8″ x 6″ x 18″
Stone (New Mexico limestone)
… modeled after an original carving “First Love” by Trinita Marie, IHM
Mother and Child
Author: martin
Te Deum – II
Why is this sculpture named “Te Deum?” Isn’t that the title of an ancient song praising the holiness of ordinary life? Yes. Charles Reznikoff’s poem titled “Te Deum” suggests the same. Those thoughts were on my mind as a sculpted this piece.
Te Deum
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshjne,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as we’ll as I am able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
Resilience
“Resilience”
24″ x 24″ x 72″
Steel, wood
With this sculpture I try to capture the experience of failure or disappointment from which new life rises. The sculpture includes burned wood and ash. From the ash a contemporary white steel form emerges. My hope is that viewers will tarry long enough to recognize a similar experience in their lives.
Contemporary Abstract
Commission
96″ x 96″ x 96″
Carmal-orange painted steel
Homage to Trees
60" x 60" x 10 gauge
This sculpture began when I tried to fashion a tree made of wood. The piece became incredibly heavy. Though tenuously clamped to a secure post in my workshop, it was difficult to secure. Twice it fell on me. Once it hurt. For weeks my hands turned to other projects.
Slowly it dawned on me that it would be quicker and safer to cut the tree from a sheet of steel using a plasma cutter. It was. Hence the sculpture.
Trees have memories. Their rings catalogue in surprising detail a history of drought, disease, humidity, floods, DNA, fires, heat, cold, trauma and homes for all manner of creatures. Call this sculpture a homage to trees.
Winter’s Gift
Winter’s Gift
80” x 20” x 20”
Steel, plant, soil, paint
Most sculptures are inanimate. They are placed on pedestals, often in museums and in fine homes. This one is not inanimate. It is living. Something about it causes us to pause.
Why do we slow? Art awakens reflection, gets us thinking, stirs feeling. “Winter’s Gift” does that.
Martin Helldorfer
1936 —
LGBTQ+
Pride
Steel, acrylic, paint
14″ x 13″ x 8″
Many within the. LGBTQ+ community use a six striped rainbow flag to illustrate their cherished values. I’ve taken that flag with its six colors (red, orange, yellow green, blue and indigo) to sculpt another possible symbol of that diverse and valued community.
Affection–2
Affection–2
6″ x 7″ x 12″
Steel, paint
This sculpture mingles two hearts, a musical note, and color to slow and attract the gaze of those who pass as well as to note the linkage of music and love.
Children of war
The Child Among Debris
17″ x 14″ x 7″
Steel, art board, paint
Today’s news documents in word and image the bombings in war torn countries. Neighborhoods are leveled and thousands of families displaced. Tonight’s news was about Gaza. It is said that the number of children murdered exceeds the number of combatants.
All week I found myself cutting and welding together dozens of small squares to form a web of sorts in the shape of a ball. Using a laser I cut out the image of a child with outstretched arms, one hand holding flowers, the other a bird. I placed that image within the rounded ball that I had made. Then crushed it. This sculpture, a child among debris, is result. I find it striking.
