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Chip off the ol' block: William Lieb continues artisan tradition in Iowa Great Lakes
WORTHINGTON, Nov 07, 2009 (The Daily Globe - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
As a kid growing up in Spirit Lake, Iowa, William "Bill" Lieb enjoyed spending time in his father's cabinet-making shop.
"I have an older brother and younger brother, but I was kind of the chip off the old block," he recalled. "That's what they called me. I had an interest in building things, and I worked for my dad in the cabinet shop after school and during the summer months and learned to build using wood. I loved to build things."
But instead of following directly in his dad's footsteps, Bill took that interest in a different direction, studying architecture at Iowa State University, where he met wife Jane.
"We moved to Colorado Springs, and I joined a firm out there that specialized in school facilities," he explained. "We did all kinds of building types, but were known as the premier school architect in Colorado. I was hired as a designer, then became a principle in the firm and one of the main project architects. Then I became president of the firm and was the main project architect, main designer, main marketing person."
With their two sons out of college, the Liebs decided it was time to retire and pursue a lifelong passion for sailing -- an interest that for Bill was sparked by growing up in the Iowa Great Lakes.
"I think I built the first sailboat I ever sailed on," Bill recalled. "It was like a windsurfer, except I didn't have sense enough to stand up in it. Then I bought an 18-foot wooden sailboat for $15 from a friend of mine, repainted it and had that through high school and college years."
For their retirement adventure, the Liebs took up residence in another small sailboat, this one bought in the San Francisco area -- an already-put-together kit model with a small diesel engine. They had bought it in San Francisco, hauled it back to Colorado and spent about six pre-retirement years building the interior and preparing the craft for cruising while it was housed at the Pueblo reservoir.
"We moved all our furniture into a storage unit and turned our house over to a property manager, then trailered our small sailboat from Colorado Springs to San Diego," Bill explained. "Except for the hurricane seasons every year, we lived on the boat for five years, We took it from San Diego down the Pacific Coast, down to Central America and through the Panama Canal and up to the Caribbean and across to Florida. It's a pretty small boat for ocean cruising, in the smallest 1 to 2 percentile of sailboats."
While they were docked in Fort Meyers, Fla., the Liebs learned that Bill's father had suffered a stroke, so they came back to Spirit Lake.
"We were uncertain of what we wanted to do next, so we saw a nice piece of property on a vacant lot on the lake -- that was in 1998 -- and we decided to retire here," Bill detailed. "We bought the lot, sold our house in Colorado Springs, and then my wife and I, for the most part, built the house on the lake. We did all the framing, drywall, built all the cabinets. Jane has a degree in interior design."
Although the lake house is still a work on progress, Bill decided to pursue another endeavor -- sculpture, which combined his interests in working with his hands, architecture and art.
"Our office in Colorado Springs was maybe four blocks from the Colorado Fine Arts Center, and we were members there," he said. "Quite often, I'd go for a walk over the noon hour, and if there was a new exhibit, check it out. So for 25 years, I didn't miss an exhibit and saw the good ones three or four times, probably. ... I had always been interested in art and sculpture, so I started building sculpture about five years ago, most recently in metal."
In that five-year-span, Bill has gone from novice to prominent artist with public recognition.
"Just in the last 20 months, I've created nine public sculptures," he noted, later adding that he had three pieces accepted in the Skogerboe juried art competition at the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji and has won three competitions there.
One of the three competitions was for a piece of sculpture that now rests on the patio to the north side of the Pearson Lakes Art Center -- a giant grasshopper named Edward Hopper.
"It's made out of steel and is powder-coated yellow-orange," Bill described. "Edward Hopper was a very famous 20th century realist painter, but this is an actual grasshopper that probably weighs 1,500 to 2,000 pounds."
Bill also won the competition to design a sculpture for the Spencer Alliance for Creative Economy in conjunction with Arts on Grand in Spencer, Iowa, which was just installed a couple weeks ago.
"It's about 14 feet tall," he said. "When you go over the bridge on Highway 71 south, it's on the left side of the road in East Leach Park on this grass berm kind of thing. It's a child holding a rubber band-powered airplane. ... It's called 'Letting Go.' That can be interpreted three ways: Letting go, as in the moment the child releases the airplane; letting go is also when the child gets lost in his imagination and forgets about everything else; it's also when the observer looks at the sculpture and forgets all the bad things about today, and his mind goes into a new reality."
Scale models and photos of those public works -- along with Bill's more diminutive sculptures -- are being featured this month at the Nobles County Art Center in Worthington.
"The exhibit will have four of those public sculptures represented," Bill detailed. "Each one has a poster-size photo or two of the project as well as the model and other photos showing the sculpture in construction with a descriptive text that goes with it.
"There will also be smaller pieces; I have four pieces from last year that are either wood or a combination of wood and aluminum. Then I'll have 15 or 16 other pieces that have been done this year, and those are two different series. One is called the Soul series, made from one sheet of laser-cut aluminum that is bent and bolted together for each of these sculptures. They're kind of shaped like what you would call body armor. Each one has a motion-activated sound module, so as you walk up to them they talk to you."
The Music series is Bill's interpretation of the shape of music and color of sound.
"That series has four different finishes on it, either polished and waxed steel or blacked steel that's been waxed, a rusted patina that's been lacquered or a powder-coated finish bright yellow," he said.
The opening reception for the exhibit of sculptures by Bill Lieb will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Nobles County Art Center, 407 12th St., Worthington. The exhibit will continue through November. Hours are 2 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phone 372-8245.
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http://www.dglobe.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Daily Globe, Worthington, Minn.
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