PHILOSOPHICAL SCULPTURES

by Hilary Paul McGuire

Medium: Antique Iron with Character 

"Justice?" and "Confrontation AD 2000" were selected for the San Diego Museum of Art Artists' Guild 2025 FALL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION in November 2025. They were on display November 4-17 in Balboa Park's Spanish Village Studio 21 (11 am to 4 pm) and will be online during November and December 2025.

"Antique Beauty" was selected in the Class "Assemblage & Recycled Art" for 3D Fine Art in the 2025 San Diego County Fair. Fine Art entries were on display during the Fair from June 11 through July 6th at the Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014.

"The Flowering of Antique Iron" was selected for the San Diego Museum of Art Artists' Guild 2024 FALL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION  in November 2024. A photo of the sculpture was on display in Balboa Park's Spanish Village Studio 21 (11 am to 4 pm) from November 19 through December 2 and online during the months of November and December 2024. The sculpture itself was on display in La Mesa Hearing Aids at 5020 Baltimore Dr Ste A, La Mesa, CA 91942 during November and December 2024.

"Hoe in Peace; Mace in Woe" was selected for “Small Art, Big Impact” at ACE Gallery in August 2024. The show ran from September 3, 2024 – October 26, 2024 with an opening reception: September 7, 2024. The gallery is at 3861 Mission Avenue B3-B5, Oceanside, CA 92058. Regular hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 11-6 and Fridays 11-5.

"The Flowering of Antique Iron" received a Talent Prize Award in the 11th Open International Juried Art Competition with Teravarna in August 2024. This gallery was designed as an online art platform for artists and its name signifies the concept of "a trillion colors."  (Click on "Talent Prize Award" to see Hilary's piece.)

"The Flowering of Antique Iron" and "Hoe in Peace; Mace in Woe" were selected to be exhibited in the third Abstract online art exhibition with Artist Space Gallery in August 2024. This gallery was designed as an online art platform for emerging and established artists around the world.  (Look for Hilary's sculptures near the bottom of the webpage.)

"A Tribute to Wheel and Rail" was selected in the Class "Fair Theme: Let's Go Retro" for 3D Fine Art in the 2024 San Diego County Fair. It was awarded an Honorable Mention. Fine Art entries were on display during the Fair from June 12 through July 7th at the Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014.

"The Flowering of Antique Iron" was selected for a Distinction award in the Floral & Botanical Art Contest with Gallery 4% in May 2024. It is shown on their virtual wall space. Gallery 4% is headquartered in San Francisco. (All art is organized alphabetically by artist's first name. Look for "Hilary" on all Gallery 4% pages.)

"The Past Plows for the Future," "Beauty, Old Age, and Character Have Their Place," and "The Flowering of Antique Iron" were selected for Distinction awards in the Still & Lifeless Art Contest 2 with Gallery 4% in April 2024. They are shown on the gallery's virtual wall space. Gallery 4% is headquartered in San Francisco.  In addition, seven other pieces were selected for Laurel awards and are shown further down on the same page.

"If You'd Seen As Much Sea As I've Seen, You'd Be A-Tippling Too" was selected for a Laurel award in the Still & Lifeless Art Contest 1 with Gallery 4% in January 2024. It is shown on their virtual wall space. Gallery 4% is headquartered in San Francisco.

"Antique Iron Rules", "Ancient Beauty," and "Strength in Beauty" were selected for a Distinction award in the Unreal & Non-Representational Art Contest with Gallery 4% earlier in January 2024. They are shown on the gallery's virtual wall space. In addition, "A Tribute to Wheel and Rail" and "Antique Beauty"  were selected for Laurel awards.

"Ancient Beauty" was selected for a Distinction award in the Anything & Everything Art Contest with Gallery 4% in December 2023. It is shown on their virtual wall space.

"Infinity Comes to Earth" was selected for the Golden Duck Gallery's "ChristmArt" Art Contest  in November 2023. 

"Stalwart Character" was selected for the San Diego Museum of Art Artists' Guild 2023 FALL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION  in November 2023. It will be on display November 14-27 in Balboa Park's Spanish Village Studio 21 (11 am to 4 pm) and online during the month of November.

"Infinity Comes to Earth" was selected for the San Diego Museum of Art Artists' Guild 2023 HOLIDAY ONLINE EXHIBITION in October 2023. It will be on display online from November 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. (This same sculpture was also featured in the 2022 Holiday Exhibition.)

"To the Ancient Respect is Due" was selected for the Superfine LA, An Art Fair For Artists and Art Lovers in 2023. It was on display October 12-15 at the Magic Box at 1933 S Broadway | Los Angeles, CA 90007.

"To the Ancient Respect is Due" was selected for Golden Duck´s first Open Call art exhibit, "No Limits"  in 2023. It was on display digitally on the plasma TV in the gallery in Budapest, Hungary from October 15 to November 14, 2023.

"Stalwart Character" was juried into the California Art Club's Cultural Celebrations Exhibit, May 6 – June 10, 2023 at Bonita Museum & Cultural Center, 4355 Bonita Road, Bonita, California 91902.

"If You'd Seen As Much Sea As I've Seen, You'd Be A-Tippling Too" was juried into the California Art League's "Artists' Choice!" Exhibit in February 2023.  Opening reception was on Saturday, February 4, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Thousand Oaks Community Art Gallery, 2331 Borchard Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. The show took place at the gallery and was online until February 26th. 

"To the Ancient Respect is Due" was selected for the San Diego Museum of Art Artists' Guild 2022 FALL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION  in September 2022. It was on display September 13-26 in Balboa Park's Spanish Village Studio 21 (11 am to 4 pm) and online during the month of September.

Ten of Hilary's sculptures were selected for an HONORABLE MENTION AWARD in ART SHOW INTERNATIONAL GALLERY’s art competition "5th OPEN," in August 2022. 5th Open Winners (scroll past lists of names to photos under "Honorable Mentions" and then to the letter "H" for Hilary.)

"If You'd Seen As Much Sea As I've Seen, You'd Be A-Tippling Too" was  juried into the Front Porch Gallery Annual Exhibition in July 2022. The show was at the gallery and online until September 3rd. 

Sixteen of Hilary's sculptures were on display at "The Athenaeum Art Center" inside San Diego's Bread & Salt Gallery during April and May, 2019. For more information, see:  Exhibit Article in Mira Mesa Living. 

Click here for more articles.  

"Up Periscope!"

2025 –  Depth 11", Width 11", Height 19"   

    The topside railroad spike raises its head like a periscope to sight the way for us other passengers in the tiny bucket of life.

"Two Swings and a Supervisory Hand"

2025 –  Depth 17", Width 30", Height 38"

    The artist's theme of respect for old age with character and use of what he calls antique iron with character as his medium hereby takes a peek into a child's playground.

"A Bucketful of Beauty"

2025 –  Depth 12", Width 13", Height 15" 

    The intriguing beauty of human designs--enhanced by nature's aging process.

"The Flowering of Antique Iron"

2023 –  Depth 15", Width 19", Height 23"   

    This title, though perfectly descriptive of this piece, more generally applies to the artist’s whole sculptural output.

"Right Angles, Gentle Curves"

2023 –  Depth 5", Width 10", Height 24" 

    Whatever we may think of angles and curves, they certainly contribute much to life.

"Hoe in Peace; Mace in Woe"

2023 –  Depth 10", Width 14", Height 17"   

     Saddened by how Hamas and the Palestinian people had traded their food-producing hoes for the woes of war, the artist made “Hoe in Peace: Mace in Woe.”

    Starving men don’t make war. They hoe in peace. It’s after the crops are in and their barns are full that they wield their maces in war. The lower part of this sculpture is an old-time farmer’s hoe. The upper piece makes a perfect mace for war.

"If You'd Seen As Much Sea As I've Seen, You'd Be A-Tippling Too"

2020 –  Depth 13", Width 13", Height 29"   

    Here is a tribute to the sea and those who frequent it.

    This sculpture was one of 60 selected out of 400 entries that were juried into the Front Porch Gallery Annual Exhibition by a juror from Washington state. It was also one of 91 selected out of 230 entries that were juried into the Artist's Choice Exhibit by the chair of the California Art Club. (see show info above)

"Infinity Comes to Earth" // "Artist Eyes the World"

2019 –  Depth 9", Width 16", Height 17"

     Since the circle has long been interpreted as a symbol of eternity and of infinity, this piece expresses the mystery of Christmas as "Infinity Comes to Earth."  It uses three circles to represent the three stages of God the Father's plan to reveal his Triune Nature to mankind at a certain time in what we call Salvation History. The highest circle is God the Father; the tiny circle is the start  of God the Son as a single-cell human zygote, resulting from God the Holy Spirit fabricating a male gamete to unite with Mary’s egg. The third circle is the adult Jesus, the embodied (incarnation) of God the Son, bringing The Triune God’s messages to earth. 

     As "Artist Eyes the World," this sculpture is an implement like a magnifying glass with which we can examine the fact that everything gets old, things as well as people, but not all improve their character. This magnifier enables us to search closely for character in the aged.

"Surveillance"

2020 – Depth 11", Width 17", Height 27"

     This piece stands on duty at the front door of the artist's home.

"Stalwart Character"

2017 – Depth 20", Width 20", Height 25"

       In any group of two or more people, one person's opinion or suggestion prevails in choice of action.  May that person be strong, sturdy, and wise.

"A Tribute to Farming"

2015 – Depth 17", Width 17", Height 25"

       Notice how such a simple farm implement as a disc to undercut the roots of weeds between rows of vegetables, has an intricate assemblage which includes a scraper to clear away collected mud and which must be lubricated with grease via a nipple on the reverse side. Nothing comes easy in the effort to produce food! 

"Antique Beauty"

1995 – Depth 14", Width 14", Height 26"

"Antique Iron Rules!"

1993 – Depth 15", Width 15", Height 31"

     ...And speaks for itself.

"Eventful Life, Be Not Forgotten"

1980 – Depth 25", Width 30", Height 58"

     Here lie the remains of San Diego’s Balboa Stadium, built in Balboa Park (behind San Diego High School) for the 1915 Panama-California International Exhibition and patterned after the Roman coliseum. It hosted many world-famous events and personalities including San Diego Chargers football games, a concert by the musical group "Chicago," and speakers like Charles Lindbergh. Deemed seismically inferior, it was finally destroyed in 1980 after two weeks of pounding by a huge steel ball, swung using a large crane. This monument incorporates the various types of re-bar used in 1914, including one with a square cross section and another that is totally non-ribbed, but the piece de resistance is the 1¼ inch diameter bar. For the base, the sculptor mixed concrete and inserted marble with lettering donated by a local mortuary owner who thought the stadium merited a memorial to its event-filled life.

"A Tribute to Wheel and Rail"

1977 and 2019 – Depth 17", Width 21", Height 31"

     This piece has been displayed several months in "The Classic Attic" gallery at the YWCA in downtown San Diego. A favorite saying of the sculptor is a modification of a quote in a tiny book in this same gallery/antique shop: "Youth and beauty are gifts of nature, but old age is a work of art." Certainly that saying applies to these works of antique iron as well as to the life of each of us. This sculpture was selected by a jury of two California State University Northridge Art instructors and thus was accepted into the San Diego Art Institute's 25th Annual Exhibition in Balboa Park, Nov. 1978. The crosspiece has since broken and the sculpture has been appropriately redesigned, still expressing the close inter-relationship of the ancient concept of the wheel and the more recent railroad. The original sculpture is shown in the third photo below. 

"From Tower of London to San Diego Rail Yard"

2015 – Depth 8", Width 40", Height 34"

     In the summer of 1978, the sculptor spotted something sticking out of the dirt in a newly-plowed field across the street from the Tower of London. He tramped about 20 feet to pull it out and stuff it under his jacket. Thus he carried it through his tour of the Tower, imagining what history this pulley had witnessed in the days of executions by hanging and beheading. Back in San Diego, he incorporated it into this conglomerate of other pieces, many from the San Diego rail yard which is situated a few blocks south of San Diego City College where he taught math many years. This piece was displayed for the first time in 2016 at that same college’s City Gallery as part of a month-long exhibit for 20 of his sculptures.

"To the Ancient Respect Is Due"

1975 – Depth 10", Width 20", Height 20"

     This sculpture appeared in the national magazine RELICS in December 1977. It was juried into the San Diego Art Institute's Annual Exhibition in Balboa Park, Nov. 1980. This piece most completely expresses the philosophy of respect for old age which is why the sculptor focuses on use of antique iron. The "pieces with character" which he selects for use are similar to old people, cast off or ignored by society. In this case he has put several "characters" to work in a new "family" with new life as a representation of both the bond and relationship between father and son or, more generally, any parent and child: The father is bent over and gnarled with age while the son, having imbibed all of the nurture, guidance, and wisdom of his elder, struggles to climb the ladder of life, boosted upon his father's back while still intrinsically attached. 

"Justice?"

1975 – Depth 32", Width 32", Height 52"

     This piece was entered into the Oklahoma Annual Art Exhibition at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa in 1976. Judges of the 1600 entries were a New York City gallery owner, a NYC photographer, and the Curator of the Boston University art galleries. "Justice?" was one of only 23 entries chosen for exhibit. "Justice?" also appeared in a full-page photo with artist Hilary Paul McGuire in SOUTHWEST ART magazine, March 1977. A full-page article entitled "Philosophical Sculpture" appeared on the opposite page. "Justice?" represents the alternatives of justice as being a trap, chains, or a hook. Then if one gets out of those, a blacksmith tongs await below. Rather negative, but the sculptor, who has written three books on Chicano gangs in southern California, has worked with lots of kids who seemed to have only such alternatives in their lives. 

"The Past Plows for the Future"

1990 – Depth 15", Width 29", Height 22"

     People usually think of a plow digging into the soil to prepare for planting of seed, but rotated 180 degrees, it shows its beautifully complicated under-structure and readily suggests upward flight and a look to the future. This plow, worn down from use, had its life extended by a farmer building up its edge with welding. Finally it was cast aside as useless, like so many things and people are today. This sculpture gives that plow new life and purpose by mounting the up-sweeping, forward-looking plow onto a "Never Creep" railroad anchor plate. In like manner, whatever is past, plows the way to the future.

     This piece also encapsulates the philosophy which prompted its creation. The patination and "character" of certain pieces of antique iron prompted the sculptor to show them to the world. He takes items that are like wise and weather-beaten grandparents and incorporates them into young, vibrant, new families.

"Confrontation AD 2000"

1978 – Depth 8", Width 18", Height 10"

     This item was constructed 22 years before the millennium, using pieces from the San Diego rail yard. In those days many feared that by 2000 the world would have suffered a devastating nuclear war and these would be the last two “humans” left on earth. Very disfigured and distorted by radiation, these two face each other and say, “Shall we make love or war?” It was displayed one month at San Diego's Miramar College in fall 2002. 

"Even a Sliver of Character Endures Forever"

2016 – Depth 8", Width 14", Height 24"

     This slim piece of farm equipment is very simple, but serves its purpose with dignity, thus reminding us that "Even a Sliver of Character Endures Forever." 

"Character Alone Persists I"

2016 – Depth 8", Width 14", Height 34"

     ...And is obvious.

"Character Alone Persists II"

2018 – Depth 7", Width 7", Height 22"

     It is a plus when pieces of antique iron and steel have words or symbols embossed or stamped into them. Often, as in this case, the intent of the manufacturer is scarcely recognizable in later decades or even centuries. Thus one wonders who today would give a bottle-capping machine the name of "Gear Top?" Nonetheless, this evocative piece reminds us that, for inanimate things as well as in human interaction, what matters most is personal character. 

"Beauty, Old Age, and Character Have Their Place"

2016 – Depth 24", Width 30", Height 50"

     Four friends who have traveled widely and experienced diverse vocations, meet to share their wisdom in Egypt. 

“Strength in Beauty”

2016 – Depth 15", Width 40", Height 50"

     (Don't read this until you've studied the pictures below.)

     This sculpture employs 13 pieces of antique iron and steel, each of which was chosen as beautifully expressive in its own right. The sculptor's intention was to show the simple beauty of their collaboration. One perceptive viewer saw what the German philosophers call a "gestalt." She said, "I see the word STOP in there...like an admonition that progress and technology are negatively affecting our society. "

"Gears and Wheels of Power"

1996– Depth 8", Width 45", Height 55"

"Curves Live!"

2016 – Depth 65", Width 65", Height 55"

     Four very different, seriously vivacious, families meet for a rural, highly life-affirming vacation.  

"Fiesta of Iron"

2016 – Depth 25", Width 25", Height 55"

"Of Ring and Pondus: A Physical Essay on Compound Pendulum Motion"

1978 – Depth 24", Width 60", Height 25"

     The ring and the pondus (Latin word for "weight") are two pendulums which work together according to mathematical equations inherent in nature. This sculpture uses the ancient character and beauty of antique iron to illustrate the principle of compound pendulum motion.  This sculpture appeared in an article about the sculptor and math teacher in San Diego City College's newspaper, CITY TIMES. It was also displayed for several months in the sculpture garden of the San Diego Design Center before Qualcomm Corporation bought the building for its original headquarters.

Your Feedback is Welcome

     The sculptor strongly encourages you to contact him if you recognize the origin of any particular part of any of the above sculptures and admits he does not know the original purpose of some of the pieces he is using. If you have a picture or a life story to authenticate your claim to knowledge of some part, please share it via the contact page. If you are inspired to create some sculptures of your own, he would also love to hear from you and provide you with tips and encouragement.