Artist Spotlight - Sandra Bacon

Crystal Flight's call for artists attracted a number of out-of-town artists. Completing the proposed designs for these artists can prove to be a struggle as artists have to plan travel, locate accommodations while in town, and complete the statue on an accelerated schedule.

Illinois artist Sandra Bacon was able to meet these challenges head on! Arriving in town and staying locally with her sister's boyfriends, Sandi arrived in the studio on Monday morning and had completed two statues - "From Earth to Space" for the Gramercy at Metropolitan Park and "Crab Rock" for McCormick and Schmick's by Thursday evening. Impressive to say the least, but they also LOOK impressive!

From Earth to Space
This plane articulates the ascent from the core of the earth to the mysteries of the universe. With wonder at the beauty of the earth's inner core, through the atmoshere and into the cosmos, this painting refers to mystery, man's ascent to the heaves, the face that is presented to the heavens and the face that is presented to man on earth.

Crab Rock
This plane is a lighthearted look at the underwater world with the notion of "if crabs could fly". The artwork whimsically portrays the dichotomy between the weightlessness of underwater with the weightlessness of air.

About Sandi
Sandra Bacon is a versatile artist known nationally for the drawing/paintings and her public art. Her recent series of paintings, "Shattered Earth" has recently been shown at the Peppers Art Gallery in Redlands, California and at Deerpath Gallery in Lake Forest, Ill. She participated in last summer's Cool Globes exhibit in Chicago and her artwork was shown outside the Field Museum, at Navy Pier, at the United Nations(NY), and at the Chicago Department of the Environment.

Currently she is working on another Cool Globe for San Francisco, and an installation called "Lawn Games", at the Peggy Noteabaert Nature Museum (Chicago). Learn more about Sandra at her website by visiting her website.

About McCormick and Schmick's

Since teaming up in the early 1970s, Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick have established more than 50 restaurants and catering operations throughout the country - an extraordinary feat in a business with the highest attrition rate of any in the United States. The two men, very different yet surprisingly compatible, have established themselves as entrepreneurs with one collective vision, to run the nation's premier family of seafood restaurants.

The history of McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants began when Bill McCormick purchased Jake's Famous Crawfish Restaurant located in Portland, Ore., and brought the more than 100-year-old landmark back to life.

When asked the secret of how he revitalized a restaurant on the brink of closing, McCormick says, "I like nothing better than being a good host." In addition to his spirited personality, McCormick has an ability to bring out the best in other's managerial skills and strengths, a combination essential in a successful business.

Part of the managerial talent McCormick tapped was Doug Schmick, a management trainee. The two formed a partnership in 1974, creating Traditional Concepts, a precursor to today's McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants. In 1979, they opened the original McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant in Portland, Ore. Since that time, the company has expanded to more than 50 restaurants across the country.

About the Gramercy at Metropolitan Park

The Metropolitan. Apartment homes located in the Washington DC Metro area offering all that you could hope for. From inspiring architecture, stylish interiors, compelling locations and impeccable service, everything is designed with one purpose in mind – to make you feel at home. All your tastes and expectations, preferences and ambition, needs and desires. Met.