The Keys to Frederick community-wide outdoor art project.
We were selected to create an entry in the Keys To Frederick art project. Our sponsor is the Frederick Keys, our local Class A baseball team and affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.
Our Key will have a baseball theme and its major colors will be orange and black, the colors of the Keys and the Orioles.
Having never painted a sculpture or on fibreglass, there were certain challenges. The plan is to use oil paints on top of a acrylic primer, Liquitex, that I use on canvas.
Here is the unpainted key:
I first tried an acrylic primer from Rustoleum that is supposed to be used on metal and many other surfaces. But after several coats of primer and Liquitex I was sanding and the paint began peeling off. It was clear that it was not adhering.
So I peeled and sanded the whole thing back to the fibreglass and took a wire brush on my drill and roughed up the entire thing. This time I used an automotive self-etching spray primer for fibreglass. This seemed to work much better and I was back on track. Here is the whole thing primed and with the first coat of black:
Now it was time to arrange the baseballs on the pole:
Time to start on the orange. We selected a mix of Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow. I use a ruler to measure out beads of the colors, and that way I get a consitent color each time.
Here is the key with the first coat of orange.
At this point it looks like a giant Creamsicle!!
Studies of the baseballs were done life size on 12" square canvas boards, in 2 dfferent orientations.
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The diamond patterns are made with a template I designed and use in a lot of my paintings. This technique is heavily inspired by the Pop-Art genius Roy Lichtenstein. Roy used dots in many paintings,imitating the Ben Day dots used in printing. See Brushstroke at the National Gallery of Art:
Thus I affectionately refer to my diamonds as Ben Day Diamonds.
Getting them on a 3-dimensional surface is a bit tricky, but seems to be working out.
I am building into piece coded information. More on this later. But everything on here, the number of baseballs, the colors, and decoration of the stitching, will have a purpose or meaning related to Frederick, the national anthem, or baseball.
Here is the finished product on display in front of the Frederick Keys stadium:
The Code of the Key
The number, colors and markings on the stitches of the baseballs all have a purpose and contain coded information about baseball, Frederick, the history of baseball in Frederick, and other topics.
The most obvious are the colors black and orange, the colors of the Orioles and the Keys. Here are some more clues?
How many baseballs are around the shaft of the key?
Look at the stitching carfully!
More later.
History of baseball in Frederick
Baseball has been a very active sport in Frederick from the earliest days of the game. Eight players born in Frederick have played Major League Baseball starting with Emory Nusz who was with the Washington Nationals in 1884. Interestingly, Mr. Nusz is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, adjacent to Harry Grove Stadium. The stadium is named for Harry Grove, one of the founders of the Frederick Hustlers, a professional team that existed between 1915 and the World War II era.
Information on Frederick born Major League Players from:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com
Player Born In Date of Birth Debut Year Final Year
Emory Nusz Frederick, Maryland 1866-04-02 1884 1884
Tom Gettinger Frederick, Maryland 1868-12-11 1889 1895
Carlton Molesworth Frederick, Maryland 1876-02-15 1895 1895
Bert Myers Frederick, Maryland 1874-04-08 1896 1900
Dorsey Riddlemoser Frederick, Maryland 1875-03-25 1899 1899
Ray Gardner Frederick, Maryland 1901-10-25 1929 1930\
Don Loun Frederick, Maryland 1940-11-09 1964 1964
Sam Hinds Frederick, Maryland 1953-07-11 1977 1977
