Fanciful Rivard Street Plaza Carousel

Last spring, Jeffery Briggs headed up a design team to create a 28-foot carousel in Detroit, Michigan which is part of the Motor City's International Riverfront revitalization project as a ride-able sculpture.

Like Brigg’s cast reliefs, represented here at the gallery, these carousel pole-standers are done in a style that combines magical naturalism, mythical creatures and an art nouvelle style.

What's even more interesting are the drawings done for this project, over 500 were sketched. Each piece had to be approved as a drawing, then as a rough piece and as a completed, painted piece. Some drawings even went through five or six revisions before they were accepted.
In addition, this powerful sculptor will have new bronze relief's arriving this summer. Jeffery is using a new technique implemented into his process which reduces his large reliefs down by 50%. It's an amazing process, which is a water based mixture. This thick liquid is poured into the original large molding then, as the mixture dries, it shrinks down by 50% from the original size creating a new mold. This is then sent to the foundry to be cast in bronze.

All images Copyright © John Raleigh