Places to go and things to see by Gypsy Bev

Posts tagged ‘David Griesmyer’

Explore Ohio Art Corridor in Southeastern Ohio

School of Fish along the Muskingum River was the first sculpture made especially for the Ohio Art Corridor.

Sunday drives are the perfect time to explore The Ohio Art Corridor in Southeastern Ohio. There are over 150 miles of road to follow at a leisurely pace so you can enjoy the unique local art. Why, it’s like a Drive-Thru Art Gallery!

This public art trail contains everything from murals to oversized sculptures as it winds through the Appalachian region. It’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

David is pictured under his Tree of Life, which can be found in Lancaster.

David and Rebekah Griesmyer are the masterminds behind the Ohio Art Corridor. David created School of Fish, the first piece of sculpture made just for the art trail. The fish swim through the air along the Muskingum River in McConnelsville across from the fairgrounds. Each fish measures 15- 20 feet in length.

His sister-in-law, Rebekah is the director of this non-profit organization. Their idea was to provide Appalachia access to culture, art, and educational experiences along a trail that would boost tourism in small towns and areas often overlooked.

This bronze statue of a soldier stands along the Muskingum River at Zane’s Landing.

The Ohio Art Corridor is working with welding and art programs throughout Southeastern Ohio to teach skills needed to create jobs. Interns are invited to help with creating the giant art sculptures along the corridor. They are hoping to partner with local schools in the future to involve students in designing the sculptures.

Flight of the Hawk Park in Lancaster has objects on the ground as well as in the air.

If you have an art piece you would like included on the trail, it has to meet certain criteria:

  1. The piece must be outdoors and free of charge.
  2. Stand-alone sculptures must be of a generous size.
  3. If the artwork is smaller than12 feet, there must be a collection of three or more sculptures in one location.
  4. Pieces must be accessible to everyone.

At this time the trail winds through Circleville, Lancaster, Athens, Portsmouth, McConnellsville, and Zanesville, and the list continues to grow daily as new pieces are added. These “micro parks” reflect the local history and beauty of that particular area.

This Circleville mural celebrates 100 years of the Pumpkin Festival there.

Ten large murals by Eric Henn can be found in downtown Circleville. One celebrates the bicentennial of Circleville while another depicts the many activities involved with their annual Pumpkin Festival, which has been celebrated for over 100 years.

A red-tailed hawk at Flight of the Hawk Park in Lancaster alights on its nest 42′ above the ground.

In Lancaster, Ric Leichliter has sculpted several metal vultures in the branches of a tree in the Flight of the Hawk sculpture park just outside of town on Highway 33.

This turkey sculpture joins other turkey and deer sculptures throughout the park.

Turkeys are scattered across the field. The main feature here is a 42-foot tall metal hawk with a wingspan of 14 feet. It’s even lit up at night!

Portsmouth has a Flood Wall over 2000 ‘ long covered with murals.
This section of the Flood Wall actually shows the flood of 1937.

Portsmouth has a floodwall, which is 2,200 feet long and covered with murals by Robert Dafford the entire length. It tells the history of Portsmouth during the last two centuries.

Locks of Love in McConnelsville is the newest addition to the corridor.

A recent addition in McConnelsville is Locks of Love “A Great Place to Fall in Love” created by David Griesmyer. Two large metal hearts are meant to have locks of love put on them just like the bridge in Paris, France. While the hearts have only been in place for a short time, locks are beginning to accumulate.

View the sidewalk art at any time at Alan Cottrill’s studio in downtown Zanesville.

Zanesville features Alan Cottrill’s bronze works in a sidewalk display outside his studio with an Indian atop his building to give recognition to his heritage. In Zane’s Landing Park, there are other bronze statues as well as murals that have recently been added.

This mural can be found in Zane’s Landing Park.

The Ohio Art Corridor will be the longest and largest outdoor art gallery in the world. It’s over 150 miles long! The other large outdoor gallery in Stockholm is 70 miles in length. Surrounded by parks, tables, and benches, The Ohio Art Corridor will be a place for generations to gather for years to come.

A bicentennial Legacy Monument depicts four notable people in the history of the Zanesville area.

You might want to take a long Sunday drive, or break the corridor up into sections and do several small day trips. That way you’ll be able to spend more time in the communities along the way. Whichever way you choose, if you enjoy art you are certain to find this an enjoyable trail to explore.

Advertisement

Category:

Art, Back Roads, History, Ohio, Uncategorized

Tagged with:

Sculptor David Griesmyer Designs Beautiful Things

DG Welding & Design is located in Malta along the Muskingum River.

Design and art are in David Griesmyer’s blood. He owns DG Welding and Design in Malta along the Muskingum River where he works on many creative metal projects. All his life, he has had a passion for art through drawing, painting, and fabrication.

Most of his life sketches were his creative outlet before he discovered welding.

When David was a child, he was fortunate to have a father who was also an artist. During church services, the best way to keep David quiet was to give him a drawing pad and a pencil. David still keeps many of those early drawings as sketching was the only thing he did artistically before 2014. Now sketches are the beginning of his sculptures.

This sculpture can be found at the Morgan County Library. It shows General Daniel Morgan and his wife Abigail, who taught him how to read and write.

While David spent his first seven years living outside Zanesville, most of his life has been spent traveling the world. When he came back to the United States, he settled in Florida and Georgia but frequently came back to the Morgan County/Zanesville area to visit family. He has deep ancestral roots there.

A sculpture of a dragonfly can be found on the top of David’s business.

David gained experience in fabrication due to his position as a representative of a medical company where he repaired and fabricated medical instruments. However, his idea for designing with metal began at a stop light in Macon, Georgia. There in an empty parking lot a vision of people welding metal flashed through his mind.

DG Welding & Design is currently making new furniture for Hocking College Hotel.

It wasn’t long before David moved to Malta and opened his metal fabrication business in 2014 in a garage. His business has many facets from sculpture and fabrication to welding and custom design. When visiting his business recently, David and his brother, Will, who has a master’s in mechanical engineering, were designing furniture for Hocking College Hotel.

His first sculpture was one of a welder, made when he attended welding class in 2014.

David’s first sculpture in 2014 even took him by surprise. He was taking welding classes at Washington County Career Center when one week he designed a sculpture of a welder, starting with his footprint and working up to his holding a welding torch and wearing a welding mask. Thus began his journey into making sculptures.

David displayed some of his sculptures at a previous Salt Fork Festival.

This sculptor’s goal would be to leave a lasting impression of the beauty of art in southeastern Ohio. His family is the most important thing in the world to him. He wants to leave a legacy so his children will have pride in their family and community.

Having lived in Florida, David had a special fondness for manatees.

A special dream that has captured his attention is building an Art Corridor that will be the largest outdoor art exhibit in the world. Right now Switzerland has an art corridor that stretches for 65 miles. David, the artistic director, is aiming for one that will stretch 230 miles and perhaps farther in southeastern Ohio.

Creating those large fish was something David enjoyed.

His creative mind uses scrap metal or metal from Waterford Tank in Beverly to design most of his projects. While David still plans to produce some of the sculptures along the way, he is hoping others will do their part to expand this project over the years. Art that is already present along the way will certainly be used.

“School of Fish” can be found across the road from the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

The first exhibit was put in place in 2018 along Ohio 176 near the Morgan County Fairgrounds. David donated this “School of Fish,” a metal sculpture of three fish that are 90-feet long and 15-feet high. Under each fish there are 16,000 pounds of concrete to hold the sculpture in place.

This sculpture of a ballerina having tea found a home quickly.

Sculptures will highlight events that are special to a particular area and tell their history. Since hunting is one big attraction in southeastern Ohio, his next giant project will be a 15′ buck and a deer with two fawn. David wants to provide people with access to art, culture and educational experiences as well as bring tourists into the area.

His twirling ballerina won first prize in the National Welding Art Competition – Weld On.

So many ideas come to David’s mind for future sculptures such as a giant rhinoceros for The Wilds, or a girl with an umbrella for the Gale Garden. Recently, the Cleveland Ballet contacted him to make a ballerina for their theater. There’s no stopping his dreams for making beautiful things.

A boy flying his kite was a special project.

At this time there are eight artistic creations that are part of Ohio Art Corridor. They include David’s sculpture, the murals in Circleville, a Human Rights Garden created by the students of Portsmouth, and the Flight of the Hawk Sculpture Park in Lancaster.

This beautiful angel shows his skill at design.

While this idea has so many possibilities, community support is the key to its success. Expectations are that the project will take five to ten years to complete, and hopefully will never be completed but added to over the years.

David’s work can be seen in McConnelsville across from the Morgan County Fairgrounds as well as in front of the Morgan County Library. Look for some lovely ballerinas in the window of Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Malta.

David sketches another project under his popular “Tree of Life.”

Keep your eyes drawn to the Ohio Art Corridor for its exciting future under the watchful eye of sculptor David Griesmyer.

Sometimes our choice is not between right and wrong, rather it is between good, better, and best. ~David Griesmyer

DG Welding and Design is located in Malta, Ohio along the beautiful Muskingum River at 1252 NW Front Street.

Category:

Art, Ohio

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud