Sculpture and Siting Art - Saint Gaudens Studio #1

The biggest challenge to siting art is to STOP thinking of sculpture as an object.
That object is part of a larger environment.
If you want people to SEE your art, you start with how they perceive the space around it.

It doesn't matter what kind of art, there's always a series of relationships.
That relationship of art to the site and the site with the viewer determines how the art is received and remembered. There is a strong quality to a well sited work of art.

Let's look at sculpture by Saint Gaudens sited at his home and studio in Cornish, New Hampshire.

This intimate courtyard shows small relief and portrait sculptures along the walls.
Saint Gaudens' Amor Caritas is mounted on the studio wall and mirrored in the reflecting pool.
On either end of the pool, the gold of the large relief is repeated on the gilded bronze turtles.

You can view each work of art individually AND immediately understand how each sculpture contributes to the whole. The garden is very simple, and supports the experience of seeing his work.

Studying the turtles brings your attention to the resident frogs, lower left in photo below. 

Art, the bronze turtles, and living nature, the frogs and water lilies, are equal parts of a unified whole. 

Sculpture and Talent

A friend recently passed her CPA boards. She told me that she had tripled her income and cut her work hours in half. I was happy for her because I knew how hard she had worked.

Assyrian relief at LA County Museum of Art

That got me thinking about Talent. 

Talent is the willingness to do whatever it takes to learn your craft. 

Talent isn't a lightning bolt gift from the gods.

Talent is the willingness to put up with the constant learning and practice of your art.

       Remember the hours you've invested the next time someone tells you, "You're so talented!"

Winged Assyrian Angel

Sculpture and Dance

Pilobolus has been delighting audiences for years.


This production reduces 3 dimensions to a 2 dimensional shadow puppet show.
Do you have any idea of how difficult that is? The dancers not only must do the movements but be in the proper relationship to the lighting, the other dancers, and the stage for the illusions to work.

Sculpture and the Future

This video suggests possibilities for large scale sculpture. What is interesting is how it challenges the figurative vs abstract divide because the forms created are both. Organically abstract.

CCTV Documentary (Director's cut) from KORB on Vimeo.

The clips were created for CCTV by Taiwan design house JL Design and KORB .
If you liked this,  look at the photography of Shinichi Maruyama or Choros.

Credits:
Client: CCTV
Creative Director: JL
Agency: JL DESIGN
Executive producer: Angela Moo
Project Manager: Jennifer Lin
Art Director: Lance Wei
Designers: Hsiang Ju Hung, Utsuo Chen
VFX / Design Company: KORB
Concept Development: JL DESIGN & KORB
Producer: Lina Paskeviciute
Animation Director: Rimantas Lukavicius
Technical Director: Giedrius Paulauskas
3D/2D Artists: Giedrius Paulauskas, Rimantas Lukavicius, Karolina Sereikaite, Tomas Juchnevic, Justinas Vinevicius
Music / Sound design: John Black, CypherAudio
Year of completion: 2013

Sculpture and Progress

On a big project, you need a way to measure progress.
I measure the daily progress by the amount of debris I make.

The great thing about carving is that the mess is as intrinsically lovely as anything you make.
There is no wasted material. There's the emerging art and everything else the log becomes.

 Big chunks of wood go into the wood bin for burning, the fragrant cuttings carpet garden's paths.

Bright and fresh, these shavings will quickly oxidize to a soft grey/brown.

 

 

 

 

Consistent work is important, but it's vital to take breaks for safety and to stay fresh with SEEING the carving. 

In twenty steps, I'm off the concrete driveway worksite and in my "woodland" for a five minute break!

Back at the log? The figure and the rabbit begin to take shape!

 Finally found a grinding blade that quickly removes material. More on this miracle in future post.

Sculpture and Fashion

After work, most folk come home and change out of their nice clothes into something comfortable.
After work, I want to get dressed up because I'm tired of being dirty.

Power carving is not the sort of work you start and stop. Once I begin, I go for three hours in the morning and then stop for the heat of the day. Being covered in sawdust AND too hot is no fun.

On the outside, the cedar shavings make an interesting pattern....
Not so nice is the shavings in my hair, under ware and socks, and on studio rugs, floors.....
It's everywhere.

Sculpture and the Trolley Trail Carving

Writing about sculpture has taken a back seat to actually making sculpture. It feels good.
The carving is taking shape because there's no motivation like fear.

My goal is three hours work every day on the giant log. Some days my shoulders and arms give out after 90 minutes of holding power tools like the chain saw and grinders. That's still 90 minutes of progress!

After the giant log was delivered, fear paralyzed me for months. So much potential, so little action.
That's such a familiar space, and so odd because it is the opposite of creativity.

Now that I'm carving, I'll see a place where I've removed too much wood and simply keep going to make it work. That's creativity not fear. It feels good.