Clayground sculpture instructor Richard Christie works on his current project of a man and woman dancing. (Chris La Pelusa|Sun Day Photo)
Christie encourages aspiring sculptors
Richard Christie demonstrated his extraordinary artistic talents very early.
At the age of five, he visited his older brother’s first grade -class and stole the show by producing the best drawing of a horse.
“That visit really got me going. My brother didn’t bring me along because of artwork, it just happened that the teacher wanted to introduce students to art that day,” Christie recalled. “We had no art classes or teachers in my school, but I just started drawing.”
From this accidental start, a creative career began. For most of his life, Christie has enjoyed sculpting as a hobby; now he’s leaving a legacy by teaching it to others.
Christie’s weekly sculpture class in Prairie Lodge is part of the Clayground Charter Club, which also includes pottery and ceramics activities. Students under his guidance are surprisingly fast learners. With no prior experience or training in sculpture, about a dozen Sun Citians are producing realistic, accurate, and attractive sculptured busts and full figures of historical persons, animals, and recreations of famous statues and pictures from all over the world.
Examples of the class members’ work are on display on a table outside the sculpture studio (located opposite the fitness center), in the studio’s display case nearby, and were recently in display cases near Drendel Ballroom.
At a recent class session, Nick Damalas worked on an 18-inch-high figure of a Native American chief. His inspiration came from Jackie Forpanek, an original member of the class, seven years ago.
“She was making a wonderful Native American figure, and I said, ‘I can do that.’ You never know how much you can do until you push yourself to try something,” Damalas said.
Students of Richard Christie work on their sculptures as part of the Clayground Charter Club. (Chris La Pelusa I Sun Day Photo)
Noreen Lang worked on a bust of George Washington, after starting sculpting in the class 18 months ago.
“Richard starts you out slowly and patiently and pretty soon you’re doing creative things,” she said.
Jerry Tarpey, recently did a striking wolf’s head (displayed on the table outside the studio), and was working on a copy of the soldier figures displayed at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“Jerry has probably produced more sculptures than anyone here since he started,” Christie said. “He often comes into the studio several times a week.”
Elvera Schwarz was putting the finishing touches on a girl in a hat figure. She started sculpting in 2005, and calls Christie a “fantastic” teacher.
“We were all beginners, and it’s amazing that we now can work independently and produce our own sculptures,” she said. “But we always seek Richard’s advice and input.”
In addition to his artistic talents, Christie is a famous joke-teller around Sun City and in his class. The jokes and art motivated Harriet LaPuma.
“About a year ago, I came to Clayground to do pottery, but I heard Richard telling a joke and got involved in his class.”
She now is working on a bust of U.S. President and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant.
Forpanek, who recently had a Native American figure on display near Drendel Ballroom, currently is working on a female figure.
“I think I was the first student in his class back in 2001,” she said. “I enjoy how we can display our work so nicely in the lodge.”
Lee Urban, who joined the class eight years ago, is putting the finishing touches on a full figure of Eddie Rickenbacker, World War I fighter pilot hero. He’s doing it from a picture of the famous airman.
“I’ve done several cats before – this is my first human figure,” he said.
Amy Rohr, who started in 2010, is taking a more practical approach.
“I’m doing some 5×5 tiles for a kitchen wall in my home,” she said. “They portray Native American figures. I also do a lot of cake decorating using the same kind of figures.”
Students pay a fee for the clay they use, and they purchase or furnish their own tools. In addition to a three-hour class on Tuesday afternoons, they can come to the studio at several open times and work on their own.
For Richard, sculpture has always been an avocation, not a livelihood.
“I could have sold my pieces or worked on contracts with clients, but most of my friends and family members are not wealthy; they usually don’t want to pay the high prices for sculpture or bronzed pieces,” he said. “They enjoy receiving them or having one done for them, however. I give them away as gifts, or I display some in my home.”
Christie didn’t come from an artistic environment or family. He was born and raised in Devils Lake, N.D., a small town in the northern Great Plains. After his schoolroom debut, he began drawing all the time. He quickly taught himself proper techniques and before entering his teens he was producing impressive drawings.
Student Jerry Tarpey’s wolf sculpture. (Chris La Pelusa|Sun Day Photo)
“I started sculpture at about age 13, and I really enjoyed sculpting pieces from pictures,” he said.
During a three-year hitch in the Marine Corps, Christie worked as a clerk-typist and spent most of his spare time drawing everything he saw and experienced. In sculpture, he has concentrated on creating a variety of human and historical figures in various costumes and settings.
After his military service, he spent two-and-a-half years at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and eventually migrated to Chicago, where he quickly found work as an illustrator and graphic artist. He spent almost 30 years doing freelance work for major businesses throughout the Chicago area, while continuing to sculpt for his own enjoyment. He and his wife, Jean, who joined him in his freelance work, moved to Sun City in the summer of 2000. Maggie McMahon, one of the first presidents of the Clayground Club, asked him to teach a class in sculpture in 2002.
“I had never taught sculpture before, but she said I could do it my way. Since the students are beginners, I start them out slowly. We focus on human figures. We work on noses first, then go to mouths, then eyes, then a full face, then a head, then to a bust, and finally to a full human figure. They all catch on surprisingly fast. In the class, they work on their own, with occasional advice and input from me. They do historical and generic human figures, along with turtles, tigers, lions, horses, wolves, and other animals.”
Christie’s home in Neighborhood 10 doubles as an art museum. Sculptures of all types adorn tables, mantles, furniture, and floors in every room. His library includes folders and albums filled with more than a half-century of his art.
Someday, one of Christie’s students may sculpt him telling a joke. That would be some legacy.
