Flying High: Sculptor, Dave Huenergardt

an portion of the article from The Equine Image
by Connie J. Brown

The studio of David Huenergardt is like that of most other artists – an average-sized room, convieniently located at his Los Angeles, California, home. But But that doesn't keep him from thinking in big, or even monumental terms, for
Huenergardt's immense equine sculptures in bronze dare to compete in impact with the greateat public equine sculptures of history.

Once Huenergardt's original concept for a form has been expressed in a small, working model, the artist then relocates to a space at a near by foundry, Image Casting, in Oxnard, California. Here, in a room 40 feet wide by 85 feet long and 35 feet high, his dreams slowly become a stunning
reality – the creation of cast bronze horses, some as large
as 17 feet in length.

Originally trained in the arts, Huenergardt began sculpting in the 1970's, intrigued by the parameters of three dimensional form. His first outdoor commission came from a museum in Boca Raton, Florida, where he comleted an eight foot long maquette to mark the entrance to the new museum. After a successful Hong Kong exhibit, he accepted the challenge of creating on a more monumental scale when a group of developers, the Sun Kai Corporation, commissioned a group of horses measuring 48 feet in length by 12 feet high for an outdoor urban installation.

Running Free, completed in 1996, graces the one billion dollar Royal Ascot luxury complex in Hong Kong. Today, the work is recognized as one of the city's most distinguished landmarks, a focal point against a group of ten, 10 story, plush condominiums.

One Canadian curator who exhibits Huenergardt's work adds, "It's well known that Hong Kong is not a very human city, but rather, a most dehumanized one. Running Free presents an almost sacred image that symbolizes refinement, freedom and joy; an inspiration of feelings often unseen in the modern megalopolis."

Today, Huenergardt works closer to home. His most recent installation, a well documented public event that drew an exciting audience, took place in October of 1999 at the Kavi Center for the Performing Arts in Thousand Oaks, California. Here, Fandango, a casting of the third piece of the Hong Kong triptych weighing 5,100 pounds, was
carefully hoisted by a crane onto the plaza outside the arts center, no small feat considering the complex mechanics involved. The Alliance for the Arts of Thousand Oaks, the driving force behind the installation, is comitted to a fundraising effort to purchase the sculptures for their community. Meanwhile, the piece will remain at the plaza on loan by the artist, in hopes that a private donor will come
forward to pay for the creation of the other two figures.

Huenergardt credits much of his success in completing the large scale pieces to his superb technical assistants and casting crew, men well versed in the art of enlarging the models and casting in the lost wax process. The production of just one large piece takes him well over a year since he personally creates the rough surface textures that mark his distinctive stallions and mares. Piece by piece, the segments are cast and then welded together until ready for the final patina. Along the way, precise engineering drawings guide the work, assuring both artist and crew that the finished work will appear to be one of a whole, flawless in its finality.