May 15, 2022

Winnipeg
4° C, Clear

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Arts & Life Arts & Entertainment The Arts

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Artist goes nuclear with latest Sin City sculpture

Alan Small By: Alan Small 
Posted: 10:49 AM CST Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later

Even showing a work public art for the first time is fraught with fear and worry in 2020.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 1/12/2020 (530 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even showing a work public art for the first time is fraught with fear and worry in 2020.

That’s what Wayne Littlejohn, a sculptor who grew up in Norwood Flats and now lives in Las Vegas, found out when it was time to reveal his latest work, Atomic Tumbleweed, earlier this month in Sin City.

Sculptor Wayne Littlejohn with his latest work, Atomic Tumbleweed. (Supplied)

Sculptor Wayne Littlejohn with his latest work, Atomic Tumbleweed. (Supplied)

"I had to really think about this whole dedication thing, whether it was a good idea to do it, whether to be part of it or even show up," Littlejohn, 61, says. "In the end I figured it was time to push forward and make sure it was as safe as possible to do it."

A small ceremony took place Nov. 5 in downtown Las Vegas as Littlejohn, who teaches art at the College of Southern Nevada, pulled the cover off the stainless steel sculpture, which sits atop a pedestal and resembles an atom.

"That was very bizarre. It was the first time I’d been out in a group of maybe two or three people since the whole thing started," he says. "Everybody was masked up and for the most part everybody was doing really well in following all the rules but there are always a couple of people who want to give you a hug."

Atomic Tumbleweed gets its title and design from two aspects of Nevada history — its windy, desert landscape that creates tumbleweeds, and the Nevada National Security Site about 110 kilometres northwest of the city, where more than 1,000 nuclear weapons tests took place from 1951 to 1992.

"It definitely has that going on. There’s always some aspect of the world we live in comes out in a piece," he says. "This one is a little more overt, with a nuclear symbol kind of shape."

Atomic Tumbleweed is the third major piece of public art Littlejohn has created in Las Vegas since 2017. The first, a 7.5-metre tall aluminum structure called Dream Machine that some say resembles a mushroom or a flying saucer, sits in Siegfried and Roy Park, near McCarron International Airport.

Spin Baby, which Littlejohn unveiled in January, is a 3.5-metre tall microphone that is an homage to the Rat Pack and other Las Vegas entertainers of the past, present and future.

"Atomic Tumbleweed" at night. (Supplied)</p>

"Atomic Tumbleweed" at night. (Supplied)

The stainless steel structure is lit by LEDs at nighttime — this is Las Vegas after all — and is located at the intersection of roads named after Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin just west of the Strip.

Littlejohn’s latest piece is part of a downtown revitalization project, and sits outside a movie theatre in what is called Linear Park.

"It’s a nice little location," he says. "It’s about a couple of blocks from downtown and the Stratosphere tower in the background. That was all part of the design and the sculpture itself finishes the whole thing off, essentially."

Atomic Tumbleweed is much smaller than his previous two sculptures but creating the four stainless steel rings and the skeleton that keeps them in position was just as time consuming, he says. Littlejohn began by sculpting a version out of polystyrene foam in July 2019, which led to the creation of a mould. A foundry in Loveland, Colo., poured the rings.

"With the other pieces, they had a basic concept first and then the engineering figured out and then I worked around the engineering. So that restricted me, creatively," he says. "With this one I made the loops and played with the loops until I got the configuration I really liked. They look like they’re floating a bit more, and that’s when the engineers came in and figured out how to make it structurally strong."

"Atomic Tumbleweed" (Supplied)</p>

"Atomic Tumbleweed" (Supplied)

It was ready to be installed in April, he says, but the pandemic shutdown in the spring led to its unveiling being postponed until November.

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up

Littlejohn had pitches planned to build public art projects in B.C. and Ontario but the pandemic has put them firmly on the shelf. So he’s back at work teaching, and just a few days ago the college’s classes went completely online as COVID-19 cases in Las Vegas rose again.

It’s that fact of life in 2020 that has Littlejohn thinking about relatives back in Winnipeg, where’s he’s read about the recent surge of cases here, too.

"Yes, it sounds like things are pretty bad in Winnipeg right now," he says. "My dad is practically barricaded inside his assisted living facility over in St. B."

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall

 

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism.
BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

Alan Small

Alan Small
Reporter

Alan Small has been a journalist at the Free Press for more than 22 years in a variety of roles, the latest being a reporter in the Arts and Life section.

   Read full biography

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top