Public Works
Good Shepherd
Installation: St. Henry Catholic Church, Brentwood, TN
Client: Diocese of Nashville
Completion Year: Expected 2025
Dyer Sculpture, Nashville, TN
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The Good Shepherd Sculpture was designed to be a focal point for the planned Prayer Garden and Columbarium in an existing courtyard between the St. Henry sanctuary and the administration building. Christ is gently leading a child and will be of a granite pedestal surrounded by a slowly flowing water feature and pooled base with cattails.
The bronze sculpture will measure 6’-4” high, 4’-0” wide and 4’-0” deep.
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The goal for this project was to create a comforting presence and focal point in the future columbarium and prayer garden. Christ was to be with a child and be depicted as the Good Shepherd with a lamb. I wanted the Good Shepherd to be gently leading the child and the two figures to harmonize with the feature of gently flowing water.
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The process begins with a signed contract and approval of a rough sketch which is then further refined in working with the client. After a mutually agreed upon concept, the artist creates 3-D sketch and maquette and then works with the client to refine the process and reach a design agreement. Then a waste mold is made of the clay maquette and wax is poured. From this a digital enlargement is made and milled out of foam. This is a scaled and exact enlargement of the original maquette. Next, the artist sands into the foam to add and refine details. An oil-based clay is applied in several layers as the artist carves and sculpts again. After final approval by the client, a mold is made and shipped to the foundry for the bronze casting. The sculptor visits the foundry for approval of the work and will return again to proof the patina. After completion, the bronze is shipped to the client for installation.
