Bronze
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
This 9' high cast bronze sculpture is a tribute to the "Issei", or first generation Japanese to come to America. The clients are "Neissi", or second generation Japanese.
It depicts the Japanese immigrants on shipboard as they arrive in New York harbor. The clients asked the artist to make the figures portraits of their Issei parents, an example of Sheet's ability to capture the uniqueness of specific cultures.
The mural depicts the history of Southern Arkansas from the first tribes of Indians, to present day. The sculpture was fabricated and cast in Southern California and shipped by truck to the hospital site
This is the full size model for a portion of a cast stone sculpture relief for the Warner Brown Hospital in El Dorado, Arkansas. The completed sculpture is 9' high x 65' long, installed in 13 sections, and weighs 20 tons.
This is an ancient method of creating a cast form dating back to the early Egyptians. A full size model is created in wax and incased in a plaster-like "investment" which, when hardened, is placed into an oven to burn out the wax. Thus the "lost wax" method.
Once the wax has been removed, the cavity is then fill with molten bronze. The investment is then broken away leaving a bronze sculpture. Another method used with forms with no undercuts is sand casting. This artist often combines these two methods
This bronze sculpture is dedicated to the first generation Japanese to come to America, the Issea. It was cast in bronze in 104 pieces and welded together to form the completed piece.
It stands in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles as a recognition by the Neisse, the second generation Japanese.