Search Results for: andy kennedy

Andy Kennedy Hosts Sculptors Group

About twenty Pacific Northwest Sculptors group members and guests gathered at the home of fellow sculptor Andy Kennedy and his partner Stephanie Buddenbaum on the evening of October 19th for the group’s monthly informal get-together.

A different member artist hosts the gathering each month.

The potluck affair began with time to get reacquainted before everyone moved on to Kennedy’s studio out back. The studio is a converted garage teeming with hundreds of clay sculptures, large and small. Kennedy spoke informally about his work, saying he has “been doing raw expression in paint and clay for years,” since the late 1980s at The Evergreen State College at Olympia, Wash, where he completed a bachelor of arts program.

“Raw” is an apt description of many, if not most, of Kennedy’s sculptures on display in his studio. They are evocative of an experience he described at Evergreen in which he created drawings from photographs of dissected cadavers.

Most of his human-form sculptures—nearly all of the large body of work in his studio is human form—possess not an unsettling quality but an aura of “one step beyond,” a view of what it is like on the other side of where we are.

Kennedy describes this in another way on his website, “Objects that inform by asking the unanswerable.” Saying that “we should all draw more,” a remark that elicited a collective murmur of agreement from the room full of sculptors, Kennedy went on to share more of his 2-D work besides the cadaver drawings at Evergreen.

Interactivity Encouraged at Sculptors Group

In his slide show, he shared examples from a mostly pastel chalk series he called “missing children drawings,” adapted from images of missing children reproduced on milk cartons in a 1980’s nationwide awareness campaign about kidnapped children. Later, he created a public installation about the missing children. Besides working in clay, Kennedy also hand-builds in concrete on armatures, sometimes adding features in wood.

He has created several larger-scale outdoor installations in concrete, “yard sculptures” that, over time, are cloaked in vegetation and become integral with the environment they inhabit.

To learn more about Pacific Northwest Sculptors group events, contact us today!

April 29th International Sculpture Day 2023

Celebrating IS Day Saturday April 29th, 2023, you are invited to join other PNWS Members crafting Wearable Art at SCRAP (1736 SW Alder street, Portland). We’ll bring our creations out to several locations in downtown after using the classroom/workspace at SCRAP between 4:30 and 6:30 pm.

You are encouraged to bring a plan, or a work-in-progress, to complete during our time at Scrap. There will be plenty of cheap and quirky art materials available. RSVP Bob Deasy <ormcoupe@yahoo.com> or Andy Kennedy <playpurpose@yahoo.com> Let us know if you have questions about the event.

A likely follow up to IS Day could be a trip together to Gathering of the Guilds on Sunday the 30th, and certainly the PNWS Member meeting studio tour/potluck at Julian Voss-Andreae’s that evening at 7pm.

Common Sculpture Tools – Orange Plastic Bowl

Andy Kennedy

A couple months ago I described some of my clay sculpting tools, a fork, a baseball bat, a stone with a sharp edge. Tools can also be a word or an idea, or a whole system of ideas, anything that can be used to affect change. The tools of this essay are vague abstractions grounded by physical elements of process. And presently featuring an orange plastic bowl, about 17” diameter and one inch thick all around.

It’s very rounded because this bowl was part of a sphere that was once a float for a fisherman’s net. I found this orange plastic bowl buried in sand on the beach of Ft. Stevens park by Astoria and hauled it home. It’s surprisingly heavy at over ten pounds. I’m going to pause, because there was a time when I did not know what this thing really could do. That was a time of unknowing, but keen recognition that this orange bowl seemed to have Potential written all over it. Like being handing a big puzzle piece that is connected to a huge new view of the world. Finding this orange hunk of plastic was like a wardrobe that leads to Narnia or hearing at a planning meeting for International Sculpture day that an empty storefront adjacent to the CAVE might be available for art installation.

There were a few moments in the middle of International Sculpture day within the bustle of other artists setting up demonstrations and Vancouver residents walking into the PNWS event. I was there, in the middle of an installation that I co-created with Amber Metz (AKA Aim Axon) called Meditation and Manipulation playing with one of the 200+ bamboo sticks that I brought into the CAVE Adjacent space over the month leading up to the event. I stood there observing yet another wondrous property of an orange plastic bowl, a piece of found object art that I now call the haFast forms a cone with my hand at the apex and I’m in that state of discovery and surrender to wonder spontaneously conjured, hyper-present, ready and willing, at the axis of crafting reality and it occurs to me, “The quality of this moment is the thing I want to share”.

PNWS Artist as Trickster

There doesn’t have to be a story connected to sculpture for it to mean something, but it can help to pass it’s meaning on, and bring it to a place where it’s valued more. Some folks are attached to valuing a sculpture in relation to it’s meaning. Does it have an interesting origin story, does it describe a narrative, or contain pathos, comedy, a psychology to be resolved? The relationship between an artist and their art is the medium of self discovery. It is the authenticity of that process which creates value, but defies description, and certainly defies questions of time or money. This is why it’s hard to price one’s art, and why I always dodge the question, How long did it take to make that?
While attempting to explain my sculpture, my process, my thinking at the last PNWS Member potluck. Someone asked about a sculpture on a back shelf , a wire, glass and concrete collaboration, Dave Gonzo and I made in 2016 titled: Prometheus.
The trickster god, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus, gave it to mortals, and then was cursed for his defiance. Zeus had him nailed to a mountain where an eagle would eat away at his liver and heart, which would grow back to be eaten again, which would repeat forever, but he gets rescued by Hercules. Gods and their fun, stories we can hold lightly, but return to again and again.

A hand gently grasps a sphere which extends into wildly radiating wire curves, all wiggling independently from each other, yellow glass accenting the gelatinous cloud of energy. All of this extending from a base of concrete and steel painted with a fantasy of fire and resembling a volcano. This is the frozen moment of creation, raw material/energy transformed into poetry. Besides stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humans, it’s said that Prometheus created humans from clay. A trickster god made we humans in an act of rebellion giving us the power to create civilization, culture and potentially the technology of our own destruction. Fire burns and forges form. That truth holds hope and fate, artists explaining the unexplainable, or what should be left to silence. But if we forget, where does that part of reality go to? A personal history lost forever, or enabling people with their own self-destruction.

Stories should not be bound by time, linear, word after word, beginning-middle-end. Reality as sculpture, as community, can be approached from many sides at once. Art as the means to understand ourselves, and gatherings to share what we know about the skillful use of these potentially destructive tools. Art makes life, the unbound space between the lines, at any scale; as above, so below, Prometheus unbound. Creativity unbound and supported by a community of artists. PNWS organizes events, networking, fostering collaboration and art shows, because we know the potential is exponential. We’ve just started.

+++Andy Kennedy, President PNWS

Nov 29th meeting at Marty Eichinger’s studio 2516 SE Division st Portland 4:30 Board meeting, 6pm Potluck

Home and Garden Show (February 2024) contact: Bob Deasy

CAVE gallery show contact: Terri Elioff, Sue Qwast, Toni Parque

Raku opportunity and Vancouver Arts & Music Festival, contact: Russ Ford

Troutdale Arts Festival contact: Marlena Neilson

October 25th Studio Tour/Potluck

Our meetup this month will be at Andy’s studio.

The address is: 310 NE 106th Ave. Portland. We will be meeting on October 25th at 6pm.

Check out Andy’s work here: Andy Kennedy | Pacific Northwest Sculptors (pnwsculptors.org)

For our out-of-town members here are the meeting details:

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device.

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 226 990 943 137
Passcode: 9k7KmA

Download Teams | Join on the web

Balancing Community and the Wild

We spend time in our own worlds, in our minds, in our studios, in that unique relationship between our hands and the materials we touch, bringing forth new and beautiful states of being, called art. And then we share that bizarre abundance discovered in our dream world; it rises to the surface and looks around, “Who else is here? Has anyone else discovered this strange world?”

Above: Ceramic portrait in Tillamook Bay by Andy Kennedy

PNWS can be the means to support your personal vision. It begins with recognizing other’s process, artists venturing into that strange place, going out on a limb, allowing for trial and misdirection. We can help each other with that recognition, the curiosity leading to discovery, to see what’s strange as appropriate. 2023 has been a good year for bold expressions and explorations.

Pictured: PNWS Vice President, Russell Ford at a Raku firing

PNWS provides the means for sculptors to connect, one dream world to another. Studio tours are a prime example; an artist shows their process, from ideas to finished works, with a willingness to discuss and spark between all the curious and creative people present. My hope is Pacific Northwest Sculptors can foster a rewilding of our spirits. Following creativity, with it’s highs and lows can be a pathway to self-discovery and communion, a way to find our humanness. PNWS is what we can make together: collaborations, raku firings, group shows, our website and outreach to other organization with mutually supportive Missions and beyond, sharing our artmaking beauty and wisdom with the public.

A few steps you can take:
If you are new to PNWS, please check in at our website <pnwsculptors.org> Login as a Member first before adding to your profile. As a Member of PNWS, you can create galleries of your art, and update everyone with posts about your art or anything you’d like to share with the world. This can happen through our social media as well. PNWS has two Facebook pages and Instagram to engage with as a contributor. Join and post to Members of Pacific NW Sculptors Group on Facebook right now. We’re actively seeking contributions to our Social media presence; contact Shelly Durica-Laiche <Indiometalarts@gmail.com>
There’s of support and re-engagement between the independent individual and their chosen community. Support for your vision happens when you engage in one form or another. It isn’t entirely predictable, how that cycle runs, but showing up is the first step. Sharing and witnessing others follows, and then supporting the structure that makes it possible is the ideal.

+++Andy Kennedy, President Pacific Northwest Sculptors

Artwork featured here, Sense of Tsunami by PNWS Member Mary Grout

PNWS Engagement is the real Currency

I will be hosting a PNWS Board meeting on Sunday September 24th at 2pm. 310 NE 106th Ave. Portland.

It’s a Board meeting and studio visit. in some ways it will be like a Member meeting studio potluck. You are welcome to attend. While working with the Board, I’ll often return to the question, “Who are the PNWS Members, and what do they want?” You could answer that question for us in person or by joining us online. The PNWS Board maintains a variety of stages for engagement, for PNWS Members to be exposed to other art practices, as well as sharing your art. All towards creating bonds between artists, venues, material resources and community, a very personal give and take, which can provide a meaningful context for each of us.

About twenty of us showed up to Mahsa Zargaran’s studio a few weeks ago. We were blown away by her visionary approach to making eight giant figures, designed to embody eight songs which she and her partner Paul will compose. All to be experienced in an theater/arena. Mahsa is driven by her dream towards the technical means that will make her vision a reality. Truly inspiring!

Our next Member Meeting (September 27th, 7pm) will be at the Verdancy Project, an acreage designed for onsite installation sculpture, located just west of Troutdale, Oregon (address and other invite details are forthcoming). For three years the Verdancy project has been connecting artists and the public to the land and community. Residencies, workshops, group shows and much more. This could be a place to retreat and find a fresh start to your art, or it could be a home to the land, stone, wood, creek bed sculpture you have wanted to make.

https://www.verdancyproject.com/

Pictured above: Performance at the Verdancy Project by Laura Cannon (under log) and Lynn Piper (singing), with the addition of a clay head that I made (at the end of Laura’s log)

Along with showing up to these events, There are several other ways you can contribute to PNWS and discover the artists and resources of our group. A threshold activity for PNWS Members is to post online information about you and your art via our website and social media. We thrive on your expression. It’s how we get to know each other, and leads to crafting our common goals. The following link will take you to a video with instructions for filling out your PNWS Member profile.

https://pnwsculptors.org/edit-profile/

Do what you can to connect with other Members, especially Board Members. Opportunities like visiting the Verdancy Project (Sept. 27th 7pm), PNWS Member studio tours, the group show at Newport Visual Arts Center, Art in the Pearl, or the recent trip to Michael Curry Design are scheduled and produced by this handful of volunteers. The Board of Directors wants to be accessible. Show up to the next Board meeting at my house on September 24th, 2pm. 310 NE 106th Ave. Portland. What keeps us going is your support and encouragement, but also the knowledge that we can do more, if more Members engage in this process of relationship building, with curiosity, awe and engagement.

+++Andy Kennedy, President of Pacific Northwest Sculptors