Ron Bechet
Swords to Ploughshares
2014

Name: Swords to Ploughshares
Brand: Ron Bechet
Price: 15000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

medium: palm fronds, gun parts, paint on wood panel Ron Bechet is a Professor of Art in the Department of Art at Xavier University of Louisiana. Mr. Bechet had served as chair of the department for nine years. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally. He has been teaching for 20 years at the college level. He holds a B.A. degree in Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the Yale School of Art, Yale University. He has served on the board of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and served as a member of New Orleans Arts Council percent for art committee Public Art Commission Program, NOCCA Institute Board and many other commissions and boards. He has served as the first director of Xavier Art Department’s Community Arts Partnership Program and served in many arts and youth programs in the New Orleans area both as an advisor and a practitioner. He was also the recipient of the Mayor’s Arts award in 2006 and nominated this year for the Joan Mitchel Artist and sculptor’s fellowship. statement "The basic structure uses palm fronds, a symbol of peace, like a root structure, returning the gun parts to what they were before they were made to be a weapons. Things are cyclical, and are transformed to another form. I remember these words from the song, “Down by the Riverside”, singing it at family gatherings, in the streets and in churches from the biblical passage Isaiah 2:3 says… “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they study war any more.” Truly, the weapons themselves must be laid down and transformed to a useful tool. Lao Tzu said “We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should temper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.” Our pride obscures our ability to see each other as human beings with deep faults that need to be solved together for the long cycle rather than what seems to be simple quick solutions. A Bondei proverb says Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. We need more mediators than weapons, more skill development and teaching the skill to work together rather than against one another. Less weapons of many kinds used against each other to hurt and more skills developed to make more bundles."

Creator:

Ron Bechet (1956, American)

Creation Year:

2014

Dimensions:

Height: 37 in (93.98 cm)Width: 42 in (106.68 cm)Depth: 6 in (15.24 cm)

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2010-

Condition:

Gallery Location: