| Sculpture How To #1 |
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Blogging about how to sculpt is new to me. I've taught for years, written a book about how to sculpt, and given the topic more than a decade of thought. Still, I find it difficult to give helpful tips. Most of the time, I sense that people are looking for techniques, specific directions to accomplish specific goals, step by step instructions. Art doesn't work like that. It comes from a different place. I suppose the best way for me to write a sculpture blog is to stay true to what I know and answer specific technical questions through email. If you have a specific question, hit my contact button and fill in the blanks. I'll get back to you with whatever help I can offer. I have worked with armatures, plaster, concrete, wax, stone, steel and bronze. I cast work for years and cold form my metal now. If I can help you solve a technical problem I will. For today, I will give you this tip: The first, second, third and eleventh time you find yourself hating the piece you are working on are moments to be celebrated. They are the moments when you work is moving toward "Art" instead of just being an idea in your head. My experiments today are a perfect example. I've been a professional artist for 17 years. I have an innate sensibility about what works and what doesn't, but when I play with a new media, I struggle like I've never created anything. I'm playing with painting and this morning, I killed a canvas five times over until finally, in disgust, I put it away for the day. I call this experience of hating my work a "stage of revulsion." I go through this almost every time I create a new work, regardless of media. I have learned that this stage is a blessing. This is true for three reasons. The first is that the frustration brings you back to the piece and keeps your mind on it even when you are not actally working on it. The second is that by trying to solve it you make change after change to your composition, your detail, your texture. Each time you make a change, your hand and your eye register the shifts and remember them, building your skill and sharpening your techniques. Finally, and for me most importantly, each stage of revulsion is a moment when your work is trying to speak to you. It is evidence of the battle between the idea in your mind and the knowledge in your heart. When you allow what is in your heart to speak, the work gets good. I didn't get there today, but I'll go back into it tomorrow and maybe, when I do, I'll listen more carefully to what my work is trying to tell me.
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