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My Story or Artist Statement

    Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide. - D.W. Winnicott
    That quote is true for me. I love being alone. That is probably part of the reason I’m self-taught. I taught myself wood work and designed and built furniture, one of which appeared in WoodWork Magazine. I never carved wood, but I liked designing and shaping wood. That is probably what turned me into a sculptor.
    One day I bought some clay and sculpted a bust. It was terrible. But I knew I could figure sculpting out. I’ve spent a few years, in my spare time perfecting my skill. I smile when people call me talented, I know I’m not, I’m stubborn with an ability to figure things out; I see the big picture.
    Picasso said, “Sculpture is the art of the intellect.” That doesn’t mean I’m super-smart, but it does fit me; I have a definite idea of what I sculpt. My work is figurative because it communicates to the rest of the world in a very definite way. My work is a conversation with you about human interactions, and our struggles.
    It was my struggle that brought me to sculpture. Divorced with custody of three children and my types of jobs in the timber industry disappearing, I had to do something. I was also under stress from about twelve years of legal proceedings. I took a 2 year paralegal course to deal with that, and I did deal with it, victoriously. The betrayal of friends and treachery from people I didn’t even know left me stressed, untrusting, and withdrawn. Not as much anymore. My art is my conduit to the rest of humanity. This is why I sculpt the human form, I will not give up on humanity, and relationships, as puzzling as it is to me.  
    My art creates a relationship with those that admire it, and those that choose to own a piece of it.  Our struggles may be different, but the struggle we can understand; everyone has one. For someone like myself that likes to be alone but desires a connection with humanity, conversations in stone seem very fitting to me. These conversations will last millennia and pass on to future generations. I may be quiet, but what I say in stone will last forever. That is satisfying.
    If a picture is worth a thousand words, a sculpture must be worth ten thousand. A sculpture is three dimensional, each angle revealing a facet to its story. Not only what I want to say, but what you, the viewer sees it saying as well. You can also touch a sculpture, unlike a painting, and feel the curves, the edges. And you will find yourself wanting to touch it, to feel the connection with the sculpture, and the story behind it.

Sculpture in Stone

    I may sculpt in different types of stone, alabaster makes beautiful flowers. Soapstone makes beautiful simple figures in a green color that only comes from a polished stone. For the human form nothing is better than marble, and I agree with Michael Angelo about that. Bronze is shiny, and people are not. Even bronzes that have a gorgeous patina still lose some of the human detail to shine, and may even lose the patina over time. Marble is partially translucent giving a skin-like appearance. This is why Michael Angelo favored marble over bronze.
    It may take me days, weeks, or even months to sculpt in stone, but you can have one of my finished works now. Or involve yourself in the process of sculpting, tell me your ideas, or your story and I will sculpt that in stone. I’d love to hear from you.
 

 

 

 

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