Sculpture - Tools and Materials

Do you collect beautiful papers, textiles, wood veneers, etc? If you do, then you know that
materials that inspire and delight you have a way of accumulating in drawers, chests, closets and sheds.

I've been wanting to replace my tool box of clay tools, it was too difficult to find the tool I needed.
A wooden box with drawers was a cheap solution, but I wanted it to be better than cheap. Using
wall paper paste and two different papers it is transformed into something useful that delights me.

 This project could be quickly accomplished, immediate gratification as there's that big carving.....

Instead of hiding in my paper drawers, now I can enjoy these papers and my new tool box.

Yes, I should get rid of my old tool box, but it was modified to also be a small easel.
Do I store this box in my box collection?

Sculpture and a wise man

It was time for a starring role for this warrior, to prove he's more than beefcake.

But who is he going to play?

These holiday flowers came individually wrapped in this cool expandable mesh.

HMMMMMM, too cool to throw away....

The idea was he'd be a wise man. 

A king, yes.
But alas, tis a tragic king he plays.

Othello.

 The plastic mesh wanted to become Elizabethan lace and ruffs to hide my lack of sewing skills.

I'm fine with that.
So is he.....

Observation on sexism in toys: Toys for boys have hands that can actually hold things. They're sold with weapons, but I like a chunk of frankincense and green sushi plastic.
Barbies can't hold anything. What lesson is that?...

It's a wise man who knows how to play.

Sculpture and Construction

What comes down must go UP!

There was no margin for error because of my schedule. The new storage shed went up three days before the Siting Sculpture in the Garden workshop. Two men from Tuff Shed installed it in one day.
Watch how they did it.....

Installation of my new sculpture storage shed from patrick gracewood on Vimeo.

Sculpture and Writing

The little mother, detail, by Patrick Gracewood ©2012

Blogging just got me a $15,000 public art commission.

Did they discover my art by reading my blog?

No.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Back story: I was editor for 2 and a half years of the monthly newsletter for the Pacific Northwest Sculptors. That's 30 eight page newletters. I researched and wrote almost every article. As soon as one was done, I started on the next month. It was exhausting, my own work suffered.

I did learn to write, and write regularly. Inspiration was not required, writing was. 
Funny, that's sort of like studio work, showing up daily is the important element of success.

After five people took on the job of producing the newsletter, I decided if I was going to work that hard, it would be promote my own sculpture. This blog Shadows On Stone began on my birthday in 2008.

666 posts later, I'm still committed to writing as if I'm sending you, dear reader, a postcard.
One or two pictures with as few words as possible while still saying exactly what I want you to know.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Writing the winning proposal took me 30 minutes plus six years of regularly writing.

That writing practice allowed my public art proposal to be 242 words. That's half a page to describe my art and what it offers the public. You've got to produce AND be able to edit ruthlessly.

They call it a practice for a reason. 

Daily, weekly, year in / year out you show up and do your work, in your studio and in your office................ and some times, you get lucky.

Sculpture and Travel

Many people travel to distant lands to see sculpture,
................. some of us come home to make new sculpture about what we've seen.

The Balinese Mermaid by Patrick Gracewood ©2012

Going through my slides, I found my little Balinese mermaid. Wish I had better photos of her...

After visiting Bali, I wanted to create a small sculpture that had some of the magic and mystery of the island. The bust and tail are carved wood, the lily leaf is bondo and mesh, the golden hair ornament is just that.

She is a kinetic bouquet,  part of a series that blended the idea of the sacred, toys and bouquets with interaction.

As you hold her by her by the tail, her hair ornament and the water lily leaf move and tremble with every movement of your own body. It's a balancing act of calmness to hold her still.
 
More work to surface as I transfer my slides to digital images.

Sculpture and Furniture (after)

Sexy, low slung but damaged mid-century walnut chair meets tired but exotic oriental rug.
Instant chemistry, a bit of craft, and Voila! Ready for a new century of living.

Photograph by David Bales Design

If you can't afford good furniture, you learn how to reupholster and make it yourself.
Finding suitable projects is as easy as walking down the street. I've found many of my favorite chairs on the sidewalk or in a dumpster.

A lot of new furniture is foam and particle board. That means it is heavy and not very strong. Look for older furniture that has good construction (no wobbles!) at estate or yard sales.

Customizing furniture (reupholstery) is an accelerated course in the decorative arts and textiles.
You learn what is a comfortable fit for your body and your lifestyle. This chair is a tad low for 6 foot tall man, but it sits well. The cushions were the perfect shape to use the oriental carpet to upholster. No sewing except to blind stitch the folds.

I love the 3 inch long curved needle.

Photograph by David Bales Design

Life is too short to live with ugly, uncomfortable furniture.

Have you found a treasure in the trash and brought it back to life? Send me photos and your story and I'll post it here....

Sculpture and Rodin

“Art is only a kind of love. I know quite well that bashful moralists will stop up their ears. But what! I express in a loud voice what all artists think. Desire! Desire! What a formidable stimulant.” Rodin

Long before Picasso's self aggrandizement of artist as Promethian figure, there was Rodin.

A new book by David J. Getsy, Rodin: Sex and the Making of Modern Sculpture reconsiders Rodin's influence, arguing that the sculptor emphasized his hands on process as a means of asserting his own desire's inseparability from his works.

During his lifetime, Auguste Rodin's name became synonymous with modern sculpture-- and sex.

(Shocking! Sound familiar as a marketing device? Rodin may not have invented it, but he owned it for the late 19th Century)

Rodin emphasized the importance of desire and the sexual as the creative fuel of his art, using them to fuel his increasingly daring treatments of the nude. In the minds of many viewers, the dramatic and activated surfaces of his sculptures came to be seen as evidence of not just a sculptor's touch but of a     lover's touch as well.

Looking forward to reading it.

Sculpture and Easels

Do you need good looking inexpensive easels to show your art?
Take them from the children.

It's OK. The kids are done with them.

If you keep your eyes open, you can find well made children's wooden art easels at any family garage sale, Goodwill, etc for $5.00 or less. For table top art displays, you cut them down, for larger easel, you add to them.

For displaying my relief sculpture, I add a front panel of 3/8 inch plywood, slightly larger than the artwork. The ledge for the art can be as deep as you need it. The ledge and supports are glued then screwed from the back.

Detail of ledge. These are working easels, you can see by the wear. Time to repaint.

Half round molding at top.

To finish the look, and to keep the plywood from warping, I add a half round molding at the top. Paint all your new easels a quiet color that looks good with your art. It's an inexpensive way to show your art at it's best.

Sculpture and Animation

Simple but not easy.

Flat paper cutouts fold, and move and tell a story. Brilliantly done. This stop animation video designed for the YMCA by TBWA Vancouver, Art Director was John Williamson.

Sculpture and Antiques

It began with a rescue. In the rain. Very tired and on its last legs, the antique chest caught my eye.

Hand forged clasp, wooden hinges, oak, bands of hand scribed ornamentation. 19th Century? 20th but pre-electric? Turkish? Eastern Europe? The stamps were illegible.It remained an enigma for three months.

Any guesses on where it's from? If you have a similar trunk inherited from your Romanian grandmother,or have a wild guess or know about world antiques, please let me know.

It sat in my studio, taking up precious space until I finally had the perfect use for it. More on my next post.

Sculpture and MIMEtoLITHS

Multi-media artist conjures up computers and film and conceptual work. Algis Kemezys is a Montreal, Canada based multimedia artist whose media includes the oldest material on earth, stone. He has created numerous stackings he calls Self-Portraits in Stone.

Stacking stone is one of the oldest artistic expressions and still one of the most satisfying. From trail markers to grave cairns, stone is always environmentally sound and site specific. Working directly with available stone speaks directly to our atavistic origins. Algis says "Rock can certainly call out to you and when responding to this the message the results of working with it are magical."


All photos by Kemezys

Kemezys writes, "For me, the idea is an amalgam of sculpture and nature. Whenever I find an inspiring view I compose and build a complementary stone sculpture and photograph it. It becomes a part of me that I leave behind, but just like myself the artifact is impermanent. I use no cementing material and so my sculptures are ephemeral, succumbing to the elements and soon enough crumble to become again part of the landscape.

Most of these sculptures were made in Greece on the island of Crete and on the island of Rhodes. A few were made in southern Turkey as well."

His blog is MIMEtoLITHS
The movie he made of the stone sculptures is available on Amazon.
View the trailer here.

How to move Heavy Stones

Wally Wallington demonstrates how to move heavy weights using only his body, simple tools and gravity. Amazing demonstration of how the original Stonehenge might have been created.