Sculpture Dominion: Jonathan Hilty
Raptors — by artist Jonathan Hilty
When Jurassic World Dominion opens on June 10th, viewers will want to proceed with caution as they enter the RC Theatres Hanover Movies 16 location. Be aware of your surroundings and tiptoe, lest one attracts the attention of a tyrannosaurus rex, pterodactyl, or one of the two raptors.
Artist Jonathan Hilty, a welder and foreman at Waggoner Construction, created these large metal creatures over the past several years, beginning in 2017 with his T-rex for the Hanover Halloween parade. A raptor followed two years later, and then a second. Finally, with arrangements to display these amazing works for the movie in place, Hilty added the construction of the pterodactyl.
The artist typically creates these beasts for his enjoyment but has sold some creations and would consider commission work. “I enjoy it to the point that I step back while I’m building things chuckling and getting a kick out of how cool my sculptures look to me,” notes Hilty.
The tyrannosaurus is the largest work to date, although he has also built a full-size horse and a six-foot-tall cowboy, both of which sit on his front porch.
