Newsletter Archives - Pacific Northwest Sculptors

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 your hand. To be able to record what you see takes practice. A lot of practice. If you’re a sculptor, drawing also helps you understand what you WANT to see. Drawing becomes the conversation between you and the muse to discover what the art wants to be.

Detailed drawings can be a blue print to follow so that the finished sculpture looks like the original rendering. Drawing can be a detailed map for sculpture, but it’s not the three dimensional territory. A flat two dimensional drawing can restrict your spatial thinking. As a sculptor, it’s your job to fully explore every angle, facet and form, even if it’s a bas relief.

These days, I use water colors to think through new sculpture. It’s so much easier to make a bad drawing than it is a bad sculpture. Don’t like it? Make another drawing. Quick drawings and loose washes of color keeps my thinking flexible, open to different possibilities and meanings. Carving feels playful, more exploration than execution. Some of that looseness even makes it all the way through into the finished work!

Look at the drawings of sculptors to see how they use drawing to think through their sculpture. Rodin’s sketches are loose washes of color with lightly drawn ambiguous lines. Think about how the faceted surfaces of his bronzes flicker and bounce light and catch shadows.

Michelangelo’s cartoons are often detailed blueprints for finished work. Look and see how he’s drawing how light hits a form, he’s thinking about volume and surfaces.

Consider your materials. If you use a pen or brush, you train yourself to see lines, through lines, contour lines, etc. If you’re using a charcoal or soft pencil, you attune your eyes to nuance of form, shadows, volume. What medium draws you?

Each drawing is another opportunity of composition, editing and thinking. As you draw, you shape HOW you see and WHAT you see. As a sculptor, drawing sharpens all your skills so you can make what you WANT to see happen in three dimensions.

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

Portland’s top art event – Art in the Pearl 2018

Carole Murphy

The Art in the Pearl was a success for the 15th (I think) year of demonstrating artists from the Pacific Northwest Sculptors! This year Dave Gonzales, Maureena Ross, Chas Martin, Olinka Broadfoot and myself, showed some of the possibilities our art. The reception from viewers was warm and inspiring. It is always wonderful to hear what people see and feel about your art. There are so many different ways to see each sculpture and people freely talk about what you do there and of course they quite often share what many of them are up to in their artistic lives. As usual, many folks were interested in joining us, we’ll see how many actually come to meetings or become members. It is good to get the information out about us either way. Our participation there is an excellent way to support the art community, wake up people to some of the art in the area and to let people know about who we are and what we do both individually and as a group. So many visitors were really excited about the meetings that we have monthly in each other’s studios, so who knows who will show up at this next meeting.

Pacific Northwest Sculptors member Dave Gonzo at Art in the Pearl 2018 — Dave Gonzo at Art in the Pearl 2018

Pacific Northwest Sculptors member Chas Martin at Art in the Pearl 2018 — Chas Martin at Art in the Pearl 2018.

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

Frogwood Collaborations: Sculptors share techniques and perspectives

6 days and 6 nights filled with making art with 38 other artists… what could be better? We usually were at work by 7:30 am and continued sometimes to 11:30 and later. It was amazing to see people simply drop their egos within a couple of days and simply play with one another, creating art. There were no rules such as- how much was to be made, how to make it, how to connect with others, how many to work on a piece, how to warm up or any other rules that you could think up. We were simply there with tools and art supplies that we brought and a ton of tools and art supplies that were already there. Some had been there before, some had not, most were accomplished artists in their fields and all were ready to play. The word that comes to mind first in trying to describe it to people is – profound. It made me call to a deeper part of me and simply create more freely.

Included in the array of makers were wood turners, welders, a blacksmith, coppersmiths, jewelers, sculptors, weavers and even a couple of people that made instruments. This next year the plan is to invite even more folks. A few people traveled home each night but most stayed in tents and cabins around a place called Camp Colton in Colton, Oregon, about an hour SE of Portland. The affair is catered with amazing food and I bunked with the most wonderful people. You’d think that 3 women in a tiny cabin room would be a problem, especially with the bathroom outside in another part of the building. Nope, it was really enjoyable talking excitedly about our day when we did bump into each other there.

Below is one of the pieces that I collaborated on – I made the stand and the boat and all of the pieces including the sail are made by 9 other artists.

Frogwood

Sculptors Near Me – How Collaboration makes us all better sculptors

Perhaps the most valuable feature of a group as diverse as ours is that we’re such a diverse group. Every meeting I’ve attended has resulted in some insight, recommendation, introduction, new product idea, new connection that I had not expected from someone I had not known before. Networks like ours are rich with opportunities like that. I would love to see more members attend more meetings to expand the mix of potential intersections even further.

Another benefit of our monthly meetings is seeing the workspaces and processes of our members. I never get bored learning about how other artists think, work and manage life. It’s a juggling act we all experience. Sharing those experiences gives us more options to solve our own challenges with new ideas. There’s always someone within reach who can offer advice, support or perspective.

And that brings me to the next point. Before Isabelle and Paul moved to the Alps, they were our most dedicated volunteers. They did so many things, every month, without fail. We knew when they left it would create a large hole in our organization. And, we knew it would take some time to motivate others to take leadership. It’s starting to happen.

I was extremely pleased this past week with the effort of Alan Newberg, James Finnigan, Michele Collier, Nancy Bocek and Robert E. Gigliotti who put together this month’s epic, 12-page “Calls For Entry” list. What an incredible job these members did! The listings were thoughtfully screened from a larger set of sources than ever before. I think this monthly service is incredibly valuable. I’m glad it’s back on track. Many thanks to our team.

We’re a volunteer organization. As a member, whatever your level of commitment to PNWS, consider taking it up a notch. Maybe you can’t commit to a monthly task, but consider what you can offer. Show up at a meeting. Host a meeting. Write an article. Recruit another sculptor to join the group. Don’t underestimate the value of what you know or what you can share. Being there is, in itself, a benefit.

Giacometti – Charioteers Rolling in the Money

A hundred and one million dollars is a lot of money but that’s what hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen paid in 2015 for Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, The Chariot. Giacometti was a multifaceted artist who achieved his greatest recognition for his freakishly elongated spider-like human figures. A prominent existentialist philosopher explained Giacometti’s figures as depicting the estrangement of modern (post WWII) individuals living in an empty cosmos devoid of meaning.

Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, The Chariot, 1950

To me, one thousand and ten dollars is a lot of money and I was thus inspired to carve and assemble my own Spoon Charioteer. The one hundred and one million dollar version of Giacometti’s bronze masterpiece is number two of an edition of six, cast in 1951-52, and is only three inches less than six feet tall. In comparison, my humble version stands only three inches more than two feet high (25Hx8x12 inches) and is made of scraps of wood and metal. The most cunning features of my chariot are the wheels made from Progresso soup can lids, drawer pull escutcheons, and a rusted electrical cord spool. Everyone should have a shop with such serendipitous junk. My Spoon Charioteer is really one half unpainted black walnut spoon and one half painted and low relief carved charioteer.

Robert McWilliams sculpture, Spoon Charioteer — Robert McWilliams’ sculpture, Spoon Charioteer

A spoon may seem to be a perplexingly mundane motif for serious sculpture but I have been first, whittling, and now carving spoons since 1972, so even if you send the sheriff to try to make me stop, I won’t. Although otherwise not remotely comparable, my spoons are to me what Michelangelo’s ignudi (naked men-women) were to the greatest sculptor who ever lived. Spoons combine the male handle with the female cup, the sinuous, unpredictable curves of the voluptuous mature woman with the predictable stiffness of the militaristic male and the convex with the concave; and spoons are neither left or right, or up or down, and they spoon (nest) in perfect unity.

The charioteer side of my sculpture is an androgynous, golden haired adolescent who looks to me like one of the Archaic kourus that preceded the golden age of Classical Greek sculpture. He is gloriously beautiful, naïve, and lusty. He is representative the new generation, both female and male, the one that always, and without fail that rolls in to replace the cynical, the plumb tuckered out, and the put into barn wet and tired.

Spoon Charioteer is not a mere copy like Steve Cohen’s, mine is original, unique, and still for sale.

Portland Sculptor Julian Voss-Andreae at Georgia Tech

A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a female form by Portland sculptor and PNWS board member Julian Voss-Andreae was installed recently on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

The sculpture is notable not only for its artistic merit but also because, according to Voss-Andreae, it was “fully 3-D printed” over about 10,000 hours of printing time at his Portland studio. Voss-Andrea employed his battalion of LulzBot TAZ 3-D printers to construct more than 100 pieces that were assembled into the mold. The mold parts are built up by the printers using a filament thread known as PLA (polylactic acid, a biodegradable thermoplastic).

An article by Bridget Butler Millsaps in the June 23rd edition of the online journal 3DPrint.com quoted the sculptor about part of his attraction to 3-D technology. “The main benefit to me is that I am now able to create life-size bronze sculptures for a price that allows experimentation.”

Millsaps relied on Voss-Andreae’s “3-D team” to explain his casting and post-casting processes.

The completed PLA sections of the mold are repeatedly dipped in a ceramic bath until they are fully coated to an appropriate thickness, after which the PLA inside is burned out, leaving a negative mold for the bronze. When the casting is complete, the ceramic mold is removed and the bronze parts are cleaned assembled, and welded. Millsaps described the last process as “a huge and complicated 3-D puzzle.”

The Many Uses Of 3D Printing

Voss-Andreae told Millsaps that his 3-D printers get a lot of use. Besides creating molds, he uses them to print maquettes and parts of sculptures for use in the planning process. He even uses the machines to print replacement parts for the 3-D printers themselves. LulzBot heal thyself.

The new sculpture was installed in a planted area outside the Engineered Biosystems Building at Georgia Tech. It is designed to allow plants to grow around and through it.

In other news about Voss-Andreae, he has recently announced a winner of a 2017 CODA Award. The internationally acclaimed awards celebrate design projects that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces.

Voss-Andreae was honored for his dual sculpture installation entitled Spannungsfeld and installed outside the new Physics and Nanotechnology Building at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The two sculptures, a woman and a man kneeling and facing one another, are each 10 feet tall.

Recognition of Spannungsfeld

The CODA website explains the work’s title thusly: “The German title of the installation (literally “tension field”) originated in physics but is used in contemporary German almost exclusively in a metaphorical sense, implying a dynamic tension, often between polar opposites, that permeates everything in its vicinity.

The CODAawards are presented each year by CODAWORX, a global online community that showcases and celebrates design projects featuring commissioned artwork in interior and architectural spaces. The organization is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

See more images of the work and learn more about CODAWORX at this address online. Learn more about Portland sculptor Voss-Andreae online at http://julianvossandreae.com.

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

Art Commissions keep Eichinger Studio Busy

Joya Martuscello

Exciting progress is being made on one of Martin Eichinger’s larger art commissions in progress. Natural beauty is met with great artistry as we embark on the next phase of this large-scale vision for the Cloisters on the Platte, a spiritual retreat in Nebraska.

Martin and the Eichinger Sculpture Studio team are currently working in conjunction with four other teams of master sculptors from around the country on a commission of over 70 monumental bronze figures. It promises to be the grandest example of the Stations of the Cross ever created.

Joe Ricketts, an entrepreneur, and philanthropist is the founder of the Cloisters on the Platte. Set on a beautiful natural expanse along the Platte River, the destination will offer a silent retreat experience in the Jesuit tradition. It will be “based on the spiritual exercises developed by St. Ignatius Loyola but will be open to people of all faiths. “Anyone who is interested in spiritual growth is welcome.”

Martin Examines the Space Through Inner Examination

To prepare for this project and to understand better the mindset behind Ricketts’ vision, Martin participated in a silent retreat sponsored by the Cloisters on the Platte. “As a sculptor, I wanted to understand how the devout would experience the retreat and the Stations of the Cross that were a significant part of it. The three-day silent retreat left me deeply moved on both personal and spiritual levels, far beyond the artistic level I was trying to understand.”

Working with a growing Eichinger Sculpture Studio team and working in concert with other teams of master sculptors has been a fulfilling experience for Martin. He has acted as a sort of conductor with so many pieces in play. The project took advantage of contemporary digital technology, working closely with Form 3D Foundry in Portland. It’s been a fascinating process, seeing it come to fruition this last year.

In addition to the Cloisters project, Martin also has begun work on two new art commissions. He was recently asked to create a monumental bust of Rafik Hariri, the late former prime minister of Lebanon, for the Rafik Hariri Business Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Also, “The Abigail,” a mixed-income housing project in Portland, has chosen Eichinger Sculpture Studio to create a monument in honor of Oregon poet and suffragette Abigail Dunniway for installation in the facility’s courtyard. Libby (Krock) Carruth is the lead sculptor for the Abigail project.

The Geode: Creative Space for Portland Artists

All this is happening inside an Eichinger Sculpture Studio that is under major reconstruction and transformation. The Geode: A Nest for Creative Entrepreneurs, is beginning to make big strides in all directions. Each day at the studio is a new hard-hat adventure. Marty continues to finalize his design elements for the building and we are starting to see some of the special artistic features take shape including programmable light blades and a lit spiral staircase. Marty never ceases to surprise us all with his imagination and skill.

We here at ESS are grateful for our community and we believe firmly that art can be a powerful tool in these times of great change.

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