Sculpture

Mention sculpture to most people and they call to mind works crafted in marble or bronze, envisioning Michelangelo’s David or Rodin's Thinker.

To a Tournament of Roses devotee, sculpture evokes a different image. It’s gigantic caricature created by welders in pencil steel, intended to be covered with a skin of aluminum wire screening and plastic, then decorated with a myriad of flowers and dry organic materials to become part of an awe-inspiring parade float.

Phoenix Decorating Co. has crews of talented artists which each year work their magic in this unusual art form.

It's amazing the things that the Phoenix craftsmen can sculpt and animate. Some are relatively easy: creating turning wheels, flapping wings, a subtly winking eye. Others take a very special eye –– possibly one with a slightly odd slant.

Consider depicting a 55-foot tall "parade major" created for Farmers Insurance that will lead the parade, and what it looks like to be "A Cut Above the Rest." Add to that the challenge of parting the Red Sea, replicating the Ark of the Covenant and the Burning Bush – as the Lutheran Layman’s League presents "Ten Commandments - Jesus Fulfilled."

Or contemplate sculpting the equivalent of an Ark-full of animals, including a wolf, racoon and bear on the Boy Scouts of America float. And the horse and owl on the RFD-TV float, leaping dolphins on American Honda’s three-masted sailing ship, a stylized Phoenix bird for Donate Life, butterflies on the Kiwanis entry, lions heads (of course) on the Lions Club depiction of kids frolicking in a back yard tree-house haven, a flight of birds – Baltimore Orioles, a Mountain Blue Bird and Black-capped Chickadees – attending an egg-filled nest. Add to these a gigantic medically-oriented Teddy Bear designed to help the Rotary Club fight childhood polio, and a American Eagles spreading their patriotic wings on floats sponsored by the City of Glendale and the Boy Scouts of America.

How does this all come about? The initial step is a relatively simple two-dimensional schematic drawing, generally no larger than a common newspaper. Then there are some crude chalk lines drawn on a concrete floor, after which the pencil steel is artfully bent to the shapes needed to create a basic outline, which is mounted on a temporary framework allowing the sculptors 360-degree access to their work. Then, thousands of pieces of pencil steel are carefully cut, bent and welded together to form the intricate fabric of each sculptural piece. When the form has been shaped to perfection, it's mounted on a float and covered with screening and a plastic skin. This skin is painted to match the color of the decorations which will be affixed in the days before the parade by thousands of volunteers, providing a beautiful float –– but unfortunately hiding a truly unique sculptural art form.