The newly expanded Sharonville Convention Center, located in Sharonville, Ohio, has just added something else to the new expansion. “Swirl”, a 14 ft. x 9 ft. x 4 ft. painted steel sculpture created by artist Bruce Olson, is now resting comfortably in front of the Sharonville Convention Center.
The sculpture’s name is in direct reference to the convention center’s new logo. According to Olson, “I wanted to create a piece that was fluid, with a lot of movement.” In addition to Olson, the convention center’s Executive Director Will Greiner is also quite pleased with the addition of the piece.
Olson’s construction of the sculpture was almost as monumental as the sculpture itself. Olson, a 58-year old resident of Anderson Township, began by using rough sketches of the sculpture and then constructed wooden templates and then moved on to actual steel, a process which began back in December. The only part of the project Olson did not do himself was the bending of the 3″ steel pipe into 7 ft. segments.
A minor back injury during construction slowed Olson’s progress and the sculpture itself was too big to fit in Olson’s studio in its entirety. Olson has worked 10 to 15 hours a day for the last two months to finish “Swirl,” and when the finished product was complete at the convention center, it was the first time that the artist saw it completely assembled.
“Swirl” is the first large sculpture Olson has completed in years. Olson himself is the founding director of the Riverspan Regional Arts Alliance and he has devoted a lot of his time and energy to Riverspan, which is an exhibition and sale of national and international sculptures.
The Riverspan Regional Arts Alliance opened back in 2008 on the “Purple People Bridge” across the Ohio River. The bridge connects Cincinnati and Newport (KY) The art show returned in 2009 and but was canceled in 2010. Olson is working on reviving Riverspan this October.
Source: Cincinnati.com – Convention center welcomes ‘Swirl’ sculpture
