Mountain Lion
Mountain Lion was created for the project Endangered Animals.
Capitol Hill Art Washington organized The Endangered Animals Project, an expansion of Alphabet Animals from 2022. The Endangered Animals Project added 10 NEW sculptures along the Connecticut Ave NW corridor between Woodley Park and Cleveland Park. The project combines an educational component with aesthetic excellence and celebrates local artists. By adding ten more sculptures, CHAW continued to create more vibrant communities through the arts in Washington, DC. Through the CHAW-Cleveland Park Main Street-Woodley Park Main Street Partnership, this project expansion will provide artistic touchpoints for local businesses and residents, further strengthening the connection of creativity with a flourishing neighborhood. The Alphabet Animals encourages residents, business owners, artists, makers, and passersby to explore the inter-connectivity of community through the entry point of unexpected encounters with high-quality art in public spaces–and this new expansion to Endangered Animals adds an important new focus on protecting the wild and wonderful world around us.
My concept for the sculpture started from a pencil sketch of the animal jumping. The design was refined to simplify the form and make it available for metalsmithing. The sculpture was cut from an aluminum sheet and hammered/embossed to give a three-dimensional volume. Both tail and legs were connected with appropriate brackets to the pole. Weight (as required) is minimal by using light stainless steel rods, fiberglass, and 3D Printed ABS.
The sculpture has the front modeled in a realistic representation that gradually moves to a more geometrical one until only a metal frame is present. The transition wants to represent how the endangered animal is slowly disappearing.