john nelson artist

“A Sterling World”, created for the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center, is recognized as one of 25 award winning “Art projects that were created for the purpose of bringing about social change, or to raise awareness about key issues facing society.” CODAmagazine, July, 2019.   Click here to read.

John Randall Nelson’s giant rabbit has finally gone up in Scottsdale. The 26-foot-tall sculpture was installed on the northwest corner of Indian School Road and Marshall Way on Wednesday, September 19. Titled One-Eyed Jack, it comprises a white rabbit sitting on its haunches, with both ears jutting up towards the sky.  Lynn Trimble. Click here to read.

“What if the sun rode a bicycle? This question fired into my brain as I happened upon this new work parked at the Scottsdale Waterfront by John Randall Nelson … Or what if a cyclist rode so close to the sun that he or she merged with it? Either image works with this bright red bicycle sun porthole to the McDowell Mountains object almost pictograph thing.” John Romeo Alpha. Click here to read.

“A soaring, 35-foot-tall depiction of a beloved city councilman, 1970-78, and mayor, 1978-1994, as a stilt walker. Creator John Randall Nelson intended the exaggerated dimensions of “Harry Above the Crowd” to represent Harry Mitchell’s “heightened sense of potential, performance and accomplishment.” Coincidentally, live stilt walkers regularly stroll the city’s Mill Avenue during spring and fall Tempe Festival of the Arts.” Lisa Polacheck, Where Magazine, 2015

Click here to read.

“Creating wood figures, some 14 feet high, the Tempe artist draws on the power of American Folk Art.”
Amy Abrams. Click here to read.

Q: If you look really closely, you can see words on the sculptures. What are those? A: They are screen-printed affirmations … each sculpture has its own affirmation, such as “Really amazing,” “Everything will be okay,” “Everything here is wonderful.”  Click here to read.

“These two works (one 2-d and one 3-d) conjure iconic folk art forms and imagery that touch on the sectarian and socially mish-mashed nature of the Arizona experience.” Click here to view exhibition.

(A Public Art Project by John Randall Nelson and Joe Willie Smith). Fabricated steel fences, gates, cast concrete posts and shade structures. Sited at Matthew Henson HOPE VI Housing Project, Phoenix, AZ. 2013. “Fifty-two sculptural finials with fifty-two unique concrete posts combine to effect jarringly comical juxtapositions of objects and form.  Spinning whirligigs and rustic weathervanes create an overall art garden environment that stands like a symbol of locality and remembrance.”   Click here to read.

“Anthropomorphic Bicycle: A Kinetic Weathervane” located in the Bell Tower Gateway for the Scottsdale Civic Center (next to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art).   Click here for Images and Bio.