The Portfolio of Warren Spindler1973 - 2010

Emotion Counter 1974

I as experimenting using LEDs: Light Emitting Diodes, as replacements for precious jewels in my Jewelry Class at Tyler School of Art. I wanted to make a belt worn piece of ornamental art. Men wore their calculators on their belts back then. The number on the top center screen changed at random when you moved the piece. Since it had no set pattern I thought that it was just registering one’s passing emotions through numbers 0 - 9. It was made of cast epoxy, aluminum, a Radio Shack circuit board, LED number display, six volt battery, and, acrylic. I measures about 5” long.

Windfluence - 1976Inspired by watching the wind’s affects on a row of aircraft rudders on the ramp while serving in the Naval Air Reserve. The four panels were connected mechanically with steel chains, sprockets, and mounted on ball bearing bound shafts. Wind moved the panels in unison. I used “Flip-Flop” acrylic lacquer paint that changed color between metallic green and black as the panels moved. The structure was constructed using white pine and plywood. The outside surface was coated with fiberglass and polyester resin laid up on a flat metal surface to give a perfect smooth flat surface. All external surfaces were treated this way. This was my final senior year sculpture. Length: 10’ Width: 1’ Height: 7’

Cat Door Knocker 1977

This was one of my first commissions I received through a Philadelphia Gallery after graduation from Tyler School of Art. The center was sculpted in clay converted to victory brown wax and cast in bronze using the ceramic shell process. The outside ring was forged mild steel with hinge elements welded on. The outside ring moved to knock on the door. Approximately eight inches in diameter.

OZAM - 1977

After graduating from Tyler School of Art I was employed by the sculpture department to maintain the studio and to offer technical assistance to the undergraduate students. During that time I was asked to build a sculpture for assistant professor, Gilles Guintinni. He wrote and received grant money from Temple University. He sketched the design out and I formalized it through blueprint drawings working out the engineering. How it would be constructed assembled for traveling exhibitions. It was built using in Cor-Ten steel externally and structural steel internally. I cut out and welded the entire sculpture. Gilles and another of his students did some of the external seam welding. The dome and rolled shapes were outsourced. Width: 6’ Depth: 6’ Height: 18’

SED 774 “ Lifeline “ Symbols of Emotional Decisions 1977

The forth in the series of sculptures. I was literally making my thoughts and feelings of the time in steel. I was thinking that I reached a point in my life that reminded me of the Venturi effect. I was in a vacuum while being drawn into a new but different path in life. Rather than directing my effort to the rough or crumpled, read difficult, area before me. The stainless pipe is the record of the path that I took. I merged on to a new direction. The new direction at the time was not to attend the University of Maryland read, the difficult, graduate school, but to pursue working in design / art fields that presented themselves in downtown Philadelphia and New York. I also was enlisted in the US Naval Reserve then. I had one more year left on my commitment, this too impacted my making a change.

SED 784 “The Touch” 1978 Symbols of Emotional Decisions, forth in the series

Using steel left over from the construction of OZAM. I was working on depicting decisions one makes in life through three dimensional shapes in steel. The element on the left was an old elevator shaft rusted and pitted from years underground. The I-beam touches it and moves forward in it’s direction. This had a lot to do with my discussions with my Grand Parents back in the day. The other side of the bisected cylinder is clean and precise but partially hollow. The touching element is like a hand but made to like look structural connection and is bolted with four heavy bolts. The rusted cylinder was waxed and the I-beam was gun blued and waxed. It was about eight feet long.

Black Wing - 1980The last sculpture I made before moving into center city Philadelphia. This photo was taken during an exhibition of my sculptures at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. I was influenced by the Stenberg Brother’s work. They were Russian artists who worked in the constructivists movement in the early twentieth century. Their work celebrated the achievement of mankind through the new technology an materials of the day. The Stenberg’s were some the first artists of the day to implement modern materials in sculpture. My work was more about distressed structures. I called my work at that time “ Alluring / Alarming ”. Which was to say; formally it is a nice eye pleasing composition only upon further contemplation it might be recognized as representing a destroyed building or a crashed airplane. This was symbolic of my thoughts about nuclear destruction that I felt at the time.

The upper area was constructed in mild steel and treated with graphite stove paint. The bottom base shape was cast in bronze with a green patina applied. Length: thirty inches, Depth: fifteen inches, Height: thirty Inches ,

I was interested in the artwork painted on military aircraft in the twentieth century called “nose art”. I created this painting in 1982 as a series using the same materials: enamel paint on an aluminum riveted section copied from a B-24 fuselage. I used a image of Betty Grable. These served as talismans to bring luck to the crew. This panel measures 40” by 40”. In the permanent collection of the Dover Air Force Museum Dover, Delaware

Lucky Legs II – WWII Inspirited Nose Art - 1982

2x2 Animals and Arks in Toyland 1983

This was one of my favorite exhibits. I was contracted by the Philadelphia Maritime Museum to design and build their Christmas exhibit in 1983.

My company, Art Lab, built exhibits for the non profit community in Philadelphia. I hired several of my artist friends to help with the construction and installation of the exhibit.

The museum wanted to display forty antique Noah’s Ark toy sets. A central ark was built with two internal display cases built in and the rest of the sets were displayed in cases attached to the walls or free standing. Large “Stieff” stuffed animals were corralled in a corner. Large colorful two dimensional animals were installed throughout the museum to bring the people to the ark display. An enlarged copy of “Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks hung from the ceiling.

Tyco Toys Typhoon Hovercraft 1988

I was working at HMS Associates 1988 - 1989 when I received this assignment to work with Tyco Toy designers and engineers to design and develop a radio controlled hovercraft toy. HMS Associates was one of the original product development model shops in the Philadelphia area. They were known for their work with Lionel, Revel, and other plastic model kit makers. I polished my skills working with master European trained model makers employed there. I was a Journeyman model maker at the time. I sculpted and machined all the plastic parts that housed the electronics and motors that made the successful toy work.

Mickey Mouse AT&T Telephone - 1993

I worked with the Walt Disney Company’s consumer division for several clients. This one was one of the most visible products I worked on. I was the Art Department Manager at Paramount Industries. I managed the sculpting and pattern development of the Mickey Mouse image. It was a collaboration of: AT&T, Disney, the electronics manufacturer, the toolmaker, and the product manufacturer. Very interesting discussions and creative leadership surrounded the table. After the drawings were approved I divided the parts of the phone up to several model makers and sculptors . My job was to have the figure sculpted in clay and approved as soon as possible by the Disney licensing department in NYC. I did not touch clay rather I coached three junior sculptors to make the parts piece by piece which sped the project. Coaching them using words rather than tools made us all better with our competent skills. I never touched anyone's work on their bench. My words were my art and this was a successful exercise. I see these phones everywhere and was especially proud to see them being used at Disney World while vacationing with my children.

Samples of porcelain pattern sculpts I made 1997 - 2003

Created Miss Piggy 2000 for the Franklin Mint and The Jim Henson Studio. I developed this sculpt shown still in the rough clay stage. I was using Chavant P 40 clay. Later to be turned into a epoxy tooling pattern for production.

Miss Piggy as she looked celebrating the turn of the century. Also shown are products I made For Lenox Brands. Products were shaped in clay or machined in dense foam. Molded in silicone rubber then cast in urethane or plaster. Final patterns were molded in record silicone rubber molds and cast in epoxy or urethane plastic.

The Rebuilt Artlab Studio Building 2003- 2004

I lost my pervious studio due to a fire March 24, 2003.It was situated, on this location, behind my house. Everything I had in the structure was lost or severely damaged. My: machines, tools, drawing tables, work benches, collection artworks; mine and others were destroyed. Within two days of the fire, I started to design a new studio. Not a converted three car garage / workshop as the old one had been but a new from the ground up building. I contracted a local friend to build it and it was completed and in use by the one year anniversary of that terrible day. All the drawings; layouts, plan views, and elevations were drawn by me. I had a certified mechanical engineer confirm the specification of the joists and rafters for the correct size and strength. My friend helped me spec the windows, doors, and utilities. This view shows the Southern and Eastern sides of the building.

Lord Of the Rings - Theoden’s Sword - 2004I was commissioned to make the replica collectors sword for the Noble Collection. The props used in the movie were crafted too rough to be used. They would not hold up to a collector’s scrutiny. Photos of the movie sword prop were sent to me. I copied the design in a blueprint then carved and decorated the pattern with wax details. I molded and cast the parts in urethane. The final pattern was cast in epoxy. The pattern’s length was nine inches long.

Arthurian Round Table Goblet 2004

I was commissioned by the Noble Collection to make this goblet. Working from their rough sketches I designed and sculpted the eight scene designs on four panel matrixes using Chavant P 40 oil based clay. The sculpts were molded in rubber and cast in urethane than applied to the two up pattern. The base was machined as separate parts and details added in wax. The final fifteen inch high pattern was cast in urethane using tin cure silicone rubber molds. The final product was manufactured seven and one half inches high and cast in pewter.

Coin designs submitted to the U.S. Mint 2005 - 2007

• These designs were submitted in to the United States Mint for their “Artistic Infusion Program”. The Jamestown Tricentennial coin design assignment combines the European settlement and ships under the watchful eye of a native inhabitant. The Texas star as the symbol of the state is superimposed with the Monarch Butterfly. The migration of Monarch Butterfly’s cross the state every year. I was thinking about the similarity of the shapes of each element, in this design. Each drawing is six and three quarters inches in diameter and is polymer graphite on vellum.

Sam in the Field - 2005

I was inspired by the work of Augustus Saint - Gaudens. After doing creative work for other’s for so long I needed to find a project that would let me find my voice again. Being an artist sculptor for hire working in the commercial was trying and ego killing work. I had a family and a mortgage. I did what I could to use my skills to solve a company’s problems and make their products. I viewed a exhibition of Saint Gauden’s work in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2004. I was inspired by the painting in three dimensions that I saw on the walls. I used this as my start to finding my voice again. I had a great model for this work, my Yellow Labrador Sam. I knew him so well I wanted to bring his spirit out in my work.

Lenox Collectibles - Baltimore Oriole - 2007

Lenox commissioned me to sculpt a three dimensional version of the Maryland State Stamp. Introduced in 1982, the "Fifty State Birds and Flowers" stamps were destined to become the most popular special issue in the history of United States postage. The stamps were created by a father and son team, and each stamp is a miniature masterpiece. The father, Arthur Singer, designed the birds, and his son, Alan, illustrated the flowers. The oriole is happily at home among a burst of Black-eyed Susan ( Rebeccia ) flowers. The sculpture is mounted on a sturdy base bearing a reproduction of the original Maryland stamp. It was introduced in 2008. Crafted of cold-cast porcelain. Height: 7 1/2” Width: 6 3/4” Depth: 7"

Sam in the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek - 2008

This medallic art sculpt was submitted and accepted to represent the United States in the 2010 Congress Exhibition of the International Art Medal Federation Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d'Art . To be held in Tampere, Finland June 2010.

Originally sculpted in clay over a acrylic frame. After molding the rough clay it was cast in urethane plastic. The details were cleaned up and it was cast in bonded bronze. This was later reduced from eight and one half by eleven inches to two and eleven sixteenths by two inches in dimension. It was machined using a pantograph in one quarter inch thick brass.

Lincoln Portrait Medallion “Lincoln Log” 2010

Original hard copy cast in urethane of the sculpt eight inches in diameter. First sculpted in clay. A silicone waste mold was made then cast in bright white urethane. The surface was cleaned up and details were added during this stage. A record mold was made and a final up size version was cast.

This brass medallion is two and one half inches in diameter by one quarter inch thick. This medallion was machined to this dimension using a Deckel G-12 pantograph. The eight inch pattern was traced for the reduction.