Crested Swans

John Scholl’s Crested Swans stands at a vertical height of 84 ¼ inches, about 7 feet tall. The sculpture is split up into three main sections, the lower section, the middle section, and the upper section. The bottom is the largest of these areas and takes up just under half of the sculpture’s vertical height. From there on, the middle and upper sections are equivalent in height, and compose the rest of the sculpture. The swans of Scholl’s work are placed at about ¾ of the sculpture’s vertical height, at about 5 ¼ feet. Many of Scholl’s shapes such as four-point starbursts, arrowheads, and anchors, are two-dimensional shapes that are extended about an inch back to give them a three-dimensional presence. Unlike the spheres in his work that have a constant dimension from any angle, the starbursts, for example, only appear as a rectangle or line when viewed from the side. By viewing the statue from its front, one may see the profiles of two swans. While the upper section of Crested Swans is almost exclusively two-dimensional, except for a gold sphere, a blue sphere, and a bluebird, the lower section has a distinctly three-dimensional aspect. Unlike the other components, the lower section has symmetry from any of the four sides, due to its arrangement of spheres and four arches that support the sculpture and act as its legs. == Inspirations/artistic themes ==

Much like his other works of art, Crested Swans features designs popular in German folk art, specifically Pennsylvania German folk art, Fraktur. These symbols appear specifically in the many chests popular in early Pennsylvania German folk art. Understanding folk art requires knowledge of ways in which culture shapes traditions. As a result of his time spent in Germany as a child, Scholl’s woodworkings take heavy inspiration from German folk art, including motifs, symbols, and parts present in toys and housing. Due to the predominantly Christian beliefs within the Pennsylvania-German subculture, doves in Fraktur may be viewed as a symbol of a follower of God within the artistic setting. Another symbol popular in German folk art are the sunbursts that appear throughout the piece. Suns, and shapes similar to the sun including spirals, and starbursts are representative of the cycle of life in German folk art. Aside from the German influences, Scholl's sculptures are further reminiscent of the art of the 19th-century Victorian era, specifically lamps and house decor. The most notable of these inspirations are the “Gingerbread" trims that Scholl picked up in his line of work as a carpenter. These designs appear originally on the home that Scholl built and later on his sculptures such as Crested Swans. == Construction and maintenance ==

Unlike many wood carvers at the time, Scholl constructed his sculptures by carving several parts and assembling them with glue, nails, screws, and other such materials, due to his lack of traditional knowledge on the subject. John Scholl used patterns and templates in order to replicate and duplicate certain sculptural elements across structures. Crested Swans currently resides in the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery's exhibit on American Decorative Art. ==References==