Artist Spotlight: Alec Garrard

Pictures by Geoff Robinson

See the house below? The house may appear like a plain home in any rural area, but there is something magical and very special housed in it.

In this home, Alec Garrard, 78, a farmer from Norfolk, England has spend over 30 years creating a recreation of King Herrod's Temple in ancient Jerusalum. His version of the temple is from the temple created in 19 B.C. The original temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by Rome and the ruins of this temple are found under the Dome of the Rock. His sculpture is a 1:100 scale model in which he has cut plywood frames for walls and created every brick by hand and then fired in a kiln. He has pieced together every single brick.

He didn't stop at creating detail in the building. He has also sculpted and painted over 4,000 figures that measure about 1/2 inch [1.3 cm]. Because his version of the temple was around during the life of Jesus Christ, he has also sculpted 32 versions of Jesus.

Above, Alec Garrard kneels inside his sculpture of King Herrod's Temple in ancient Jerusalum.

His sculpture is considered the most accurate representation of the temple. This is partly due to the fact he spent three years researching the temple and then carefully constructing it to be as true to the original building as possible. Visitors from around the worldand from the British Museum are traveling to his home to view his fantastic sculpture.

Although the sculpture appears to be finished, Garrard says that he won't finish it before he dies because he can't stop adding details and more objects.

"I've always loved making models and as I was getting older I started to think about making one big project which would see me through to the end of my life... I have an interest in buildings and religion so I thought maybe I could combine the two and I came up with the idea of doing the temple," Garrard said.

"It's now recognised as the most authentic version of the temple in the world," he said. "I've had a lot of offers from people to buy it, but it's not for sale."

Today, the only thing that remains of Herrod's temple is the Wailing Wall. Pilgrims and Jews from around the world go to this wall to mourn the death of the temple and to pray. It is estimated that 10,000 citizens and slaves were involved in the construction of Herrod's temple.

You can see the details of every brick and figure in this picture.

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Hitler in art news?

Many of you may already know that Adolf Hitler was also an artist who painted many paintings. His art is getting another look because this month, Life Magazine has published never-seen color pictures of his house, art, public appearances, and even the one-room schoolhouse of his childhood. The reason for the public release now is the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

As you can see, Adolf Hitler was a good artist. Because of his atrocities, his art has been under wraps. Hitler worked primarily with watercolors. This painting is titled, Karl's Church in Winter.

Hugo Jaeger was Hitler's personal photographer who photographed him from 1936 to 1945 until Hitler's death. Jaeger didn't just take pictures of Hitler, he also photographed associates and friends, neighbors, childhood home, and his villas. The photos chronicle Hitler's political life during the decade, but also show more intimate moments. The collection of over 2,000 photos includes interior shots of Hitler's office and apartments, as well as his leisure time spent on a Nazi cruise liner.

Much of Hitler's work evolved around memories of his youth from 1880 - 1910. This painting illustrated the occassions when he canoed on a nearby lake.

In 1945, the Allies were making their final push toward Munich. Jaeger was staying in a house near Munich when six American soldiers knocked on the door and began searching his house.. The soldiers found a leather suitcase in which Jaeger had concealed thousands of his color transparencies, and he feared being arrested when the soldiers recognized his close connection with Hitler. Jaeger was fortunate because as they were opening his suitcase, they found a bottle of liquor and began drinking. After everyone sharing drinks, they left and never searched the remaining contents of the suitcase.

This painting is dated 1912 and signed "A. Hitler."

After that point, Jaeger went to great lengths to hide the transparencies. He put them in glass jars and buried them in the ground for years. He returned several times to dig them up and rebury them again.

In 1955, 10 years after the war, Jaeger returned a final time to remove the jars and put the prints in a bank vault. Another 10 years later, he sold them to Life magazine. Up to this point, his art has not been publicized primarily due to the his many victims around the world. Perhaps Life and Time magazines have determined that enough people have healed from World War II and now is the time to releas his pictures.

You can see more of Hitler's art online at the following links:

• Adolf Hitler's Private World
• Hitler's Humble Beginnings
• Among the Crowds
• Up Close
• Hitler Photos

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New art magazine with a great idea

This is the cover of their summer issue.

A new art magazine recently came out called the Artist Advocate.They say that gallery representatives tell them they are inundated with discs, slides, e-mails, and photos from artists seeking representation. The images are stored in a file and rarely reviewed or lost. Gallery representatives have expressed a need for to review all artists’works in one easily accessible location. The magazine places artists in front of galleries that sell original artworks in a format that is easy to find and refer to as needed. They claim to have a list of nearly every gallery in America that sells original art.

Best of all, they offer a free online version of the magazine! How can they do it? Well, the artists who advertise themselves pay for space in the magazine. They also sell ads from companies that want to sell services to art galleries. It is to the advantage of the artists and the magazine to provide it free not only to art galleries, but to anyone in the world who wants to purchase art.

One thing that is unique to the magazine is that it always has two covers. The magazine isonly published four times a year, but that helps insure that each issue is packed with artists and galleries are more likely to have an issue laying around when they need to look for a certain style. Artists will pay anywhere from $149 to $2,599 for a cover featured picture. I think it's also great to show your students at the high school and college level. They can see what art and contemporary styles are out there and perhaps set vocational goals.

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