website online

[JAZ]

Finally, as of tonight, the website my daughter designed for me is up. It is just a sampling, but it's something. I hope to add pictures as I find the time (or if). We are also going to try to put a clip of video. A designer friend made a digital video about one of my installations a couple of years ago and when time permits we'll see if we can copy a minute or so of that for the fun of it. We'll see.
I have loved being able to see everyone else's sites and I used all of yours as "research" to help clarify my thinking and as inspiration. So now I will stick my neck out.

[JAZ]

I guess I should have included the URL, shouldn't I?
www.joyceaudyzarins.com

[novabelgica]

Congratulations JAZ. The website looks great, and you make some gorgeous stuff. I love that 'Strobus' piece.

[Araich]

You little beauty!

[rderr.com]

Joyce, oh Joyce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert

[RuBert]

Hi Jaz, I loved your website and work, your daughter has done an excellent job, she obviously has an artistic eye also.

You have a wide range of interests and knowledge, and that has always been reflected in your comments on this forum and is most evident in your work. We look forward to seeing your work continue and I want to thank you for being an outstanding contributer to our community.

[ALH]

looks great works great. Such a wide variety of skills and interests, somthing to aspire to.

[Saint B]

JAZ,
The web page is beautiful, as well as your work. I especially love the 2-d tree foot prints. Being from Mendocino I really appreciate your attention to the amazing trees there. Thanks. I do want to say though that I wish that when you clicked on the thumbnail of the image that the whole page did not go blank and then reload. Is there any way to make it so that the thumbnails and borders stay put while the new image is loading? a minor detail but I think that it will make a smoother transition to your next image. Your daughter did a very nice job on lay out and design. Looks great!

[JAZ]

Thank you for all of your nice comments. This forum is occupied by really good people. It's always such a pleasure to read and I've learned so much from you all. What a good community! There are times when I feel overwhelmed by the trivia of life or disconnected from the art world and I just sit and read your stuff for awhile.
The negatives about my site I've heard so far from other people in my life are that "CV" wasn't known to them, nor 3,2,1... (as in three, two, one, contact when a space vehicle is launched) and one sculptor friend thought the pictures are too small and the navigation too complex, but I'm taking those with a grain of salt. I thought it would be good to keep the navigation buttons as simple as possible, therefore the short names and since you can actually just scan the larger versions of the images in sequence, without the text even, I think the size issue is taken care of pretty well.
The thing I think is missing from the site is more images. It just takes so long to find or fix good images, format them, get the sizes and all into a digital form. I have lots of slides I haven't scanned yet and etc. I need to adopt the discipline I see in other members of this forum. For instance, Araich starts a piece, has it painted, photographed and on his site in the wink of an eye (and has been doing that long enough that he's got more than sixty sculptures pictured there!). I guess now that I have a place to put them, if I did that each time I had something new, about thirty years from now I might have a site that looks as comprehensive as that. Of course how full would his site be by then! Argh. And Sculptor Sam too, who has a good full site, and the rest of you too.
But at least it's a start. One funny thing was that my son was surprised to see the drawings because he hadn't seen them before. Maybe he thinks he knows everything there is to know about his mother? I explained that I have quite a lot of stuff that's never been seen by anyone but me. But I don't think there's anyone on this site who could really do a compendium of everything they've done. People don't realize the depth or complexity of any artist's life work.

[jwebb]

super site and superb comments, Joyce. Thanks for both.

[Araich]

Oh the images! They drive me nuts. I started with the idea of an archive, as much for myself as anyone else, and I do refer to it all the time for paint colours, dimensions and ideas... but the work involved is staggering. I have images of 130 different sculptures available on my site (only available through 'details') and over 200 pages.
Now that you've pointed it out JAZ, I think I must be obsessive. I developed a discipline early, and if I don't keep to it I fall behind pretty quick.

One thing, which also points to my mental health, I did check to see that was a house for 'home' :o To me, it could have been something else entirely!

[fritchie]

JAZ - This is a wonderful site, both technically and, more importantly, aesthetically and professionally. It went up just after I left last night, it seems, and as a result I’m about the tenth person to comment. The large images now come up in separate windows, a technique I had planned to suggest after reading an earlier comment, so I guess this is a change you already have made.

I especially like your series on the making of Strobus, and your discussion of the tree. I called it a pine cone in all my earlier posts, but I honestly wasn’t sure if it was a pine, fir, or something else. Its quite different from the various southern pines, about 5 or 6 types which grow locally. All of these are much more compact, or “bushy”.

Congratulations!, and I’ll keep watching to see the site grow. (Also, let me repeat the congratulations on the diversity of your work. You have ranged quite a bit, and so far I have looked at only the 3D work.)

[JAZ]

Oh the images! They drive me nuts. ..... I think I must be obsessive.....
I'd say you're the best kind of obsessive, if that's what you are. What you have there is a fantastic archive, which I am totally jealous of. I'd be much better off to do the same. For instance, when you asked in the other link about the snow load, I wanted to attach a funny image of one of my sculptures - a semi abstracted figure thing - with snow on it, just to liven up the response, but do you think I could just quickly find it? I'm sure that some time next week, when I don't need it I'll stumble on it when looking for something else. Whereas, if I were Robert Hague not only would I be able to find it, I have its whole provenance to boot. It's a fabulous resource for your clients and I'm sure it's a factor in your sales record.

[JAZ]

JAZ,
The web page is beautiful, as well as your work. I especially love the 2-d tree foot prints. Being from Mendocino I really appreciate your attention to the amazing trees there. Thanks. I do want to say though that I wish that when you clicked on the thumbnail of the image that the whole page did not go blank and then reload. Is there any way to make it so that the thumbnails and borders stay put while the new image is loading? a minor detail but I think that it will make a smoother transition to your next image. Your daughter did a very nice job on lay out and design. Looks great!

Saint B,
I'll pass on your thoughts about the loading to my daughter. I personally have no clue. (It's hard to believe that I've actually taught Graphic Design at the college level.) One factor may be the hookup you have? Are you using a modem, DSL or cable? IF it's a modem, what speed? It would be good for us to know what works and what doesn't, so it's really good that you pointed that out becasue it doesn't happen when I look at it.

[JAZ]

Joyce, oh Joyce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert

What???????????????

[JAZ]

Congratulations JAZ. The website looks great, and you make some gorgeous stuff. I love that 'Strobus' piece.
Thanks. I learned a lot from it, that's for sure.

[JAZ]

Fritchie,
Thanks for all of the good comments. I'm fortunate in being the mother of Melody, who has a degree in computer graphics from Syracuse University. How handy. So instead of paying someone I don't know, I paid her and got more than my money's worth, really. And it was just as helpful to her becasue she went from being an Art Director in a big Ad agency to having to scramble for work after the graphics industry crashed in California - she lives in Oakland. So, when she started the site she was borrowing her boyfriend's computer, but then she used the money to go online and bid on a computer at auction and got a fantastic setup for under $500. She's amazing.
About the pinecones...they are amazing too. I have a random collection of different ones, some of which are quite big. We have a Norway Spruce in the yard and so I have as many of those cones as I want and intend to do an installation with them one of these days. But I chose the white pine because of its size and value but mostly because it had a moderate number of scales and was long and slender (have to fit things through my 37" door). That's also why Strobus is built so it comes apart. The base has five short lengths of pipe sticking up about 6", which the "needles" fit onto. The cone itself is separate. I'd love to weld the whole thing together, which would make it much easier to install. But it's in Illinois for awhile, so I'm not going to worry about it.
One thing about pinecones is that they've been used as examples of the Fibanacci series of numbers. There are actually websites. Also, in an entomology class I took once I found out that each cone is a microcosm of insect species. It's its own little world. And our many squirrels love them too.

[sculptorsam]

Nice little meditation on pinecones there, JAZ! I'm sorry too that I'm so late with my praise for your beautiful site. By now it feels a little redundant. But it's a good repetition, and you should direct your daughter to this thread so she can bask in the good vibes as well. I wish I had somebody in the family to work on my site. As it is, I'm in the process of rebuilding it yet again. Will it never end?!

Sam

[Saint B]

JAZ,
Oh, you are correct I bet it is my funky dial up modem connection that makes those white flashes happen. sorry!
B

[Gdog]

Wow! Jaz what a great job your daughter has done for you, A hundred people could say that a piece I did was nice, however the feeling is not the same as when my son or wife makes comment. What your daughter has done for you is like one of those ultimate compliments! I really enjoyed the process of making "Strobus" your studio is cool, I love studio shots they are so revealing. You have done so much for the art community based upon your CV, which I must say I don't know what that stands for :o

I espescially liked the picture in the process labeled ready, where the pieces were about to be attached, if that doesn't cast an idea of the actual work that was about to be done! [ I could only imagine, you probably got better at attaching them right towards the end] just as you get the hang of things,the rides over [this obviously is speculation on my part]

your further down the road than I am, and I too am grateful for your contributions as I'm sure most are.

"cause and effect,means and end,seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means,the fruit in the seed."

Gdog.

[JAZ]

Saint B,
I passed on your comment about the way the pages load and this was Melody's response:
"I think that would be beyond my scripting abilities. I think you'd need a fully coded (programmed) site that would take someone like Carl to make. It's a good idea. But I have no idea how to do it. I think most sites reload their pages."
Carl is the older of my two sons. He is a self-taught senior software developer. A few years ago he and I were trying to develop a site for me, by his teaching me the html coding. I found that because my time is all chopped up in tiny bits, by the time I'd sit down to work on it, I couldn't remember how I did what I'd done before, so after a while we gave up on that idea. Anyway, my point is that you're suggestion is a good one, and it can be done, but not with Dreamweaver. Melody entered Syracuse with a traditional art portfolio, not a computer geek one. She learned a lot of coding and at least one computer language. When she graduated, someone flew her from Syracuse, NY to Silicon Valley and hired her as an art director in an ad agency right off the bat. So, I think I got a really, really good deal. She did a great job designing the site to look okay on just about any set-up that people have, with the exception of what you commented on.

[JAZ]

Wow! Jaz what a great job your daughter has done for you, A hundred people could say that a piece I did was nice, however the feeling is not the same as when my son or wife makes comment. What your daughter has done for you is like one of those ultimate compliments! .......
Gdog.
If everything my kids say about my work were true, I'd be rich and famous by now! They have been really great.
Eric, my middle son, didn't know what CV was either, so I sent him an e-mail saying it's short for curriculum vitae and in some fields preferred over the term resume (accent over the final e). One's Latin, the other French, but they both mean pretty much the same thing. I used it only because it's shorter. Anyway, he is in the process of applying for a job at a research facility in Iceland and one of their requirements was that they wanted a "CV". So, now he really knows what it is.

[JAZ]

Sam,
There's no such thing as redundancy where compliments are concerned! Your comments about Melody's design made me realize that I should add her contact info to my site. After all, she now has some experience with what sculptors need in a site. By the way, when we started this process I sent her links to your site, Bob Emser's, Araich's and about three or four others. Yesterday I looked at Wendy Klemperer's new site, which is still under construction. It's good, clean and simple, too. The ones that keep the focus on the work, not on some spiffy design with distracting flashy things are best in my opinion.

[sculptor]

Joyce Audy Zarins now, "JAZ" makes sense (somedays, I'm a tad dense)

Nice site, clean, loads quickly, easy layout, and depth of information in easy to follow and well phrased links.

¿as/re your: "The average white pine cone has seventy-five scales arranged in spirals. Mathematicians use the arrangement of the scales to illustrate the Fibanacci series of numbers. I took a cone and using small pieces of masking tape, I numbered the scales in each spiral, discovering that there are five sets of fifteen. "

If I understand this, the Fibanacci is roughly equal to the "golden mean"
1 : 1 5/8 or approx 5:8:13:21:34........(so, when I built the studio, i connected the clay studio to the office/drafting-drawing tables/etc., with a doorway 55"w. X 89" high---to see if anyone would have a noticable reaction--I ain't seen nuthin yet--(maybe, I'm not perceiving something rather subtle)

If I understand you, you arranged the 75 scales in 5 spirals of 15 scales each. True?-------what I'm not grasping, is the fibanacci input part. Does the space between the spiral lines increase as the spiral climbs or descends? Do the spirals start out almost perpendicular to the length of the pipe and elongate as they twist round the center? (I'm hoping this is an intelligible question)

confusedly yours
rod

[fritchie]

... If I understand this, the Fibanacci is roughly equal to the "golden mean" ...what I'm not grasping, is the fibanacci input part. Does the space between the spiral lines increase as the spiral climbs or descends? Do the spirals start out almost perpendicular to the length of the pipe and elongate as they twist round the center? (I'm hoping this is an intelligible question) ...
rod

I was going to avoid this, but I’m a bit vague on this also. The Fibonacci series is a sequence of integers (generally the only one, taken to start with an implied zero) in which each number is the sum of the preceding two. Thus, the series starts (0), 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.

I’ve heard about the series in relation to pine cones, some other seed pods, and so on, and I suspect it derives not from the arrangement into spirals, but from sequential circles moving up from the base. Just how to start may be a problem, but there might be 3 arms in the first circle, 5 in the next one, and so on. Clearly, near the upper end, things change. It’s just a general relationship.

[darhorn]

Hey Jaz!

Congrats.....just love your moon snails, I have fond memories of watching them in the kelp at night off Catalina Island............Dar Horn

[darhorn]

Hey Jaz!

Congrats.....just love your moon snails, I have fond memories of watching them in the kelp at night off Catalina Island............Dar

[fritchie]

OK, here goes with a little more on Leonardo Fibonacci, plus the Fibonacci Series, Fibonacci Numbers and Fibonacci Spirals. It’s amazing how informative the Internet can be. Leonardo Fibonacci discovered his Series in 1202, and it played quite a role in Renaissance thinking. The Series is as I described earlier, a set of numbers in which each in succession is the sum of the previous two.

Here are two websites: Renaissance, Numbers in Nature (http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/fibonacci) and ThinkQuest, The Fibonacci Series (http://www.thinkquest.org/library/site_sum.html?tname=27890&url=27890/theSeries6a.html).

What JAZ has demonstrated with her Strobus piece is the role of Fibonacci Numbers. It turns out that many flower types have petal numbers which are from the Fibonacci Series: 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on. The petals are arranged more or less radially in a plane, extending outward from a center. In turn, many seed “pods” such as pinecones, which thrust out of that plane into a third dimension, have seed holders arrayed in spirals along the third axis, with the number of spirals being a Fibonacci Number. Her pinecone has three spirals. The length of each spiral, 15, is more or less an accident, but it gives a nice proportion to the overall piece.

Fibonacci Spirals are examples of logarithmic spirals, and I won’t go much further into that except to say that spiral shells of many animals, such as snails, conches and so on, are examples. The Golden Proportion mentioned by Sculptor is related to these logarithmic spirals

The principal is easy to see: With flowers, a first flower-generating plant cell divides into two cells. Each of these two cells, plus the original, divides again, giving three. So far, all of these numbers are Fibonacci - 1, 2, and 3. Now a problem arises. Either because the cells are in a plane and run out of room, or because each cell can divide only twice before dying, thereafter only the last two groups of cells continue multiplying. The next stage has 2 + 3 = 5 cells, and so on. At some point, the latest “generating cells” change path and begin to form petals instead of making more generating cells. Thus, the flower has 3, 5, 8, or some other Fibonacci Number of petals.

With the pine cones, division moves into the third dimension at some point and runs along the third axis. Commonly, these structures form spirals, probably because it is easier for each succeeding layer of cells to fit between cells in the previous layer. As this 3D group of “generating cells” extends radially, voila!, you have a baby pinecone! Seeds in an ear of corn generally are arranged in straight rows instead of spirals. The numbers of rows may or may not be Fibonacci Numbers; I just don’t know. Possibly more room along the third axis as it grows generates straight instead of spiraling lines. End of lesson for the day! End of lesson for the day! Sorry about being so windy. Strobus is great, JAZ, regardless of theory and pedagogy!

[jwebb]

fritchie, you are a national treasure. Oh, on this site, make that international.

[JAZ]

fritchie, you are a national treasure. Oh, on this site, make that international.

Dear Fritchie,
I agree. What a great explanation. And you're certainly not too "windy"! (besides, you saved me from the risk of the same). I tried to log on this morning to answer your original question, but my username wasn't recognized for some reason. Now I'm so glad I didn't. I could never have explained the particulars of the sequence so well.
All of the above is correct and very well described, but I can add another layer to this now, and tonight when I'm home I'll try to find two visual links about the pinecone structure concept that were sent to me by a friend. (I'm on my lunch break from grinding down welds right now.)
One reason it's difficult to visualize the Fibanacci connection on a pine cone is that (as far as I can see) it refers to the visual, exterior, structure only. Look at a pinecone with the stem end facing you. You will see that the scales spiral around the core. As they radiate, they follow the number sequence we've been talking about, getting continually wider as they grow. The same is true when you look at the arrangement of seeds on a sunflower, and many other examples in nature. In the case of the white pine cone (pinus strobus), that effect is visible at the top too, but marking all of the scales I could see five interwoven spirals, as you read on my website.
However, that's not how the scales are actually attached, as I was surprised to find out. The scales are attached in two spirals turning in the same direction, alternating with one starting on one side of the core and the other starting one step higher on the other side. To make the pattern I used a cardboard tube from wrapping paper and divided it vertically into equal sections. Then, now this was the elusive part, that magic number that I originally couldn't find, I marked it off horizontally into nine equal sections. I put a piece of tape on the first intersection where a horizontal and a vertical met and marked it One. Then I went up two spaces and over two spaces and marked it Two, and so on, up the tube. Then I went back to the beginning and started at the second horizontal, rotated the tube to the mark that was closest to opposite from where I started, and put a piece of tape marked A, then continued up the pattern, going over two and up two each time. Because the marks are in ninths and shift over one place each time, the spirals appear. Because it was the right pattern, when you look at the finished cone you see the five outwardly visible spirals, not the ones it is constructed by. One weird thing is that the spirals go around and around the core more tightly and more times than is visible in the finished outward pattern. It was my husband Egils who figured out that the core had to be divided into ninths. I could see the two alternating interior spirals, the rate of turning and so on. In the beginning I was convinced that the sequence would be based on five, because of the five outward spirals. But the scales didn't rotate the right way, so I assumed that meant that dividing the tube in to 5.5 or a similar number of divisions would be the solution. I kept rearranging little pieces of masking tape into the pattern, and though it seemed close, it just wasn't right. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking becasue the sculpture had alredy been juried into the show based on the maquette. So, as a last resort I brought my tryouts to my husband Egils, former Software engineer, with his Masters degree from MIT. He wanted to tell me that he didn't know, but I knew I was close so I made him think. Then suddenly he saw the nine. He hardly finished the sentence and I was out the door.
I am not a numbers person. Strangely enough I had learned of the Fibanacci sequence from a sculpture in an outdoor sculpture installation where it was used to show branching, although as you see it really applied to my sculpture only after it was built.
The strangest thing is that based on that regular pattern I just described, which remains the same over the whole length of the core, two illusions happen. One is that externally it looks like five spirals are interwoven and secondly, from the stem end you can see the Fibanacci rate of growth, but that is only due to the change in the size of the scales as they grow - still a reference to the sequence, but having nothing to do with the way they're actually attached.
Nature is pretty amazing.
The other problem with constructing this is that once I knew the sequence, actually attaching them at the right angles was a challenge. Remember, the core is curved. I cut a template out of cardboard with a hole in the center just big enough for the core, and a slit to get it on by with the the divisions marked at the core, then radiating outward. I attached a small plastic level to the top so that I'd be sure that the little division markings all started from the same place as I moved the template up the core pipe. I also cut out some sections of cardboard in the angles I wanted the scales to deviate from the core. I gradated the size and proportions of the scales and bent them to imitate the range of angles I could see on the real cone. Then the only issue was how to hold each one in place as I worked.
I also had to buy a winch and build the attachment to the bender when I discovered it was too wimpy to do the big scales.
This project kept my little brain busy for months, I'll tell you. Then after all of that, and lugging the darned thing all the way to Chicago (a two day drive) with not a cent of compensation, my hosts wanted to keep the stipend the loan venue was offering.
Anyway, I certainly appreciate pinecones better now.

[sculptor]

........
Anyway, I certainly appreciate pinecones better now.

Ditto

My goodness
STROBUS is certainly worth the thousand words.

Fritchie-------thanks for the links--a resource library and peers who care----JAZ's site started a nice journey----this am, I was out in the woods hunting mushrooms(still early in the season) and found a snail shell----fibanacci fresh on my mind-----such beauty lying on the forest floor---so many times i've looked and you've helped me see

rod(sculptor)

[fritchie]

... One reason it's difficult to visualize the Fibanacci connection on a pine cone is that (as far as I can see) it refers to the visual, exterior, structure only. Look at a pinecone with the stem end facing you. You will see that the scales spiral around the core. As they radiate, they follow the number sequence we've been talking about, getting continually wider as they grow. The same is true when you look at the arrangement of seeds on a sunflower, and many other examples in nature. ....

The two Internet sites I posted have many pictures of flowers and so on, where you can see multiple spirals of the type you describe. Once a repeated and slightly irregular pattern gets to a certain level of complexity, the mind sees it fractionally, and often in many ways. Obviously, people have been fascinated by these patterns for a long time. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments. Have fun with these sites!

[JAZ]

Hey Jaz!

Congrats.....just love your moon snails, I have fond memories of watching them in the kelp at night off Catalina Island............Dar
That sounds like my kind of fun. I live about eight miles from the Atlantic, and we go to Plum Island for walks year round. I've drawm and painted moonsnails many times. Maybe it's the roundness of the shape? It's sort of like the Zen enso in a way and the opening reminds me of an ear, listening. Sometimes I've found sand collars from them.
I've been to San Francisco to visit my daughter and the sand dollars there have the star offset, while ours are centered. There are lots of sand dollars at Plum Island.

[JAZ]

Here's a link to a picture and info about a big bronze pinecone from the 1st or 2nd century.
http://touritaly.org/tours/vaticanmuseum/Vatican06.htm

[fritchie]

Here's a link to a picture and info about a big bronze pinecone from the 1st or 2nd century. ...
Thanks for this link, JAZ. The “large gold sphere”, actually bronze, which the web author couldn’t identify is probably identical, or at least very similar, to one badly damaged at NY on 9.11. It’s by a European sculptor, German I think, and it was returned to him in Europe for possible repair. It got some media attention as the cleanup continued, but I’m sorry I don’t remember his name. Some others may recognize the piece.

[jwebb]

I have to observe that, in the 1st or 2nd century, there were no MIG welders, no microcrystaline waxes, no plasticene clay, no synthetic rubber mold materials, no induction furnaces, no etcetera. Yet we would be hard put to cast that huge bronze pine cone in one piece today - at the best foundries I know. Even more amazing to me is the larger than life size greek god bronze (Zeus?), found in the ocean about 20 yrs ago. He stands with both arms fully extended, and I think his wingspan is ~ 9 feet. Yet it's all one casting. X-rays show the clay core still inside it. We sculptors are scrambling around on the shoulders of giants.

[fritchie]

I have to observe that, in the 1st or 2nd century, there were no MIG welders, no microcrystaline waxes, no plasticene clay, no synthetic rubber mold materials, no induction furnaces, no etcetera. Yet we would be hard put to cast that huge bronze pine cone in one piece today - at the best foundries I know. Even more amazing to me is the larger than life size greek god bronze (Zeus?), found in the ocean about 20 yrs ago. He stands with both arms fully extended, and I think his wingspan is ~ 9 feet. Yet it's all one casting. X-rays show the clay core still inside it. We sculptors are scrambling around on the shoulders of giants.

I was lucky enough to see that piece about ten years ago, on my one trip to Athens, jwebb. I think you are right about the size. It’s considered either Zeus if his rearward, extended arm held a lightning bolt, or Poseidon if he held a trident. I prefer Poseidon; it just looks better to me that way.

In any case, it has (or had) its own room in the Athens National Museum, and it is a world masterpiece. We know Greek and Roman marbles more than their bronzes because of accidents of preservation, but the bronzes were as good or even better than the marbles.

[JAZ]

Thanks for this link, JAZ. The “large gold sphere”, actually bronze, which the web author couldn’t identify is probably identical, or at least very similar, to one badly damaged at NY on 9.11. It’s by a European sculptor, German I think, and it was returned to him in Europe for possible repair. It got some media attention as the cleanup continued, but I’m sorry I don’t remember his name. Some others may recognize the piece.

It was by Fritz Koenig. Here's a picture of the WTC one. http://www.mongoosedog.net/photos/Scenes/tn/The_Sphere.jpg.html

[JAZ]

I was lucky enough to see that piece about ten years ago, on my one trip to Athens, jwebb. I think you are right about the size. It’s considered either Zeus if his rearward, extended arm held a lightning bolt, or Poseidon if he held a trident. I prefer Poseidon; it just looks better to me that way.

In any case, it has (or had) its own room in the Athens National Museum, and it is a world masterpiece. We know Greek and Roman marbles more than their bronzes because of accidents of preservation, but the bronzes were as good or even better than the marbles.

My sister and her husband just got back from Nashville, Tennessee. They said there is a full sized replica of the Parthenon there within which is a 40 foot tall replica of the statue of Athena. It's gilded. I wonder...