More pictures will be coming soon, but for now, here’s a short video of our latest public sculpture rising into place. The install went off flawlessly, exactly as planned — quick and painless. 🙂

While this won’t be our most public art piece, it is an exciting one. New directions — based on what was learned with the creation of the sculpture in Korea — are coming into focus. And, funny enough, this sculpture’s name will be “Focus.” It’s a water wall fountain for the lobby of a business, and water will flow down the mirror-polished reflective stainless steel surface, further activating the surfaces. Polishing 316 stainless steel is tough work, but the results are worth it. Here’s another sneak peek at this piece now that it is nearing completion.

Los Angeles public sculpture ‘Ripple’ by metal artist Heath Satow honored at the 2012 Americans for the Arts Conference in San Antonio, Texas

LOS ANGELES, July 07, 2012 – Ripple, public artwork by Los Angeles artist Heath Satow, has been named as one of the 50 best public art projects by the 2012 Public Art Network Year in Review by Americans for the Arts (AFTA).

The annual Year in Review program recognizes the most exemplary, innovative, permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in the past year. The 2012 Year in Review winning artists were chosen from more than 393 works from 147 cities across the U.S. and three countries.

Three independent public art experts—Jean Greer, principal at The Public Art Collaborative; Daniel Mihalyo, architect/artist at Lead Pencil Studio; and Celia Munoz, artist—curated the 2012 Year in Review. The artists and commissioning organizations involved in creating and supporting these public art works received letters of congratulations and certificates from Americans for the Arts.

“By creating a sense of identity of places we inhabit, public art makes an enduring impact on our lives,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “We congratulate the artists and commissioning groups of the 12th annual Public Art Year in Review and look forward for honoring more great works in the coming years.”

Daniel Mihalyo says about Ripple, “It’s a straight-forward sculpture in a really confined, narrow hallway space made of aluminum and granite. In the artist’s words, “the sculpture becomes an environmentally sensitive water feature, a water wall without the need for water.” It is, actually, a really successful interpretation of that effect of dropping on water and executed really nicely. It does seem like a piece that transforms the space successfully. And I think we were all taken by it.”

Since 2000, the Public Art Network Year in Review has annually recognized outstanding public art projects through an open call submission and juror selection process. The Year in Review program is the only national award that specifically recognizes public art projects.

Heath Satow is a contemporary art metal sculptor working primarily in stainless steel and has been creating iconic scale public art pieces since 1989.

(Media: please direct requests for high-res print images directly to artist via publicsculpture.com)

Another sneak peek at the latest mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture in progress in the studio right now. Lot of welding, grinding, and polishing to go. Over 180 feet of welds to polish out on this one before it’s done.

Though the final design for this stainless steel sculpture is still a secret, here’s a sneak-peek at the latest work in progress!

Work on the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park Hawk Sculpture for El Paso, TX is nearing completion. Below are photos of the stainless steel hawk sculpture with its final oxide patina, the corten steel tree sculpture with a rust finish, and the five related signs that will be placed in different areas of the parks, just prior to getting their rusted finish. The bird sculpture will be mounted at the top of the tree, and the signs will receive graphics that describe the flora and fauna of the park.

The public art for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is coming along nicely. The stainless steel hawk will eventually get a special patina that will lend it the bronze-like tones of the animal sculptures I made for the Denver Zoo. Here’s a couple of photos of the hawk in its current state:

The next big public art piece I’m working on is a Harris hawk for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in El Paso, TX. This photo shows the stainless steel wings for that sculpture, currently in progress. As shown here, the wing span is almost eleven feet wide.

Here’s a video showing the progress on the wing for a Harris Hawk sculpture for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Project in El Paso, TX. The fabrication of this stainless steel and corten public art sculpture is going smoothly and the installation is currently scheduled to happen in about four months. Stay tuned for more progress pics and video!

Here’s a quick look at the very beginnings of the next sculpture in progress…