Sculpture and Models #4 Models and Meanings

Having to lay on the floor to best see the work is informative.
Looking at the model let me realize how many different threads are woven into this piece....

I'm laughing that the model is a Cubist interpretation of a Sacred Grove!
Who knew this would happen?

The shelter had to be both Tree and House. Not one or the other, but both equally.
The geometric bent steel sheets = house, but the cut outs are organic tree shapes.
From this low viewpoint the tree is simultaneously growing vertically while it's actually horizontal.
That's a neat trick to accomplish.

I've spent my life studying birds and trees, caring for and drawing them.

These cut out shapes are a flock of birds in flight, settling into the tree for evening.

 The little cut outs add a sense of motion, and mimic dots of light coming through leaves.

Is it odd to be obsessed with making a physical object that is all about the play of light?

Is sun light the greatest story ever told?

Within the grove is a short stout old woman. She is a portrait of Babette,  she also represents Woman in Nature. Mother Nature, or any Oracle you'd care to name.

It may be a private joke, but this modern mash up of folk art paper cutting, Cubism, CorTen steel and wood carving is all about honoring the strength of women. That goes all the way back to
the Venus figurines. It doesn't get any more archetypal than that.

Threads.......

Sculpture and Models #3 The viewing angles.

"Nice work if you can get it. And you can get it if you try."

Because this sculpture is so tall, the best way to check on this sculpture is to lay down on the floor.

Why hasn't this idea occurred to me before?

It's very comfy down here.

Radically changing your position, changing your physical relationship to your art has BIG benefits.
Seeing your work in different positions allows new potentials and meanings to appear.


Looking at this model from the comfort of the cool floor reminds me of how children and people shorter than 6 feet tall will see this art. Laying here allows me to study what works and what needs to change.

My college sculpture professor once told me, "The better you get, the more time you spend looking at your work." Wise advise.  I paint some, lay down and study the model, decide what needs to change, go change that. Come back lay down. LOOK. Repeat.

It's been a wonderful day.

Sculpture and Models #2 Models and the Power of Paint

Next up: Mix up some poster paint. Paint, repaint, paid out, paint over.

It gets a notch better with each re-painting as I get clearer on what it needs to be.

 This model is almost NINE feet TALL!

8 feet 8 inches.

It's funny because my perception of it keeps changing....

It's HUGH. It's not so big. It's really big. It could be bigger....

The truth is I need to pare it down to the minimum size to keep costs down.

Yes, I am lying on the floor to take this picture.

Sculpture and Models #1 Models and Scale

If designing something for the first time is difficult, why is doing it over even harder?
It should be easier. You've figured it out, right?

This morning, I can't wrap my mind around how to transfer the information from this little model to the full scale cardboard model. It's right there in front of me, but I don't know how to get it to the big model.

Sometimes people looking at my sculpture tell me, "I don't know how you do that!"

Today, I don't know either.

Sculpture and Inspiration

While at Breitenbush Hot Springs, I found another piece of weathered wood by the river.

This time, inspiration was immediate. The wood told me what it wanted me to make....

It wants to be a young Quan Yin, praying for young girls everywhere.

Here's the first sketch.

Sculpture and Models

Paper is inexpensive, perfect for designing the shelter for my carving on TriMet's Trolley Trail.

The concept has changed from barn-like, that overwhelmed the art and was too dark. 

The new direction, is more origami.The shelter is now both House and Tree. 

The metal will be bent to give dimension and make the structure stronger. 

Fabricated from only two sheets of metal, the folds relate to the sheet-stock nature of metal and the angles of man made buildings.

Then the cuts tell a different story! 

One of organic shapes, nature, trees and growth. 

The openness allows light in to cast lovely passing shadows on pavement and art.

Paper model by Patrick Gracewood. ©2012

It's brown card stock that I've colored with a sienna chalk to simulate CorTen steel.
Suggest, and then get out of the way! Here's the magic: 

Light transform this from an object into an environment.

Paper model by Patrick Gracewood. ©2012

 I love how the model looks like something out of early Disney. 

Not the mouse, but the magic of illustrators like Eyvind Earle.

Sculpture and Vanitas

Vanitas and Mememto Mori are sculpture tropes dealing with mortality. What lives, dies.

Artist Nathan Brunstein transforms ephemeral cardboard into amonumental Vanitas.

 Funny and moving to create the Vanitas sculpture in such a transient material and then display it in a public square. The cardboard skull is soup, but the siting and its interactions with the public is ART.

Death appears and disappears

The artist Nathan Burnstein  installing his Vanitas.

Remember your dead this All Souls Day.

Sculpture as Community. Sculpture as Ritual

So with the sculpture/artifact done and carried outside and place on its gravel bed,  

it's time for the art to begin!

Sparklers starting.

Artist Susan Gallacher-Turner shares her experience of the burn, with good photos on Sculpting a Life

Photo by Michael Turner, You can see how the gold paper catches and reflects the light

Here the Dragon come alive with flame and fireworks.

All too soon the fireworks are over. You feel the change in the group's energy, the danger and excitement subside, replaced by introspection and contentment as we draw closer to the flames.

Talk is quiet. If we're lucky, a flock of geese fly overhead, calling to each other in the dark night.

Do you use art to create community?

Sculpture as Community. Sculpture as Ritual

It's hard to make your art AND document its creation at the same time.  That's why we jump ahead to the angel at this stage. Creation is about flow and documentation is all about editing.

A visit to the Goodwill provided the angel's clothes: cotton curtains and sparkly gold florist's ribbon.  The cardboard wings are covered in Chinese joss paper also known as spirit money. It's traditionally burned in ceremonies honoring ancestors, appropriate here, honoring Dorothy.

2012 is also the year of the Dragon, that diagonal board behind the angel is the dragon's body.

Guests are arriving and I'm still working! Here's the gold spray painted base for the Dragon's head. Heavy gold card stock paper will form the dragon's beard and scales. You can see how I cut and shaped the paper in this short unedited video.

Remember that this sculpture is created to be seen in the dark, so what looks gaudy under the lights, sparkles and reflects with the light from the fireworks.

Sculpture as Community. Sculpture as Ritual

Eye of a guardian angel, Cardboard and wooden bead.

This New Year's Burn was a life sized angel carrying Dorothy's photo. 2011 was 9 months of daily visits to care for my mother in law, Dorothy.              Here's how I made a final tribute for her.

Take one old oak chair and secure it to a 5' x 4' wooden pallet. Make angel body from heavy duty cardboard tubing. (Note to pyros, cardboard tubing burns very well and lasts a surprisingly long time. It's free too.) You can see that I place the fireworks as I build, there's a big fountain in the head.

The face was started with a corner of a cardboard box for the profile, a hot glued wooden bead became an eye. Small strips of cardboard form the lids of the eye.

The trick to figurative work in cardboard is to keep it loose. 
Especially if you have a burn deadline! Symmetry is overrated.

I loved how stern and helmet like the face immediately was, like a Roman Centurion. In fact, Mr. D and I had a heated discussion about it. When he entered the studio, bringing lunch, he was shocked to see his sweet mom in the custody of this angel. Our conception of angels is very different. I said "If you want sweet, you get a cherub! " A cherub is not a guardian angel.

I think a real angel would be fierce and more than a little terrifying. It's not an easy job.
What is your idea of an angel?

Sculpture and James Grashow

Talk about the pleasures of cardboard.

Delphine at Paradis Express featured artist James Gashow's "House Plants". The sculptures, architectural bouquets, are beautifully crafted and sureally funny.

I wanted to show you his bird or CardBirds as he calls them. His website says that the art is "Inspired by the James Audubon prints, Cardbirds strive to create a unique dimensional vision. The birds and their habitat - timeless and beautiful - are married to the most banal and overlooked of materials. These intricate sculptures are made entirely from corrugated board and twist ties. Beneath the beauty of these remarkable pieces, the materials from which they are created make a poignant statement."
All images from the artist's website.

Sculpture and Mark Langan

One of my tags is "the pleasure of cardboard". I use it for making quick maquettes, padding, packing, and floor protection when painting.

Artist Mark Langan creates on of a kind sculpture using cardboard as his medium. He uses the ready made textures of cardboard to create patterns both realistic and abstract with just matt knives, glue, and recycled cardboard.

Most sculptors would never think of his audience and collectors. With cardboard as his chosen material, Mark contacted corrugated manufacturers, packaging companies, recycling firms, green industries, organizations and related events. Many business have commissioned artwork. His sculpture currently adorns the boardrooms and lobbies of paper related firms throughout the U.S.

Mark Langan's Website and an article on his work.




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Sculpture and Maquettes

The best way to understand a castle is to build one.

I'm playing with a cool set of blocks. Made by HABA, the Master Builder Set, is a good start. Unfortunately the Medieval Castle's 110 pieces with 21 shapes is still not enough. I'd need 4 or 5 sets to build anything substantial.

It's served it's purpose by giving me ideas how to proceed, so next step is I'm making my own blocks with construction lumber.

This facade of faces happened and then back to the pleasures of cardboard for model building.

Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno. Science and Sculpture

Isabella Rossellini has a new short video series called Green Porno.  (photo: Getty Images)

She has a good sense of humor and is the first to admit Green Porno is a little sick. Each video is the very definition of droll. They're very playful science lessons.

Watch for the great cardboard and paper sculptures that look like anyone could make them. Anyone given enough time, construction paper and glue and a staff of talented artists. The puppets give new meaning to my tag "The pleasures of cardboard"

 Go Here to watch the series

When is a Goat a Nutcracker??

When is a Goat a Nutcracker??
When it is part of my New Years Party.
Every year I make a sculpture of wood and cardboard and any thing else that serves, pack it with people's prayers and fireworks and set it on fire at midnight to welcome in the new year. This handsome fellow was 2008's offering. Standing at 6 feet 4 inches, he is holding a baby rat, the Chinese symbol for 2008.