Humans have a natural ability to see and recognize things. You see something and your brain immediately matches the image to a pattern you’ve seen before. You recognize the object. It’s 3D form. Comprehension is complete. Congratulations. You’ve recognized the object and completely missed the space – the invisible element of the image. Space is […]
Education
Bronze Sculptor Shifts Gears to Explore Collaborative Opportunities
Many PNWS members know me as a bronze sculptor involved exclusively with narrative bronzes. But there is another side bubbling up that wants to be more aggressive about other creative forms. Before I went full-tilt into using the figure to tell stories and convey emotions I was producing abstract work in all sorts of mediums […]
Teaching Sculpting Workshops– One Sculptor’s Dilemma
I taught four sculpting workshops this year and did a lot of driving to get to those places. Of course, I planned my workshops to put me in the right place for social events with friends and family. I taught my last class locally at The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon. […]
Sculpture Process: The Green Man from Sketch to Finished Sculpture
As a gardener, I’ve been cultivating plants for 60 years. As a sculptor, I’ve been researching the Green Man in books, museums, and churches. A current project which employs the sculpture process combines these interests into designs for a bronze fountain featuring the Green Man. My drawings confirmed an idea I’ve had that sculpture comes […]
Wood Sculpture Techniques at the Portland Japanese Garden
My art tells stories, my collaborator is wood. In my current series, I recycle construction debris, coaxing these manufactured shapes into revealing their natural irregularities. I work with cross-sections of wood and pay special attention to the grain and texture. With certain wood sculpture techniques, the history of the tree becomes an integral part of […]
How To Create A Video Of Your Sculpture
A video of your sculpture is a tremendous way to introduce your sculpture to the world. There’s a very real chance that more people will see your art via video and the internet than will ever see it in real life. While working on a public art commission for TriMet, I had both the opportunity […]
Riipppp – How to Create Spontaneous Visual Art
The joy of creation is why I do art. Over the past few decades I’ve explored the “anything can be art” philosophy found in Dada and Pop art in traditional sculpture, collage, and a series of satirical toy and game assemblages.
How drawing influences sculpture
Sculpture takes a great deal of time to create. How do you think through a sculpture? Not just the mechanical/technical process, but the important aesthetic work of meaning. What do you want it to say, and how do you shape a physical object to have emotional resonance for others? Drawing sharpens both your eye and […]