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Monday, July 9, 2012

Sculpture and Upholstery

What do you do when you're between big projects?
Or discouraged with your work?
Or just plain discouraged?

A project that requires precision but not a great deal of thinking helps fight existential blues.
I re-upholster tired chairs.

Reupholstery is exacting, tedious, and demands all my attention. But it isn't rocket science.

(Or ART.)

It's one simple step after another. There may be surprises but there are no big un-answered questions.

This chair belonged to the grandmother of my friend Richard Brand. He selected the material because was similar to what was on the chair when she was alive.
 Still a link to a loved one, his chair is now both old and new.

And those existential blues? They went away somewhere in the process of working.

4 comments:

Theresa Cheek said...

Wow! Had no idea you did this. It is a great counterbalance for the brain when needing time away from "art".

patrickgracewood said...

Theresa,
Chairs are a secret passion of mine. I've learned history, design, fashion, and ergonomics from them.

After being told that no one would visit me as I only had one chair in my studio, I began to look at furniture. I fell in love with a set of Louis XVI, each with different garden tool carvings on the backs...
that led me to compare them with contemporary furniture: partical board and foam, I took an upholstery class and the rest is history....

Beatriz Cunha said...

I admire the diversity of your talents.

patrickgracewood said...

I have a very broad definition of sculpture, Beatriz.