Robert Bellows Studio

Just north of Haystack Mountain Robert Bellows Studio is embraced by the land. His Owl greeted us from the entry. For years we enjoyed this fierce yet friendly totem in his front yard in Boulder. He was the first artist I know of to use rusty farm equipment to fabricate his sculptures.

Robert graciously gave us a tour of his work in progress, The Warrior StoryField, a conversation between veterans and civilians in the language of art.

Haystack Mountain

The project is a collaboration with a team of civilians and veterans who are building a 16 foot tall Dragon and an 18 foot tall Phoenix. What does it take for a veteran to truly come home from war? The mission of the project is to bring veterans and civilians into community around a common goal to understand the challenges facing our returning warriors whose wounds are both seen and unseen.

THE SPACE IN BETWEEN the two sculptures is where conversation will happen.

They chose the Dragon to represent the Warrior in training, in service and at war. The Phoenix represents the Warrior Come Home.

When we visited the Dragon was the focus of their work in progress. I encourage you to visit their website to get the full story of the Phoenix, the artists involved and how the project was conceived with the construction of Alfie, the Rooster, at Alfalfa’s Market. It is very moving, especially the story of the veteran medic who created the Dragon Heart. Into this heart are placed sacred objects from veteran loved ones.