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••••• Barry’s bison was turned into a fish – a “Prairie Bass” to be exact. He used Styrofoam and wood to create this whimsical creature.••••• Barry Lee Getz born 12 -29- 51, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the heart of The Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Lifelong interest in art but due to career choices wasn't able to dedicate time to art until 1994 when a major life changing event allowed time to attend classes at the Pennsylvania School of Art and Design. This proved to be a valuable if not a very practical experience. In the summer of 1996 my wife Janel and I purchased a twenty acre farmstead and moved from Pennsylvania to Griggs County, North Dakota. The property which has several out buildings was ideal for setting up a shop to weld metal sculptures. Metal sculpture is my main focus utilizing old pieces of machinery and other found objects. My work could be described as garden art or outdoor art but it seems that quite a few pieces find their way indoors too. I also enjoy exploring and experimenting with other art mediums. I credit my high school art teacher, Carol Anspach for making me aware of how much more there is to see through the eyes of an artist. Few things in life give me more pleasure than making art. In 2004 I was involved in a similar project for the Community Violence Intervention Center in the City of Grand Forks. The project involved forks instead of buffaloes. I completed three pieces for that project. As soon as I heard about "The Herd" I wanted to be involved. I saw it as a good avenue for exposure to my work and it also just seemed like a fun project. I feel very fortunate to have been chosen to participate. I was very charged up to get started but unfortunately daily life and real jobs prevented everyday commitment to the piece. The last few days of working on the "Prairie Bass" were probably the most fun and most rewarding. It's in those last days and hours that you really see the piece taking shape and you get a feeling of relief and satisfaction. I chose this design or concept because I feel that the shape of the buffalo lends itself to the fish transformation. But maybe that's only in my mind or eyes. Being of European descent I felt it would be inappropriate for me to use buffalo / Native American symbolism in my concept. I also don't have a message political or other and I don't have a story to tell. So that pretty much left me with something that would be just fun to look at. My hope is that folks will laugh or smile when they see this piece but I also hope that they can appreciate the time and effort required to complete this and the other buffaloes. During the construction of the "Prairie Bass" I cut the buffalo open to apply some of the sub-structure. Before sealing it back up I decided to install a bit of a time capsule in its belly: a copy of the Fargo Forum, a copy of USA Today, a copy of The Art Forum which introduced this project and just a bit of personal information. Hopefully this material will never be found because it will probably mean that piece has been damaged or destroyed. I just thought that maybe 100 years from now someone might discover this information and they'll get a glimpse of what life is like for us in 2006. Other people have been very enthusiastic and curious about this project. Some have been completely dumbfounded by a buffalo becoming a fish. I frequently get the question, what's really going on in your head? My wife Janel worries about that too.
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