If you grew up here, or lived here for any length of time, you know you’re in Eagle Country when it comes to high school sports. Soon there will be an art installation to let visitors know this as well. We sat down with the artist, Lynne Jordan, and discussed this enormous undertaking with her and we think we may be even more excited about it now (if that’s even possible)!!
Lynne Jordan has always been an artist, from her earliest days holding crayons. She’s painted wildlife and Western scenes, but she’s best known for her pyrographic work. You may have seen one such finished piece at Boulder City High School, in the entrance to the school. For this project, she used a reclaimed door from the older campus and etched the scene of an eagle family into the wood. She mostly uses driftwood for her woodburning art so each piece is distinctive and unique. When it comes to painting, she mostly works in oils and pastels. So when she was approached about creating this statement piece in a collaboration between the City and Boulder City High School, she quickly said yes, even though she’d never created a work of this scale or in this medium before.
Lynne and a friend created a computer rendering of the project Lynne envisioned and submitted it to the City for their review and approval. The project consists of a two-dimensional steel sculpture mounted offset on a painted block wall with lettering. Let’s just say this project is impressive…and large! The finished eagle sculpture is twenty feet wide with a seventeen foot wingspan and weighs over 900 pounds. There will be no doubt eagles rule the roost here in Boulder City!
For Lynne, she was excited to get the project underway so when the City gave its approval last fall, she was on the job within a matter of a couple weeks. This was a multi step process to create the project she wanted and she enlisted the assistance of various people along the one. Her main assistant in the cutting and painting of the sculpture was her youngest son, Ryan, a Boulder City High School alum. Lloyd Hawkins welded the pieces of the eagle together, as well as the supporting brackets on the back of the sculpture to attach it to the wall. Cody Osborn created plywood templates for the wings of the eagle to help with the metal cutting process. Once the eagle was assembled, Lynne began the arduous process of painting the eagle. First the sculpture was primed and cured. Then came time for the paint. In order to achieve the look she wanted, it quickly became apparent that they would have to use 1″ paintbrushes to cover the entire piece (remember the size of the eagle??). This project was so massive, they had to employ a scissor lift to reach the upper reaches of the wing, which curves against the sky.
Painting began at the end of November and Lynne and her son spent every day, largely, for almost four and a half months applying paint and protective coatings to the sculpture. Once the painting was complete, Lynne had the project moved outdoors so she could check the colors in natural light, rather than the fluorescent light she had be working under. To Lynne’s surprise, all of the paint colors worked perfectly and none needed to be reworked. Now she is testing different sealants to see which will be best for the project.
The wall is nearing completion. Once construction is done, the City will come in and prime and paint the block wall a sky blue. There will be lettering below the eagle (see sample rendering below) indicating how many state championships the school has achieved. This number will be updated throughout the years to reflect a current total.
While the timeline for art installation to be completed hasn’t been announced yet, expect to see the soaring eagle soon and know you’re in Eagle Country! In the meantime, you can go HERE to check out some of Lynne’s beautiful artwork. You can also follow the artist on Facebook HERE.
