NYC artist Jack Howard-Potter’s sculpture honoring the 1958 NFL Championship Recreation showcases his abilities in bringing human physique motion to life with metal. Pictures: Jack Howard-Potter
Skilled soccer and the NFL go hand in hand with Canton, Ohio, the house of the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame. However the historical past of the game isn’t confined to the museum.
In downtown Canton, guests can view “The Eleven,” a collection of walkable artwork items depicting 11 important moments in professional soccer historical past. Considered one of these items commemorates the 1958 NFL Championship Recreation, typically referred to as “the best recreation ever performed.”
This 30-ft.-tall metallic sculpture—which individuals can stroll beneath—depicts Baltimore Colts large receiver Raymond Berry diving for a ball in midair.
Jack Howard-Potter might have chosen any variety of moments or gamers from this recreation, however the sculptor selected Berry, who caught what was then a championship recreation document 12 passes and a landing for 178 yards, serving to the Colts win the sport over the New York Giants.
“The ball was welded sort of proper in that spot the place you are not fairly positive he will catch it. It is actually in midair,” Howard-Potter stated of the sculpture. “I needed to fill this [sculpture] with an air of uncertainty.”
Considered one of Howard-Potter’s largest, most generally seen sculptures, it’s comprised of cold-rolled ½-in. metal rods and 20-ga. sheet metallic plates and was hot-dip galvanized and powder coated.
The 6,000-lb. cantilevered sculpture—put in simply forward of the 2021 Corridor of Fame induction festivities—not solely depicts a key NFL second, however it additionally demonstrates the New York Metropolis-based artist’s fabrication abilities and his method to utilizing metallic to depict human physique motion.
A Clear Slate
The Berry sculpture includes six giant items supported by a big inside armature and stands on a concrete pedestal that’s 10 ft. deep. This venture required Howard-Potter to work intently with a structural engineer, spending three to 4 months to plot a structural metal system that might help such a big piece and two months to supply the armature.
“I knew there have been engineers and concrete contractors that have been going to be useful on this, however I have to say that work took rather a lot longer than I actually thought it was going to,” he stated.
Though the sculpture was complicated, Howard-Potter stated it took simply 9 months from the contract signing to set up in Canton. As an example, he initially estimated fabrication to take about 4 months, however it was completed in about half that point.
Jack Howard-Potter’s 30-ft.-tall sculpture honoring large receiver Raymond Berry is a part of “The Eleven” collection of walkable artwork installations in Canton, Ohio.
Howard-Potter has grow to be a fan of utilizing cold-rolled metal rods as a substitute of scrap metallic in his paintings, explaining that he likes the concept of his metallic having a clear slate—a narrative that’s but to be written. The rods additionally present him with the bending traits he must mimic physique motion in his work.
“Within the cold-rolled metal … you may bend it, and it will have this elastic impact the place you may bend over a extremely lengthy space and obtain these lengthy, swooping bends,” he defined. “I do it chilly as a result of I can hold them sort of constant and lengthy and elongated and flowing, and I can mimic the muscular fibers of the muscle.”
With regards to his fabrication course of, Howard-Potter stated, “I bend all of the varieties one after the other, I match them as much as the place they should go, I reduce them, I weld them. After which that is mainly the method over and over and over over the course of weeks and months to make these big sculptures. And that is precisely the method I used on the [football] sculpture.”
Capturing Motion
The 50-year-old knew he needed to be an artist when he was in highschool, however it took a while to determine which medium he needed to pursue. In school, he welded for the primary time and stated it “took my breath away.”
Per week after his first welding expertise, Howard-Potter purchased a stick welding machine—and shortly after, his first MIG welding machine. At one level, he left New York Metropolis to work with a blacksmith in Colorado and study extra about metalworking.
He has since spent his profession combining his pursuits in metallic and human anatomy to create small and enormous items depicting human physique motion—all whereas utilizing metal, which isn’t thought of kinetic. His artist assertion says it finest: “I attempt to seize motion in a medium that doesn’t transfer.”
Considered one of Howard-Potter’s most up-to-date items is “The Raise,” which was put in in Chicago.
