ONE OF US. ONE OF US.

[pyat]

theycallmebeth informs me that the artist responsible for the sculpture in my new default icon is William McElcheran, a Hamilton native. He does a lot of public art, usually bronze sculptures or facades featuring fat men in hats.


I am delighted by this one, though, which I feel is a visionary glimpse at the world of tomorrow, after I have raised my clone army.

Comments

[summerfields.livejournal.com]

How about that guy checking his watch in the Hamilton airport??
Is that the same artist?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Yup! And that's what the icon is from.

[summerfields.livejournal.com]

That's why it looks familiar!
I feel like I have seen another statue somewhere else...like outside, but when I looked at his website list I couldn't see something that sparked my memory.

OH, I just remembered, I am thinking of a group of people at a bus stop in Seattle or Ballard or something...nevermind!

[mrs-dm.livejournal.com]

"...featuring fat men in hats."

I think a better term might be "portly" men in hats.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I suppose it's a bit more genteel.

[madmanofprague.livejournal.com]

Spoooooky.

McELHERNE v. McELCHERAN

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

You were talking about your Dutch-Scots-Etc. heritage in another post recently...

I am descended via my mother's line from some (briefly) Canadian McELHERNE folks, originallly of Newry, Ireland, who settled for a while on their way to Illinois.

So, your Canadian sculptor McELCHERAN. Hmmm.

aislingtheach speaks Gaelic. I should ask her if they sound the same.

Dammit, I need to get cracking on my hamster-family-tree icon!

Re: McELHERNE v. McELCHERAN

[aislingtheach.livejournal.com]

Hey there :)

Unfortunately, it would be hard for me to answer that one. My first language being french, I'm not familiar with the anglicized forms, so I can't tell what Elherne and elcheran stand for «as gaeilge»/in irish (nó gàidhlig/or scottish gaelic ;). What I do know is that anglicized names are often spelled very differently from the gaelic versions.

By the way, I speak Irish gaelic and not (Scottish) gaelic ;), although both languages originate from old (irish) gaelic and still share many resemblances. I do understand half of written scottish gaelic, but that's about it. And here, there is no way for me to tell if McElcheran is mostly used in Ireland or in Scotland.

...Although I could add as a footnote that Ulster Ulster Irish is close from (Scottish) gaelic, but it is the irish dialect (as in variety) I am less familiar with.

I'm sorry I couldn't help!

Re: McELHERNE v. McELCHERAN

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Thank you, though!

Re: McELHERNE v. McELCHERAN

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

Whoops, dang, the sculptor McELCHERAN died in 1999 (http://www.kinsmanrobinson.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=10).

So no point in dropping him a genealogical query.

::: sigh :::

Re: McELHERNE v. McELCHERAN

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

No, you did help! FYI, my McElhernes are from Newry, and so that's Ulster, right? on the border between Counties Down and Armagh.

I figured there'd be trouble with the transliteration of both names into English.

They are so close, I'm tempted to write to the Canadian sculptor and ask if he has any genealogists in his family...

Thanks again, cher chou!

Fat Men In Hats

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

For another distinctive fat person sculptor and painter, see Botero (http://images.google.com/images?q=botero&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=jj6nSfOHN9Ljtgfy-73VDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title).