The world of Stephen Brockelman: Memoir, Arts, Opinion
Sculpture is best understood by looking, considering, and by exploring it—with your hands
A delightfully engaging bronze
With a height of just under two-feet, our newest bronze is a diminutive piece for us. Its mid-century modern form is engaging from every angle. At first, it appears light and breezy, fluid and soaring—as might a bird in flight or a sailboat tacking at sea.
Only by lifting it, holding it, exploring it with my fingers, did I come to understand what might have been closer to the sculptor’s actual intent.
It’s heavy, extraordinarily heavy. The three undulating bronze plates are joined with precision—the precision of a watchmaker. As the plates emerge from the base they, at first, seem to lighten in weight as they rise. But, they don’t—it’s an illusion. As I first held it and explored it, it seemed like something truly organic.
Infrared, color-reversal image of the bronze
To my eyes—and fingers—the bronze reminds me of the first couple of confident leaves emerging from the sprout of an underground seed or bulb. It is cold, yet has life. It feels as though it might be alive and growing. And, its lyrical. It arrived today and to me it sings, “Springtime.”
The artist and foundry are unknown.
Discovery made, artist contacted, sculpture verified. Stay tuned for the exciting details. Here’s a hint:
As a Sr. Writer at T. Rowe Price, I work with a group of the best copywriters around. We belong to the broader creative team within Enterprise Creative, a part of Corporate Marketing Services.
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A long and winding road: My path to T. Rowe Price was more twisted than Fidelity’s green line. With scholarship in hand, I left Kansas at 18 to study theatre in New York. When my soap opera paychecks stopped coming from CBS and started coming from the show’s sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, I discovered the power of advertising and switched careers. Over the years I’ve owned an ad agency in San Francisco; worked for Norman Lear on All in the Family, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and the rest of his hit shows; and as a member of Directors Guild of America, I directed Desi Arnaz in his last television appearance— we remained friends until his death. In 1988 I began freelancing full time didn’t look back.
In January 2012 my rep at Boss Group called and said, “I know you don’t want to commute and writing for the financial industry isn’t high on your wish list, but I have a gig with T. Rowe Price in Owings Mills…” I was a contractor for eight months, drank the corporate Kool-Aid, became a TRP associate that August, and today I find myself smiling more often than not.
