#16 anatomy and art instruction booklet

I have been encouraged by a few people to make an instructional booklet and an ecorche (anatomical human body sculpture). Although I have never really taught sculpture I feel that it is something that I would like to do in the future. Many of my family members are teachers and I feel that it is in my blood and it would be selfish for me to go my whole life and not teach. What is it that I would like to help others with? Understanding the human body and art.

When I was a student at the Academy of Art we used to study cadavers at SFSU and my memory of this trip to the cadaver room is fairly vivid. There were about 30 dead bodies all on tables covered in a sheet. Our teacher, the sculptor and anatomist Thomas Marsh, would pull off the sheet to expose the dead body. Although a few people had to leave the room, most of the students were fascinated. To me it wasn't a dead body. I saw muscles and bones and it all started to make sense having previously only seen pictures and illustrations of cadavers in a book. Seeing the muscles in the flesh (no pun intended) was pretty cool.

Years later I worked for a sculptor named Danielle Anjou. Danielle hired me to sculpt human bodies. That was all that I did, human body after human body. Working closely with her I cranked out about one figure every week and after about 2 years I did close to 60 sculptures for her (yeah, we added em up and I'm guessing I had quite a few slow periods as I should have completed about twice that). During that 2 year period I worked from only one ecorche. This ecorche was our prized possession and was huge in my growth as a sculptor and in understanding the human form. I think back on that time as yet another example of the importance studying anatomy was.

Although I have known for a long time the importance of understanding anatomy, it is only recently that I've noticed that I have the understanding to create one of these sculptures and accompanying booklet for others to learn from. It is now that I realize that all of my anatomy homework assignments were very instrumental in my understanding of the human body and understanding of the musculature (of which there is still SO much more to learn and I stress SO much more!).

I do not know when this anatomical sculpture will be ready, but I do plan on having it in the 2012 Loveland Sculpture Invitational. More photos to come in the coming weeks and months...

#15 She Loves Me 2011

During the 2011 Loveland Sculpture Invitational show I met a woman who deeply fell in love with one of my sculptures She Loves Me. Although I did have some people say how much they enjoyed my gnome series, none was more passionate about She Loves Me than her. After a few emails and a trip to her inn to discuss details of the sculpture, She Loves Me was purchased by the collector and installed October 2011. The sculpture was the 3rd large scale piece I made that was not a commissioned piece. She Loves Me is a sort of portrait of the artist and was inspired by my girlfriend Jessica. Below is a quick snapshot of the sculpture in the garden of the inn near the entrance. I will take more pictures in the near future.

#14 Green Thumb 2011

On October 31, 2011 I installed my sculpture Green Thumb for the city of Broomfield's Art for Awhile program, a one year art on loan program setup in 2009 to display artwork, in particular sculpture. The five foot high sculpture is positioned on the west side of Broomfield's Auditorium and Mamie Doud Eisenhower library and in between two other sculptures also selected for the one year program. Green Thumb is my second large scale sculpture that is not a commissioned piece. It is available for sale through the city for the duration of the program with a small percentage of the sale used to fund its permanent collection.

#13 Highland Park, IL show-"Rachel", "Nude Study I"

For the last few days I've been juggling 5 different projects at my studio and all of them with approaching deadlines. The most recent one is getting two of my 12x12 reliefs ready for shipping to a juried show in Illinois. This will be the first time I've exhibited my reliefs to the public so I'm excited to see if anything happens. "Rachel" and "Nude Study I" are plaster originals 12"x12" that I will have for sale at the Illinois show November 4-December 22.

#12 relief sculptures

In the last few weeks I have felt the urge to expand my portfolio to include reliefs. This came about after talking with someone in the cemetery business who was saying that the popular way to memorialize someone is laser etching, not the traditional sculpted relief which has been around since forever. Laser etching is a process that takes an existing photograph and etches in exact detail onto a black granite headstone. In my opinion, it is cheap and unattractive and very representative of technology that cannot replicate what the human hand achieves-beauty. As much sophistication as our technology is, it still fails to prove to me and many others that it is has the ability to match the human touch. Of course, it is incredibly popular and it seems that every headstone that has some design on it has a laser etched image of the deceased. The problem that I see is that every single headstone is starting to look the same. Black granite with a highly rendered image. The other stones are not being used because black granite allows for the necessary contrast between the polished black surface and the etched part which is much lighter. The other stones would produce little or no contrast so they are not being used. So in a sense all of these headstones are looking the same. What I am hoping for in the future is for people to start to recognize that traditionally carved monuments or bronze plaques that are hand sculpted become more appreciated as they provide more options than what our technology can currently produce. Lets say that someone wants a portrait, but not flat, but slightly raised. Perhaps they want it raised another one inch. Perhaps they want a high relief. These are options a highly trained artisan can create, not a machine. It means that someone can have black granite or white marble. It will mean more cemeteries will have unique headstones and statues made of bronze and stone and will be beautiful as they once were before technology made them all ugly and monotonous.

So for the last few weeks I have been spending some time doing reliefs. I have done, to date, 6 of them and I have been very excited at each of them. I've casted a few in plaster and polished. Here is the last one I did, it is 12"x12" and shown in clay. It is actually not round, but square and I used photoshop to make it round so I'm not all against technology.

#11 Broomfield, CO Art for Awhile program and Green Thumb

In a couple of weeks I'll be placing my 4 1/2 foot tall garden gnome called "Green Thumb" with the city of Broomfield's art for awhile program. It is a one year art on loan program that was started in 2009. Nine sculptors were selected to display their works for one year and this will be the first art on loan program I have been involved in. I'm very excited about the opportunity and feel fortunate to have been selected. The sculpture will go just outside of the newly completed library near an open field. I will put pics up as soon as it is installed.

#10 letting creativity flow

You never know what people will like. When I was a few years younger and making art I had the idea that I had to do just one thing and be known for one style. So I consciously focused on one thing and when my mom would ask if I could do a portrait I would say no, it's not my thing mom. Usually it ended with a -sheesh at the end. Mom taught me many many things which shaped my artistic goals and vision. To this day, I ask her about ideas and business and listen, sometimes wishing I hadn't even asked. But her words have always rung true. 

It was earlier this year that I started seeing that I wanted to start working on larger projects. I wasn't landing commissions so I figured I'll just start making large sculptures that I feel like making, kind of a 'what the f..k' attitude. I decided to do whatever I felt like doing and this was sort of new to me. I was doing what I wanted in the past, but I think I was still limiting myself artistically. What naturally came out of my sometimes twisted and backwards mind was garden gnomes. I have not seen much of this done and I had been observing the artwork of one of my favorite illustrators of faeries and gnomes, Arthur Rackham. The gnomes, in particular, have fascinated me because of their mischievous personalities and the potential for storytelling. I own several of Rackham's books that he illustrated and after studying his paintings I got the inspiration to sculpt some of these little creatures that he was painting. I didn't blatantly copy his works directly, but took the essence of his gnomes and put it in clay. Rackham is a huge influence on the garden gnome series I started. The result was my first in the gnome series called "Green Thumb". This little guy is a gardener. He is the gardener of little milk thistle weeds that make him smile and throw his arms into the air as if to say 'success!' To me he is saying more than that. I think of him as saying 'success' that I have branched out to try something entirely new. He is saying to my mom 'see! See what just happened!'

Having recently embraced this attitude of expanding myself and in a sense planting seeds in many areas of the arts I have learned to let go and not care what others think. Art is about growing, not proving myself to others. 

Another example of this is in the movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey. Possibly one of his best movies. It is the story of a lonely man who lives a boring life until he experiences the life changing conference he attends that asks him to experience life saying yes to everything. He embraces life and life begins to change very rapidly for him and all for the better. He pretty much goes along with whatever is thown his way. This is the philosophy that I am trying to express. Going along with whatever it is that I feel like doing. 

A friend, fellow artist and inspiration to me is a wonderfully talented sculptor named Bets. Bets has also planted a few seeds in me about ideas that I am thrilled to even think about. For a long time I have wanted to do some kind of an art instructional book for artists. I have been kind of stuck with the idea and haven't thought much about it until Bets told me I need to do a simple 20 page booklet on basic sculpting, one that I can simply print out on my own computer. She said if I were to teach a 1 week course what would I teach. This got my mind going like a semi truck racing down a steep hill out of control- holy c..p!!!! I also had the encouragement and support of another talented sculptor Pam. Pam said she would purchase it as soon as I finished it. And the both of them fed me ideas that have simply made my mind swell with inspiration. Now, I can't say when I will get to this instructional booklet, but it is brewing in me and the inside of it is making more and more sense in my mind. 

I believe doing this book will also lead to another of my passions that I have really wanted to do for about 5 years, making an ecorche. It is a sculpture with the skin removed showing the superficial anatomy of the human form. I have worked from ecorches over the last 13 years, some good and some bad and would like to do one that I think artists need. I believe the ecorche and the instructional booklet will actually happen since embracing what mom had been trying to tell me for so many years 'let go of yourself and do what feels right'. Thanks mom! 

#9 art on loan

Earlier this year I was pondering if I should involve myself with art on loan programs that are popping up in many cities in Colorado like grandma's bermuda grass sprouts up in her garden. I decided I might as well be on board. I was initially against the idea thinking that it would lessen the likelihood of a public art commission becoming available because a city would instead be investing in these art on loan programs which means they get a lot of art on city property for approximately one year at a time and therefore will spend less on commissioning an artist for a single work of art (phewwwwwww). It is really too good of an idea and I was vehemently against it (vehemently-geeeez, I'm never using big words). Well, I'm my wisdom I've learned it is wise to not be against anything, but rather for something. I thought what was I for. I was for getting public art commissions. Why? To make a living. Why? So I can do what I love to do. Why? So I can, wait a minute! Well, my conclusion was I wasn't landing s..t as far as public art commissions so why not be gung ho for the other team. Besides it may be beneficial to have artwork with a city art on loan that way they can see if they like my work first rather than blindingly selecting an artist for a project. It got me thinking. Maybe this is why there is so much unappealing public artworks because it is hard to visualize how someone's proposal will look. Committee's are only seeing 8 1/2x11 proposals on a 2-d surface or 3-d maquettes at 1/12 the scale of the proposed piece. The art on loans offer something else. They introduce an existing artwork to the public for scrutinizing. If it doesn't pass it is ignored and the city hands the sculpture back and says 'see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya'. If it is a hit, the artist finds himself with some new friends and possibly a sale and some good publicity. While it is a financial investment to make a large sculpture it seems to be worthwhile in an ever increasing field of self titled 'experts' in the field in order to stand out above the rest. I feel that I am doing larger pieces because I want people and art committees to see that there is still something new that can be done with the human figure using traditional skills. There is some kind of movement going on and eventually they will listen. To me, it seems that everyone and their brother are applying for public art commissions and many of these commissions seem to be geared for the abstract I-beam artists. I'm not bitter, but I've realized that I'm becoming less and less against something and more and more for something and the art on loan can be the vehicle to express what I'm for. The something I am for is the new return to realism, to traditional skills. It is becoming more and more widespread as people are tired of explaining the concept behind the round rustic steel ball on the stainless steel teeter totter. We get it, art can be anything, a toilet bowl with R. Mutt or a decaying human hand in a glass box. But where is the beauty in that? Where is the beauty? Art, traditionally is about beauty. Modern art seems to be challenging that while all the traditional artworks have silently said 'ok, go ahead, we don't mind it being art'. But now, traditional art is breathing again. It is like it is saying 'f..k this!' I am following some of the realist artists in New York and Los Angeles and greatly admire their works and notice that some of them are creating movements of their own in response to the last 100 years of art history. It is with the greatest joy that I see a Jeremy Lipking painting or a Bruno Lucchesi sculpture. These artists are keeping alive the vision artists from the pre-Rodin's era had. Actually they aren't keeping alive, they are revitalizing art and inspiring young generations to create and challenge themselves in so many ways. As I've aged I've realized that today is a unique era in art history with a pluralism of styles. There are so many things going on it is mind blowing, but underneath it I am feeling and sensing a return to the beautiful. And oddly enough I am connecting the art on loan programs to this. For me it is a way to showcase my talent, but also to educate America that there is good artwork here. It is not just in Europe. It is starting to pop up here and there like, hmmmm, like my grandma's bermuda grass I suppose some might say. Recently I had the opportunity to introduce the art on loan program to a city in California who had never heard of such a thing. I was asked to write a one page description and so I did and this is how it reads:

Art is an important part of our lives. Sculpture, in particular, plays a large role in our upbringing as we grow from child to adult. Many of us can remember seeing the Statue of Liberty, the David, Mount Rushmore and on and on. These colossal monuments shape peoples lives. So do the smaller and lesser known works that one sees while visiting a neighboring art community. A child and an adult will certainly remember seeing an egghead on campus or a large blue bear peeking in a building. These sculptures bring out the child in us all and inspire us to look deeper into our own self for what is possible. They make us laugh, cry, think and admire all the while absorbing the vision that the artist had. 

Recently there is a new trend in displaying public art sculptures which benefit both the sculptor and the entity funding the display. It is the art on loan (although there are many other names it goes by "Sculpture Walk", "Art on the Corner", etc etc). In Colorado there are quite a few cities which have developed their own art on loan program based on some of the successful ones that have been around for 20 or more years. It has also sprouted up in Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota. Essentially what this art on loan is is an outdoor gallery of sculpture temporary displayed on city property for the duration of one year. 

How it works: To get started the city designates several locations for the placement of the sculpture (dependent on their budget) and issues a call to artists. For a successful art on loan program the city needs to supply the location for the sculptures and permanently mount a steel base to the concrete (the city supplies this). Sculptures are mounted to a steel base (the artist supplies this) and these two steel bases are welded together to prevent theft. When a sculpture is ready to be removed the city grinds the welds to release the sculpture. Once the dates are decided on a call to artists is issued and the city selects the winning sculptures. The initial setup (payable to the sculptor) can cost anywhere between $500-1500 per sculpture, and these sculptures are made available for purchase. When a sale is made, a portion of the sale goes to the city that sponsored the program (similar setup to a fine art gallery), generally around 10-20%. The sculpture is then either A) moved to it's new home and replaced with another of the sculptors inventory or B) remains at the location until the duration of the year. 

A successful art on loan program benefits a city without the cost of purchasing or commissioning an artist for a permanent outdoor display.  It is an inexpensive way for a city to improve upon the look of the community and provides great exposure for an artist to show his/her work to the public. It is a win-win for both parties involved! 

#8 She Loves Me will have a new home

I'm thrilled to have sold my sculpture She Loves Me to a woman I met at the 2011 Loveland Sculpture show. The sculpture will be placed in an Inn west of Denver and I am quite excited and can't wait to see it installed. The buyer will be pouring a concrete pad in the next few weeks and it'll be placed in a small garden with flowers, a perfect setting! The inn also has a few other artwork that is faery related so this garden gnome will make plenty of friends out there. I am curious who he will be falling in love with so I will have to check back periodically to get updates. Actually me and Jessica stayed at their 'tree house' and it was a very pleasant stay. The tree house is the inn's prized possession and it is three stories of magically designed architecture and interior decorating. We both hope to go back often to stay their. I'll post pix of the sculpture after installation which should take place in the next month or two.

#7 Memorial for a young woman

Jessica reminded me that I haven't done a blog in quite a while and when I asked for her advice on subject matter she said don't you have a project you want to say something about. And that I do. Soon after shipping 12 sculptures for the 2011 Hostfest I started on my next project. I was contacted through someone I know a couple of months ago and asked if I'd be interested in doing a memorial for a young woman who passed on 2 years ago. After meeting with the client and going over some numbers we began. The project is for a fairly large and old cemetery, dating back to around 1880. It'll be located at the corner near one of the main entrances. The woman who is commissioning me wants to have snowboarding gear in bronze decorating the recently completed garden. It, being an old and traditional cemetery, will make for a unique memorial. In fact there is only one other memorial that stands out in the 300 acres of traditional headstones and occasional bronze statue and it incorporates water and plants with a bronze cross. This memorial will be just as beautiful without the water and cross. The client and I are both very excited at how things are shaping up. The snowboarding gear is now being molded so I hope to have it installed by Christmas of this year. It will be situated in the center of the rocks as if the young woman was putting her gear there while taking a break. While this is a project which doesn't require a figure it is actually quite enjoyable and I've gotten to listen to many wonderful stories of her life. How quickly life is for some, vanished into the night but not forgotten.

#6 Fountain Faery sketch

It's been a few weeks since I've updated my blog so thought I'd post a sketch I did a while back and today adding color. This is a design for my next large scale bronze sculpture. Fountain Faery will be holding a bronze dish with 2 strange looking birds, one telling a story to the other while the girl listens in amusement. I designed this piece late last year and after some time decided to have her holding a bird bath. Since making the two large gnomes and getting such a good response to them at the Loveland sculpture show this year I decided to try and go in the direction of faeries and gnomes. I've also gotten back into illustration trying to developing my own look using pencil and colored pencil. 

#5 on technique/Mark Twain bust

As a sculptor, I have been concerned with my sculpting techniques, adding some tool marks here and there to finalize a sculpture. However, I've noticed that most of the time these marks become superfluous and unrelated to the feel of the sculpture, they can sometimes even stand out on their own as interesting. Even though I would add them (or take away to be more accurate) to give the piece spontaneity, if I analyze enough I could tell they were contrived. So on the Twain bust I purposefully decided to focus on making the piece work as a likeness and not being concerned at all with the surface treatment. I had read something about Rodin's technique and he was describing how the energy of a sculptural form does not end at the surface that you see, but extends or radiates outward. Perhaps by thinking too much about surface technique you can kill that energy that Rodin was talking about. So for this sculpture I used 2 tools that I normally don't use at all (one of them hardly at all and the other for small details such as the eyes and nose). Mostly this was because I left my good tools at home. I did this piece in approximately 3 hours at my studio and focused entirely on making it a likeness. Most of the work was done with my hands (also Rodin's technique) and I also borrowed from Rodin gouging out the eyes deeply. While creating this sculpture I told myself I wouldn't get emotionally connected to it (afterwards is a different story). I steered clear of 'final touches' and just stopped when I felt it looked enough like Mark Twain. I may do this technique on a smaller sculpture to see if it has the same spontaneous feel. 

#4 Wabi-Sabi (not wasabi)

Well, since the next few weeks are preparing for the big sculpture show here in Loveland I thought I'd blog about something unrelated to what I'm currently working on (to keep things fairly interesting). A couple of years ago someone I know lent me a book called "In Praise of Shadows". I've read the book twice and well, I wouldn't even call it a book, it's more of a large pamphlet or something. Well, let's just call it a book for now to make things easier. In this book, the author talks about Japanese aesthetics and the comparison to western ideas of beauty. It has really opened up my eyes to what I consider beautiful art and I've been attempting to apply the core of the book into my art. What the author says is beautiful  (in Japan) have an old and imperfect nature. This imperfection is what makes them beautiful. He calls it wabi sabi. If you'd ever hear me talking to myself in my car or in my studio chances are I'd mumble the words wabi sabi in some inaudible sentence, probably even out of context ("oh, my car needs an oil change and tire rotation... wabi sabi" or "tonight I think I'll cook chicken and rice... wabi sabi"). I think in the book he tries to not use the word imperfection as the definition, it is deeper than that or different, but that is the basis. As a sculptor who appreciates, yes, sculpture I find that the works that I am drawn to have this. Mostly they are really old sculptures that were not well taken care of, sometimes a contemporary sculptor gets it, but it is rare! What really is interesting to me is that 99.9% of the sculptors today don't want their sculptures to look old. I mean they do to some degree, but they stop at a certain point. I can totally appreciate a Rosetta (photo) with a smooth surface and interesting patina and glossy shine to it, but it does not compare to a Bruno Lucchesi sculpture (photo). Both are contemporaries, but there is a difference. Rosetta wants her sculptures to look new and fresh as if fresh from the oven. Her collectors like that. Bruno, on the other hand, understands wabi sabi. Maybe he doesn't know about it personally, but he knows what is beautiful. Perhaps this is all just me, but I find it really interesting. Before reading the book, my sculptures had a shine to them. The shine (if you don't know) is mostly caused by lacquer, wax and polishing. When I look back at those sculptures I can plainly see what needs to be done to them to look better under todays household lighting. When a shiny art object is placed in a home which has artificial lighting it tends to have a cheapening effect. The object looks plasticky. Plastic is not cool when it comes to art. Well, at least in my opinion it is not cool. I was observing some of Rodin's sculptures and noticed the works that were more interesting to me did not have this glossy surface. They looked weathered and old. Sculpture is supposed to look old and aged. Compared to painting, which seems like the newer it looks the better it is. Cracks in the paint are not considered cool in a painting, dust is not considered cool, paint brush bristles stuck in the canvas are not considered cool. Why is it that the Venus de Milo sculpture all crumbled and almost broken up into dust is still so appealing? Wabi Sabi... I think an old painting has less value than an old sculpture, but again this is just me. Sculptures age like a fine bottle of wine. Paintings age like milk. It is big difference! Paintings require personal assistants for the remainder of their lives because of the fact that it is a thin layer of color on a flat surface. If that paint is gone than there is no art. Sculptures are round, voluminous and take up space usually in a very hard and durable medium. And therefore, being without any need of a caretaker, are very independent creations who usually let nature assist them in the aging process. If they were people they'd be the old Italian farmer who has lived his whole life in the village with little money and just a few friends. Paintings are like the Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton's, always needing attention ("I have a flaw, can someone please tend to it already!") Notice how it's not even a question but a statement! Sculptures are happy and content with the little they have. Well, I'm probably going waaaay off on a tangent here and I make the comparison between paintings and sculptures because it is a rivalry that goes back to at least Michelangelo's time (between Michelangelo and da Vinci), but it's a difference that I've noticed (old vs. new in the different mediums). Anyways, enough of the comparisons. I think I've expressed enough on wabi sabi. Tonight I'll probably have dreams of wabi sabi (not to be confused with wasabi) if I keep going on.

#3 repatinaed and reshot

maquette for life size "Fountain Faery"

"Harvest"

A nude I recently finished

"Man with Pipe"

As the days approach the big Loveland show I am working hard to prepare new sculptures and old ones for display. I've decided to repatina my old pieces as I've found that brown (ferric nitrate) works the best for my style of work. I also went out and bought some good strobe lights and reshot these 4 sculptures.

#2 Some Assembly Required

In between coats of rubber on two of my newest sculptures I decided to weld together this table top nude sculpture I made. A couple of months ago my studio mate and myself decided to purchase a welder. We both are bronze sculptors and it seemed like a smart decision as opposed to paying someone to do what we both know how to do. Fortunately I was taught tig welding by a well known sculptor here in town and can assemble table top pieces as well as life size bronzes, although I'm not very good at it and half the time I don't really know what the hell I'm doing, lol. So far I haven't had any close calls with weld drips running into my arm or leg (knock on wood) so that is good. This sculpture is about 12" high and there were 3 sections to join together as well as 2 core holes to fill in which were about 1" diameter. After I welded it all together I chased (grinded and blended) the welds, sandblasted, and patinaed. This is why bronze sculptures are so dang expensive; TIME CONSUMING! I spent about 2 1/2 hrs from the welding to the patina stages. Well, It is 1am and figure I should get to sleep now.

#1 Chester sculpture

So, I've been working on a sculpture for a Norwegian Festival in Minot, ND for about 2 months or so. The sculpture is about 12" high and bronze castings will be used as an award to volunteers at the annual festival. At this point it is just about approved of in clay, there are a couple of minor changes as the client has specified them over the phone. Hopefully next week I can start the mold making of it. I am working with one other person on this (in addition to the director of the Norsk Hostfest) and normally this can be a royal pain in the patuty (with conflicting opinions, etc etc.), but fortunately in this case it has been great! The gentleman that has been helping a great deal lives in Manhattan and is a good friend of Chester's so his input is very valuable. All of the suggestions (and there have been plenty of them) have tremendously improved the piece. If I showed a before and after it would be clear.

Gosh, is this getting monotonous already? I haven't figured out what to say and how much to say and when to post and how much information people read on this. BTW, this is my first post so I'm kinda getting the feel for this. My girlfriend Jessica helped me get my page setup. Luckily, I didn't use the hammer to unleash my frustrations... yet! I've wanted to setup a blog for a couple of years, actually after watching the movie Julie and Julia I was so ready to do it, but I gave up the next day as it seemed difficult to setup and maintain. Well, we'll see how long I continue, but for now I'm gonna blog about 1 of 2 of my current projects I'm working on.

So... the sculpture is looking fairly good. In my opinion it is finished. I have tried to keep the looseness that all of my fine art sculptures have, but it is something that is hard to do on commissioned work as they generally take much longer than a piece that I whip out of my head.