
Young Riders and Juniors at Hartpury University.
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