Signing on as a Member of Pacific Northwest Sculptors, you become a collaborator in an ongoing construction project. We’re building and maintaining a network of access to each other, and other resources to aid your sculpture practice. You joined a peer group, led by volunteers. We’re a diverse group of people connecting in a variety of ways: in person, online, hands on projects, information sharing, seeing art together, emotional support, building business practices, and the pursuit of being better artists. All this is possible for PNWS Members, but I won’t guarantee how that happens for anyone. Joining as a Member of PNWS is not buying a service. Members need to engage with opportunities, and ideally help to maintain this process. The Board of directors is in collaboration with the PNWS Membership, conditioning the space where we join together. This space is available.
***Pictured here is a courtyard in front of Oregon Society of Artists (OSA) in SW Portland. PNWS Members can show a sculpture here for between 3 and 4 months. Please, inquire with PNWS Members: Mary Grout or Bill Leigh about this opportunity.
There’s been a lot of positive interactions between Members lately. The recent online “Sculpture Conversation” is fresh in my mind. Alisa Looney was in top form as host last Wednesday, making sure that everyone was heard, getting us to show our art and ourselves. The nine or ten of us participating in “the Conversation” found that balance of relaxed involvement. My theory is with the right set of tools and principles, scale doesn’t matter for constructing a sculptural form. Even a sculpture that spans several states in the Pacific Northwest.
We give the height, width and depth of any piece we describe, but the context matters enormously. As a sculptor applying myself to lead our collective, I’m considering the space between us, how to build bridges. I’m also aware of the resistance, the fragility, and the limits to plasticity these relationships have. My job as President of PNWS is to be watchful of the whole as best I can, and raise consciousness about these Principles for community building every one of the PNWS Membership is tinkering with. It begins with an awareness of the positive form of any sculpture. The October 5th Swap Meet is an example. At least a dozen folks showed up, bringing objects and taking home other stuff. And everyone who showed up will tell you, Carole Murphy was a great host, securing extra parking for the event, and leading everyone on a tour of her workspace, abundant with found objects and mixed media, which Carole has rigorously organized. Even the strangest of objects can find a spot in her house, defined and ready to be part of her next sculpture.
Greg Wilbur’s studio tour potluck was also a success; these pictures speak to that.
We’re attempting to set up a variety of tangible platforms for exploring sculpture practices, while nurturing the intangible nature of sculpture and community overlapping. The ultimate medium of our collaborative community is our relationships to each other. The lightness and fun seem to be essential for conditioning this space between. Towards that I’m all for nurturing generosity, camaraderie, wonder and a degree of slack between us.
Please, be in touch,
Andy Kennedy