Sculptures

A few people take a sculpture home with them. Most are delivered and installed by the artist. Some are shipped. Most reside along the Eastern seaboard; a few reside farther afield, in such places as Tucson, AZ, the Gulf Coast bayou of Mississippi and in Malibu, CA.

To see a larger version of the images, just click on the thumbnail, then use your "back" button to return.

Sculpture prices range from several hundred, to several thousand dollars each. For current pricing and availability, please contact us at sculpture@nervousnellies.com, or call.



Pig in Window – NFS
A partner to Nervous Nellie in the Café, the Pig has appeared at Fancy Food shows in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. His outfit came from Sanders’ Store, a now-defunct wilderness outfitter on Moosehead Lake. His motto is "Our jams are louder and funnier!"

Welcoming Bear

Click for large version Man with Two Dogs
I had an idea of making a sculpture of a man in a cheap suit sitting on a suitcase, waiting for a bus, perhaps. But when I made this sculpture for a window in the State Theater in Portland, he looked lonely, so I gave him two dogs. One black and one white to symbolize that for all of life’s ups and downs, there is a steady supply of love.

Click for large version Stove Leg Alligator
Years ago I found a set of stovelegs at the dump and made an alligator, perhaps inspired by Albert in the Pogo comic strips. A radiologist on Long Island bought him early in the summer and I couldn’t deliver him until fall. All summer long people said, "Can you make me an alligator like that?" It took me a while to figure out where I could get antique stovelegs in sets of four. This is alligator #14.

Click for large version Lobster and Tuna Playing Checkers - NFS per Sam Johnson
Can you tell which one is winning?

Click for large version Giraffe
On summer days as a teenager I would ride the train into Philadelphia and take the streetcar to the Zoo, spending all day there watching the animals.

Click for large version Bull Dog
Pine with copper face; old hand-forged eyebolt for tail.

Click for large version Seabird Landing

Click for large version Sheep
The body is a rural mailbox from the days of the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog. One time I came out to the Café when a little girl had climbed inside the mailbox; only her feet were sticking out the door.

Lemur
The lemur was a childhood favorite at the Philadelphia Zoo. He holds an antique croquet ball.

Click for large version Clown Charioteer with Donkey (half-scale)
These are inspired by characters from the now-defunct A. Schoenhut Toy Company (early 1900’s) whose popular Humpty Dumpty Circus featured a harnessed burro pulling a clown in a chariot.

Click for large version Mama Bear & Cubs
The bear seemed to have a strong feminine aspect (is it the eyelashes?), so I made her some cubs.

Nellie Bird - not for sale
Nervous Nellie is a fictional character who became the namesake for a business that started out as a joke (beware of those aspects of your life that you think are a joke!). Like the rest of us she is on a journey and she has a story.

Click for large version "Gently Sir, It’s Mothers’ Day"
This is a takeoff on cartoonist Peter Arno’s Mother’s Day Series (1930’s) for the New Yorker Magazine.

Click for large version Car Door Man and Dog
International Harvester Travelall door; figures made of poplar (locally known as "popple"), sycamore and black walnut.

Click for large version Alligator

Fish

Click for large version Cowboy Bookcase
His vest is made of a cow hide I’ve held onto since my art school years in the ‘70s.

Click for large version Knight Bookcase
Helmet is shield from a catalytic converter. Sword is of an antique farm implement.

Lizard
Made from worn-out scallop drags: heavy nets of steel rings that are dragged along the ocean floor.

Click for large version Lizard
Made from worn-out scallop drags: heavy nets of steel rings that are dragged along the ocean floor.



Ceramics:


I made ceramic sculptures during my art school years, starting small (see Viking Ship). In graduate school I had access to a walk-in kiln and all the natural gas I could burn. Things got monumental. I made the Western Sheriff (in Sculpture Building) and Indian, which will soon be mounted, and finally, a deep sea fish which resembled a ’54 Buick. It was also nearly the size, and half the weight, of a ’54 Buick. It is now, alas, part of a landfill mountain somewhere in Southern California.

When my son was small he wanted to work with clay and I worked along with him; we fired the results in an ancient kiln that had been given to me by a private school in Cambridge years ago. These pieces are the result.

Viking Ship - NFS This Viking ship was made in my art school days, thirty years ago. The helmsman is a sea troll.

Rising Sun

Dinosaur Wizard
The impressions on the Wizard’s cloak are that of the jawbone of an opossum.

Keyhole Fish

Fly Swatter Monkey

Desert Skeleton

Twins at Gas Pump
This sculpture is one of the first pieces I made here in Deer more than 20 years ago. Two twin brothers used to own the service station at the junction of Route 15 and the Sunshine Road (now Mill Pond Mobil). One twin, Bobby, is faced with linoleum from the days when it had rugs painted on it and was called "carpet." The other twin, Dicky, is made of the two sides of a staircase. I bought it from Jack Hamblen in the days when he supervised the Deer Isle dump for a salary of $10/week.

Click for large version The Owl and the Pussy Cat
This whimsical couple has featured in many wedding ceremonies, my own included. The skiff was made by a nephew of a legendary Stonington lobsterman, Andrew Gove.

Click for large version Moose
I made my first moose out of slabs from the Barter Lumber Company sawmill on Deer Isle. I traded AJ four jars of jam for the wood. That moose spent seven years outside the gallery at Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake and is now in Teatown, New York. This is Moose #10. All are different and range from the Maine Coast to Kentucky.

Pinto Pony with Cowboy

Click for large version Old Car
The wire spoke wheels were found in the woods behind the one-cow barn. They are thought to be from a 1930’s Ford. The car seat, bumper, and lights were harvested from the Deer Isle dump.

Knight & Dragon (does not include apple tree)
The knight is made of an old ironing board and his armor is a piece of tin ceiling. The dragon’s head is a 5-gallon can with scythe blades for horns; his belly is the grill of a vintage 30’s car.

Flying Dragon
This is the first large-scale piece I've fabricated entirely from metal. His spine is a drive chain, possibly from an excavator.

Donkey
Once pulled a chariot driven by a clown. Out to pasture now…

Click for large version Gas Can Pig

Click for large version Cat in Garbage Can

Blue Oar Man
Built as a trellis for climbing nasturtium, the oar is from the Deer Isle dump. The shield is a pot lid and circular saw blade.

Click for large version Tortoise
Shell is an upturned wheelbarrow.




Three Witches at Broadside Stove

Big Blue Witch

Little Black Witch

Voodoo Witch


Griffin – work in progress
Still needs an eagle’s wing, a dragon’s arm and a lion’s haunch and tail. His head is a lawnmower deck and his eye an automobile clutch.

Man Driving Car (Into the Ground) – NFS – Commission Peter to reanimate the old wreck in your back yard.
This piece is an amalgamation of cars found abandoned in the woods of Mountainville. The front end is an Essex whose wooden spoke wheels still turn even after 80 years of exposure. The hood is from a depression-era Ford pick-up, recently removed to make way for a new house on Greenlaw Cove. The steering wheel is a wreath form – wire coat hanger – used locally.

Click for large version Good Ol’Boys by Cast Iron Stove
This pair was inspired by two old fellows observed at the Deer Isle dump; they were making a detailed and leisurely Sunday afternoon study of its contents. Every item inspired a rueful or ribald story.

Click for large version Hunter

Click for large version Deer

Panther Man
While a shaman might wear tokens from the animal world, the Panther Man wears a necklace of doorknob hardware. He hangs from the type of boom common on fishing boats and wharves on the island.

Click for large version Roc and Baby
The Roc, a mythic bird from Middle Eastern legend, came to occupy what began as a brush pile and then, somehow, took on the shape of a nest. She has flown to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the nest awaits a new occupant.

Deer-faced Man and Man-faced Deer at Portal
Inspired by an Eskimo sculpture of a man-faced deer: once a year they would give a party for the spirits of the animals they had eaten. The deer-faced man is a Celtic symbol. Both evoke a time when people and animals were more intuitively linked. The door was formerly on the Johnson building, my studio. It stands at the gateway to the deep woods.

Culvert Dragon

Little Clown with Dancing Bear
On their way to entertain the Fisher King inside the Castle.

Click for large version Parsifal and the Procession of the Holy Objects
After much searching, Parsifal found the Grail Castle, which lies close by, but generally remains hidden. Each evening before dinner the guests would watch an inspiring procession: maidens bearing the Holy Grail and the spear that pierced Jesus’s side. The King of the Castle lay grievously wounded a the feast and could not be healed until Parsifal asked the magic question: "Whom does the Grail serve?"

Three Knights
These three brothers appeared to me in a dream. They represent courage, faith and wisdom and are the Guardians of the Grail Castle.
Courage (with sword)
Faith (with shield)
Wisdom (with staff)

Fisher King
The Fisher King is ailing and cannot find fulfillment in the Holy Objects. Only fishing brings him solace. Healing will come when Parsifal remembers the question he was instructed to ask.

The Troupers
A band of entertainers who seek to bring cheer to the ailing Fisher King.
Leader of the Troupe
Lutenist
Lady Acrobat

Click for large version Sir Gawain on War Horse
Presiding over the grounds to ensure that no unchivalrous behavior takes place.

Click for large version Gila Monster
Bad Guy from The Nervous Nellie Story, known as Gunwillie. Does dirty work for Baron von Krankshafft when he’s not losing at cards at the Bitter Moon Café.

Click for large version Horn Toad in Log Cabin Facade
The toad’s name is Shambles. He is another Bad Guy in Baron von Krankshafft’s outfit.

Click for large version 1957 Buick Special
This Classic was put in a barn in Orland in 1965 when the owner died and there it sat for 30 years. It was driven to Deer Isle under its own power in the mid-nineties. You may open the doors, with care. Note the tissue dispenser under the dash with 1960’s Kleenex in it. 36,800 on the odometer is the original mileage. A sticker on the door indicates that the next oil change is due at 37,117 miles on April 1, 1965. The car figures in The Nervous Nellie Story where it is Baron von Krankshafft’s vehicle. Watch for his appearance behind its curved glass window with McConnico and Auger-Eye Bill, two of his henchmen.

Bull Truck Driver
Made for an exhibit at Congress Square Park in Portland.

Jack in the Box
Spent the New Year’s Eve of the century in the lobby of the Eastland Hotel in Portland.

Texas Longhorn Skull

Click for large version Hun
Rides out of history in 20th century scrap: hat is a street lamp hood, which is what gave me the idea for the piece. Breastplate is from an auto exhaust system.

Click for large version Cigar Man
Loves smoking cigars outdoors; been outside for 20 years.

Little House with Porch – NFS (Commission your own piece to hide your problems!)
When we got propane to heat the Jelly Kitchen we wanted to hide the tank. I made this façade out of recycled lumber and sculptures.

Shaman and Wolf
The shaman is communing with his animal self—this is why he has antlers. The contemporary shaman represents a dizzying juxtaposition of our ancient spiritual past and the modern world. Hence the lawn chair, leather jacket and hardware store necklace. The antlers are a scrapped piece of industrial plumbing, the eyes are an electrical connector, the nose is apple wood and the lips are lilac. The jacket was sent to me in a care package when I moved to Maine, by a friend who lived in southern California and thought I’d freeze. He bought in the Phillipines during the Vietnam War.

Dolphin

Western Sheriff
Made of stoneware when art school days provided access to a walk-in kiln. The star on his head is an impression of the star from a Texaco station. His vest pocket is from a state ashtray. Can you guess which state?

Party Man With Hat

Bon Vivant Wine Rack

The Card Game

Click for large version Parrot


More Pictures >>>

Commissions cheerfully considered.
Peter Beerits
600 Sunshine Road
Deer Isle, ME 04627
1-800-777-6845

sculpture@nervousnellies.com

FINE PRINT: Sales tax is applicable to all sales delivered in Maine. There is a delivery charge of 15-20% of value, depending on size and distance. Shipping and crating charges are determined on a case-by-case basis. A daily rate of $250 is applicable to sculptures that require installation.

PRICING:Sculpture prices range from several hundred, to several thousand dollars each. For current pricing and availability, please contact us at sculpture@nervousnellies.com, or call.




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598 Sunshine Road, Deer Isle,  Maine  04627
1-800-777-6845 or 207-348-6182
Email:jam@nervousnellies.com