Sculptures arrive for Art Trail Tecumseh

By DEB WUETHRICH

Whether a piece of art tells its own story or not, there is usually one behind its creation. Such is the case with Richard Tucker’s “Baby Jack.” The 190 pound bronze piece now sits in front of Great Ideas in downtown Tecumseh. Several of the artists were in town on Tuesday morning as Midwest Sculpture Initiative Coordinator, Ken Thompson, and a crew, worked to place the sculptures around the city as part of a new Art Trail Tecumseh project. Several cities, including Marshall, have used art as a way to attract more visitors into the community. The art pieces, which also are for sale, will be in place for one year.
Tucker said part of the inspiration for Baby Jack took place when he was visiting the Denver Zoo. “I was taking photos of some African antelope,” he said. “Ten feet below, in their habitat, was a bunny. It was midday and he was dozing. Both ears were hung over the side.” Tucker said he took the photo from above and knew that some day he would use the image in his work. A few months later, someday came.

“When I did the ears, he grew into a big rabbit instead of a cottontail. He looked more like a baby jack rabbit,” said Tucker. He said when he was a boy in Texas, there were rabbits all over the place. “My brothers and I caught a jack rabbit and so we had it in the house, but it was never domesticated and we had to let it loose. You can tame a cottontail, but not a jack rabbit.”

Tucker learned of the Art Trail Tecumseh project through his wife’s (Marlene) cousin, Ron Frenzen, who teaches art at Tecumseh High School. “So I sent in a proposal and Baby Jack was selected,” said the artist, who had traveled from his home in Custer, South Dakota, with Baby Jack in the rear of his station wagon. Tucker said he is in his third career, having worked as a United Methodist pastor, and a teacher of social studies and world history and other subjects.

He said he was always whittling, even as a six-year-old boy. He said some people ask, “How can you let the piece go?” Tucker said as a boy, he would be carving something and another child would say, “I’ll give you 50 cents for that,” and he’d agree. “So I’ve been selling my art since I was a kid, and to me, it’s an honor to make something that somebody’s willing to pay for that they will make their own,” he said.

Tucker also will soon have a piece on display at the Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, called “Reaching Out.” It is a mother and baby chimpanzee.

“It’s interesting that their way to make a connection is to reach out and touch knuckles, whether it is to fight or to make friends,” Tucker said. “The piece is of the mother reaching out, and the baby chimp on her back is aping her, reaching out as well. You can tell we’re related. We connect by shaking hands.”

Baby Jack also has made some connections, something Tecumseh Economic Development Director Paula Holtz has pointed out as an important component of the art projects — putting them where people can interact with art. Tucker fashioned limited editions of both a smaller version and the size that’s on display in Tecumseh. He has sold all 30 of the smaller ones, and Tecumseh’s Baby Jack is number 7 of 10. One of the pieces was on display at Cypress Gardens in Florida. Children have been known to crawl up on the rabbit to get a closer connection. “One little girl even went up and kissed it,” said Frenzen in relating the story behind the art.

Tucker also has done some other forms of art, and said he would never restrict himself. “I like to have the freedom to do my own design and make it interesting — something that will entertain people and make them want to come back and take another look, not just see it once.”

Artist Mike Sohikian, also was on hand as the crew used a crane to assemble his piece named, “Icarus,” in front of the Tecumseh Civic Auditorium. The piece just completed a year of exhibition in Saugatuck. Another of Sohikian’s pieces, “Homage to Matisse,” will be on display at Adams Park. Another artist, Sergio DeGuisti, also brought several relief panels that will be on display in front of J-Bar Hobbies in downtown Tecumseh. DeGuisti, born in Italy, currently lives in Redford and said that he has tried different formats but primarily all his works now are reliefs. He has had 20 panels on display at the state library in Lansing since 1988 that he considers his favorite, and recently completed a piece for a downtown Detroit monument. He said he has done a number of pieces.
“People can Google me,” said the artist. “I’m on the Internet.”