La vie dans l'équilibre (Life in the balance) Sculpture

Doug Boyd, was born and raised in a small-town, North of Dallas, Texas. At the age of 18, he took the leap and auditioned for “The Greatest Show on Earth” Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus. He gave his all and was selected to attend the famous Ringling Clown College. After 10 ½ weeks of intense clown college training. He was rewarded with a one-year contract to perform as the circus toured the United States. Eighteen years old and a dream of being a performance artist would begin his journey deeper into the art world. As he lived his dream, the years began to fly by and soon he realized thirteen years of traveling and performing had passed. Doug had both learned and taught others as his career with Ringling Bros. Circus flourished. During those thirteen years, he met and married and started his family on the road. His children were born into the circus and they all traveled the country on the Ringling circus train. When his children reached the ages of two and three years, he decided to leave the road and work in Las Vegas, Nevada, to provide a more traditional life for them. Not ready to completely leave the world of performance, Doug accepted a position with Cirque du Soliel and a new show called LOVE. The show biz surrounding Cirque provided a familiar community for he and his family as they began to transition from a life of touring. An unexpected opportunity arose when he learned that Cirque hosted an annual gallery exhibition every year. Cirque performers and employees were also invited to enter art or sculptures. It was at that time, that he designed and created a reclaimed metal guitar complete with gears and screws…which to his delight sold quickly. Although, he was no longer performing, the creative process was growing and shaping a newfound interest in large scale sculpture. To continue his journey into creating art, he joined the local Burning Man community in Las Vegas. The Burning Man community was about to embark on building a twenty- foot Las Vegas showgirl and needed talent, so he joined and became one of two leads. The showgirl would be taken to the Burning Man event where it would be burned as is tradition for this event. “Lucy, the Las Vegas Showgirl” was such a hit, the project was picked up by the Las Vegas Arts District where a second twenty-foot Las Vegas showgirl sculpture was built and burned First Friday, the cities monthly art event.