Long Beach Mayor Sue Svendsen and Bold Co-owner Greg Holmes help support the sculpture as it was installed Wednesday, Aug. 7, in Long Beach.

LONG BEACH — On a clear August morning, David Allsup used a reciprocating saw to finish the frame where the wood-sculpted great blue heron would rest, nestled among cattails and waving grass fabricated from steel.

The sculpture, created by popular peninsula wood-carving artist Joshua Blewett, was donated by Long Beach Mayor Sue Svendsen, who won the work of art in a raffle, and insisted the piece be enjoyed in a high-visibility space, instead of being hidden in a private setting.

“We were looking for a spot where everybody would see it, because it should be part of the community,” Svendsen said.

Svendsen donated the sculpture to Bold, an art gallery and framing shop in Long Beach, and local fabricator Davis Allsup created a custom stand that complimented the piece for it to rest upon, after being contacted by Bold co-owner Greg Holmes.

Allsup delivered and installed the sculpture at the business, located at 711 Pacific Ave. North in Long Beach, on Aug. 7.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Bold co-owner Greg Holmes.

Creating the perception of movement

Allsup detailed how he fabricated the custom base from steel, while adding his own artistic twists that complimented the wood heron sculpture.

“It was a very organic process. For the cat tails, I had no idea how I was going to do those. I had to completely invent a way to do those from the ground up. With the grass, I just kind of started cutting out metal, and playing with it, to see how I could get the right shape and texture. I cut out the rough shape of the grass with a plasma cutter, then took an oxy acetylene torch, heated it, and bent it with pliers and a crescent wrench. I wanted to create texture and the perception of movement.”

The work joins others created by Blewett in Long Beach, including an 11-foot-wide by 10-foot-tall wooden arch adorned with carved cedar fish in 2021. See tinyurl.com/Fish-Alley-Arch.