A Great Notion – July/Aug 2006

In general, I think ideas for sculpture come around sort of like opportunities for food. Some come from deep within, like cravings from hunger pangs. Others are inspired from things I see: in bodies, in nature, in other works of art. This is sort of like being invited over for a meal.

There’s fast food. Ideas that come quickly but aren’t that good. Often these are the ones that never get too far. They just don’t hold up as you spend more time with them.

Then there are the really great ones, like choice morsels, these ideas bring true joy to one’s palate. You get lost in them and you think about them long after the meal is over.

I have yet to get very savvy with narrowing my food choices any better than I have with choosing my ideas for sculpture. My ideas come from all over the place and I don’t follow a consistent path to completion. Some times I use maquettes to explore the ideas that come to me, at other times I carve directly on the stone without one. Usually, my maquettes are very rough drafts allowing freedom for dialog with the stone once started. I find some comfort with using a model to explore an idea in 3 dimensions since my sketching skills are, well, sketchy. Over the years I have created plastic bins full of various types of clay and wax maquettes, waiting for more development, or “their” rock, or for me to get my butt out to the studio.

‘Saturn’ came about when I was trying to decide what to do next and I had no compelling ideas at hand. I was hungry but had no idea what to eat. I went out to the studio and walked up and down my row of rocks and one jumped out at me. Just like the ice cream out of the freezer! It was a colorful piece of Utah Alabaster. I picked it up, took it outside for a chat and we sat and looked at each other for a while. Well, I love to just sit and apparently rocks do too. We had a nice time and I clearly had a sense of what the piece “felt” like but could not get a clear vision. So, I took out some bronze casting wax and started playing around with some shapes. The color and lines of the stone really spoke of the swirling, organic nature of the planets and that’s the feeling I pursued. Within minutes a form appeared and that gave me a starting place. Then the easy part came, sitting down to the meal!