Lucille Ball Bronze Portrait Bust, Glamorous Modeling Portrait
"Paula, Thank you for your work honoring our mother. It certainly is attractive and so much more so than the other one in Celeron." [by another sculptor]~ Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucie Arnaz
This life size Lucille Ball Bronze Portrait is of the Glamorous Lucy from her modeling days. It was cast in bronze and given a light “fancy patina” to highlight Lucy’s porcelain complexion. When Slater read an article about how unhappy people were with a bronze statue of Lucy located in Celeron, New York, dubbed “Scary Lucy” (created by another sculptor) she was inspired to sculpt a beautiful Lucille Ball Portrait Bust for her private collection.
Slater says that if she were to sculpt a public statue of Lucy it would be the comedic ‘I Love Lucy’ that is so widely recognizable. But this life size portrait bust is a tribute to the “Glamorous Lucille Ball” from a compilation of her modeling, pre-series glamour shots. Slater wanted to capture that dreamy faraway look Lucy had in so many of those elegant photographs. As one gentleman commented, “I wonder if Lucy realized just how beautiful she was?”
