Sculpture and Life and Death

Art doesn't change a damn thing in this world.

Making art, though, requires you to give your full attention.      So does viewing art.

Weath by Patrick Gracewood ©2012

Careful awareness of minute details and their relationships to everything else can change the world.
Paying attention changes the world by allowing us to be present with what is, exactly as it is.
Vulnerable, willing to NOT have an answer, just living in our questions.

This practice teaches us to be kinder, less reactive, slower to judge and more willing to listen.

Art allows us our questions, our emotions, and sometimes give us new answers to old questions.

Like, "How do we live?"

My good friend's son died unexpectedly. He was 42 years old. I've known him since he was 20.

These cones are so many subtle shades of brown and grey, alike yet so different from each other. Slowly fitting one next to the other gave me a measure of peace and acceptance of this difficult situation. I needed a place to stop and hide from the pain. Making this wreath gave me a focus.

An unbroken circle -with a hole in the center.
A wreath seems a physical metaphor for these emotions. A hole in a whole.

The last thing I'm feeling is festive. But I can practice being present- for myself and those I love.

 

The cones that have been inside the studio the longest easily release their seeds all over the floor.
.... life begins again.

I used this square of plastic grass. coaxing each separate tuft into the spaces between cones.
(Use a chopstick!) A touch of artifice that makes the wreath snap with texture.
And not a touch of Christmas red.

On the mantle. 
"God bless us each and every one" cried Tiny Tim.

Sculpture and Life

Sometimes art (loosely defined) is best functional. And timely.

Friends are expecting their second baby, she's due this Friday. (and arrived a healthy (9 lbs!)

With new baby and family visiting, it makes no sense to have an uncomfortable chair. This old wooden chair with a rock hard plywood seat had potential, once it was re-glued and upholstered.

Now it's welcoming and comfortable place to hold the baby.
It was the best gift I could think of........and wraps up the last of the rug recycle saga.

Had I known starting how difficult this pile rug would be to manipulate around the six points of back and arms, I would have found another material. Patience and pulling and both staples and upholstery tacks got it nailed down. That's life.

Sculpture and the Trolley Trail

Toby J makes it look so easy.... So does the fast editing.



Artist Toby J works with chainsaws to create his public art sculpture for the new light rail line.
Toby carves a tree removed during light rail project construction to create one of the sculptures that will be located along the Trolley Trail in north Clackamas County.

Six artists, including yours truely,  are creating public art from removed trees. All of the pieces will be located on the multi-use trail, adjacent to the light rail line.

Sculpture and Time

There's an arts organization in Portland that has a festival called TBA or Time Based Art.
There's lots of dance and theater, but no sculpture.

Sculpture is the ultimate Time Based Art. What other art form lasts thousands of years?
.....or seems to take a thousand years to master and complete a single work?

Portrait of the artist as a young tree.

Counting the rings, this tree was only 77 years old.

Wood carving is such an intimate art. It is working with a (once) living subject that changes over time. Getting to know and understand this being in my driveway is important because I'm going to be living with this project for the next two years.

Sculpture and Vegan Lepidoptry

Sonja Bales is a 14 year old artist. She calls this series, "Vegan Lepidoptry." 

 After carefully study of real insects, Sonja takes her art beyond mimicry, using maps, currency,  

old text books, and decorative papers and plastic to make these new creatures. 

Sonja's work speaks to the different roles insects have in our culture: as exotic objects of beauty, 

as fragile migratory species, and as dream images....

George by Sonja Bales ©2012 used with permission of artist

Sonja says of her work, "My interest in butterflies was ignited after watching television on antique Lepidoptry (preservation of butterflies and bugs). They would poison the insect and stab it with a pin.

Terrible. 

I decided to make a vegan butterfly using plastic, but was not content with the result. I turned to paper.  I felt the butterflies needed to be carefully paired with each swatch of paper.

I'm an impulsive artist, and once something's done, there's always plenty more to beautify."

Sonja Bales ©2012 used with permission of artist

Sonja Bales ©2012 used with permission of artist

Sonja Bales ©2012

Sculpture and Process

Ouch! 

 I was having a conversation about what it would cost to digitally scan the large wood carving.
That scan would serve as a record, to be used to repair or replace the art if it's destroyed.

 The business owner called me "a relic" because I intend to do the carving by hand.

 It shows the limitation of his aesthetics.
                                            .... and his salesmanship.     Don't insult your customer!

To the computer controlled router all surfaces are the same. But foam is NOT wood.

I'm designing this wood carving to take full advantage of the nature of the material.
A wood sculpture is woodier because of the tool marks of saws, chisels, and the occasional rip and check of the wood. The sculpture's textures are a visible recording of the creation process.
Smooth is for salad bowls and furniture.

Computer controlled routing isn't better if the art isn't substantially better too.
All the fancy technologies are simply tools for the artist.
Just like chainsaws and grinders, chisels and that most special of all tools, the artist's hands.

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a relic is a part of the body of a venerated person, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a touchable or tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect most religions. The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae, meaning "remains" or "something left behind"

Sculpture and Measuring

There are many ways to track productivity.

There's such pressure to Go Faster. Do More! Work Harder!
That mindset makes it too easy to injure my body again and get overwhelmed.
I needed a plan B of mindfulness.

Wood carving is one of the few processes where your mess is as lovely as anything you make.
What to do with these fragrant chips of cedar and fir?
I'm carpeting a garden path with each workday's debris.

Like the clever name branding on the dustpan and broom?

The simple act of cleaning chips off my bench and floor, slowly filling a bucket, walking outside into the day and pouring them on the path are a way to see progress in a way that is pleasurable every step of the way.

Literally.