Pelican Ahoy!
By Jim Green, Installed 2012
Jim Green’s bronze sculptures are forged from three complementary sides of a Western life: time in the outdoors; technical experience in industrial workshops; and, most of all, love of nature. As a young man learning his trades, Jim created artwork in his spare hours. He experimented in various forms and subject matter—but he always returned to wildlife sculpture. In 2010, sculpture took center stage in his work and creative life—thanks to Proud to be Puffin, a piece accepted in Audubon Maine’s “The Puffin Project” art show. Since then, birds and other wildlife have allowed the perfect expression of Jim’s desire to protect the beauty that sustains us. They also have provided an outlet for his precise technical skills in structural design and metalworking.
Jim likes that his artwork allows him to convey a message. “Throughout my life, wherever I was, animals surrounded me. I remember most the birds—swallows cartwheeling over a cliff or vultures circling above a trail,” he says. “At one point it occurred to me that the easiest way to begin a conversation about how to keep and enjoy our wild places was through my art. This way I can help tell the stories of the animals right outside our own doors. Their stories are as engaging as our own.”
