Sculptor

Ben Sams – A Nearly Forgotten Genius in Modern Ceramic Sculpture

In a remarkable way, Ben Sams had something to do with our recent exhibition at the ArtReach gallery. One of his ceramic sculpture pieces, “Texas Ranger” stood in a side room at the Making Space exhibition. Bob Dale is seeking attention for the work of Ben Sams that happened in the ArtReach gallery. One thing led to another resulting in our group show with the NW Stone Sculptors Assn.

The art world presents a complicated and sometimes confusing environment where significant recognition and fame can be as random and elusive as winning a lottery.

While there are thousands of recognized painters and sculptors internationally, one medium where the number of true geniuses is minimal is that of ceramic sculpture. That may be a result of ceramics perhaps being considered more as a craft than a true art medium. The word ‘ceramics’ almost immediately brings up mental images of pots and tiles rather than credible works of art. However, the medium of clay provides a truly creative artist with an almost unlimited opportunity to express ideas and images.

Ben Sams - Modern Ceramic Sculpture - Nov 2019 - PNWS - 2

Ben Sams - Modern Ceramic Sculpture - Nov 2019 - PNWS - 3

The Ceramic Sculpture Work of Ben Sams

One of the most creative, yet unfortunately nearly forgotten, pioneers in this field was Ben Sams. He came upon the scene in the 1960s and almost immediately created a name for himself as an innovative genius. The ‘60s and ‘70s were a period of political turmoil and questioning of values among the younger generation. Sams could pull together diverse thoughts and ideas into often whimsical ceramic sculptures that could make people laugh. They compelled one to think about some of the statements he was making on the social issues of the day.

Quoting his own description of his work, Sams wrote: “The early sculptural images I made did not reveal if I was pushing reality towards abstraction or abstraction towards reality, and the resolution of my problems always remained visually exciting.”

Influences of Sams’ Ceramic Sculpture

Sams’ heritage had a significant influence on his approach to art. He was born in Texas in 1945, where his father, a Native American from the Walla Walla Tribe, was stationed during WW II. The family then moved to Montana, closer to the roots of his paternal ancestors. Sams began his studies in art at the University of Montana in 1965 under two well-known ceramicists, Rudy Autio and Peter Voulkos. There he learned various techniques and processes which he adapted to his work in ceramic sculpture.

One such process used in printmaking is called collagraphy. It employs pieces and textures from various sources built up onto plates that can then be used to print. While typically used to produce prints on paper or canvas, Sams decided to use the technique to create textures and images in clay. These could then be incorporated into larger pieces to provide backgrounds or segments of the larger story being told in a particular work.

The Evolution of Recognition in Sams’ Work

1967 was the year Sams married his first wife, Dana Boussard. That year, his innovative work began to gain national recognition with numerous exhibitions, including one at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. That exhibition was sold out. These resulted in commissions from collectors who began to recognize and appreciate his unique talents and styles. Sams continued to create and display exciting ceramic sculpture works from 1967 until 1972 when his life changed somewhat dramatically with a divorce and a move from Montana to the Seattle area. There he tried to balance his creative work and exhibitions with teaching at Highline Community College and later Evergreen State College in Olympia.

He married Cynthia Tasso in 1975 and moved his studio into a large barn on her property northeast of Seattle. There he began to experiment with the chemistry and physics of glazes he could produce to enhance and dramatize elements of his works. In his own words:

“Glazes and glass represent a very separate discipline that must be united to the finalized clay form by means of extreme heat. The development of a glaze or glaze colors involves continuous experimentation into applied chemistry.”

Sustaining his Creative Energy in Ceramic Sculpture

Sams continued to produce unique and notable works for the next three years until shortly after a well-received exhibit in Bellevue, Washington in 1978. He then decided that he needed to take a break from juggling the creation of art and the commercial activities associated with promoting it. By doing so, he left many unfinished works in his studio and moved on to dealing with real estate and studying common law.

Sams returned to his art in 2001 with a new passion. Unfortunately, the following year he died unexpectedly while on a beach walk with his wife and dog on the Washington coast.

While Sams’ long hiatus resulted in his name losing the momentum, reputation, and recognition as a significant pioneer in the world of ceramic arts, his legacy still lives on in his many surviving works valued by collectors, internationally.

Author Zig Lambo is a consultant on sculpture and resource-based investments.

Images courtesy of Robert Dale at: bensamsartist.com

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This article was reprinted from the Art and Museum magazine spring 2019 issue. Art and Museum Magazine is a publication of Domos Fine Art Advisors of the UK.

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 and various commercial displays that required innovation and involvement in a wide variety of materials and methods. Here are a few projects executed prior to my bronze sculptor days that were both challenging and fun.

I once built a pinball machine that taught science museum visitors how our digestive system works to breakdown food into usable nutrients. A ball (bolus) rolled or bounced through various options to get masticated and swallowed, hopefully without gagging or choking. As the bolus traveled it turned on information about enzymes being released, nutrients being absorbed and chemical processes taking place along with all the bells and sound effects of a traditional pinball. The bolus would churn in the stomach while hopefully avoiding being thrown up – GAME OVER! A convoluted intestinal track would end up in the rectum, waiting for the perfect moment to release. The winner was rewarded by the sound of a flushing toilet!

Harnessing Light as Sculptural Form

Another unusual creative experience was in creating a display that demonstrated how a laser beam could be used to measure movement. Laser light was sent through a fiber, then split in half and sent in opposite directions around a coil of fiber optic cable and then recombined. If the coil was rotated, the two light inputs would get out of phase with each other because the light traveling in the direction of the rotation would have to go a greater distance in the amount of time that it took for the light to go through the coil. Amazingly, this phase shifting can be detected with a light meter and measured to calculate for visitors how far the device was rotated. We built one of these to demonstrate the principle. Three of these devices set up at right angles from each other make up a modern laser gyro. Similar devices are used to orient spacecraft. Our demo model was three feet across while the ones in spacecraft can fit into your closed fist.

When I first moved to Oregon I was hired to build a 5-foot tall face that could blink its eyes among other sculptural things for the Oregon State Pavilion to be placed in the Worlds Fair in Vancouver BC that year. I had the pleasure of working with Michael Curry who was on the same sculpting team as me and who recently hosted a tour of his amazing facility for the ISC conference.

Professional Collaborations with a Bronze Sculptor

The last few years have provided me with the opportunity to work with architects and various builders to design an interesting building titled The Geode It included a 35’ tall spiral staircase, the iconic digital Light Blades on the outside of the Geode, and custom furniture. All of these projects were done with teams of creative people including several from the ranks of PNWS like Matt Scheick and Dave Gonzo who drew up the engineering drawings for the spiral stair from my concept sketches. It was laser cut and welded together in my shop while it was raining indoors (an amazing accomplishment).

The light Blades was created by a bigger team lead by my son Talik and gifted people who have created all sorts of things for Burning Man with us. I first made (with other PNWS members) a bamboo tent structure for a PNWS sculpture event held at the Maryhill Museum of Art in the Columbia Gorge. That inspired a 3,500 square foot bamboo structure for Burning Man years later. It housed a bar, sofa lounge, dance floor, and a giant misting chandelier by my friend, Lloyd Lindley.

Two years later I designed and lead the construction of a Mutant Art Car for Burning Man that carried the Tree of Knowledge, a refugee from the Garden of Eden, to help find a new home that would appreciate truth and freedom. Along with it came a wise, animated snake that could slither, listen, speak, breath smoke, and slide its split tongue out into surprised places (it’s still on display in my Studio).

The Evolution of an Accomplished Bronze Sculptor

That was a long introduction to get to what I hope to explore next. Recent projects in digital and projected light have suggested we may want to cast larger ideas into clear or translucent castable materials. These forms can be projected onto with mapped and animated imagery to give the sculpture additional dimensions of color and movement. So far we have experimented with opaque, castable urethane and clear or dyed epoxy resin. The urethane can be formulated so it can set in a short time. It is possible to hand rotate the molds as urethane set. Epoxy, on the other hand, allows for better control of clarity and colors, but sets too slowly to hand roll as it sets. Epoxy wants to be cast flat. We can bend it, but not pour it into a large mold easily. We just finished building a 9 ft. by 6 ft. chandelier for the main room in the Studio from precast flat pieces of epoxy resin.

I don’t know where this journey leads but we’re looking for collaborators, ideas, and skills to join us. Combining skills can greatly expand our options for making amazing things. We invite you to continue the conversation.

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Studying Sculpture in Japan at the Inami International Wooden Sculpture Camp

Japanese art has been a big influence on my aesthetic and choice of wood as my primary medium. This August, I will be attending the Inami International Wooden Sculpture Camp in Nanto City, Japan. It will be held at Zuisen-ji, the largest temple in the Hokuriku region, built-in 1390. The vicinity is the workplace of 200 woodcarvers, one of the world’s largest woodcarving centers.

Each invited sculptor is given a 6-foot log and 10 days to complete the artwork. The finished art becomes part of Nanto City’s Public Art Program. The theme of the carving camp is “To Bring the World Together through Wooden Sculpture.” It’s a mix of international sculptors and traditionally trained Japanese artists all working on the temple grounds. The public is welcome on-site to watch the progress. In fact, it is a great opportunity to witness the camp to celebrate both the long tradition of wooden sculpture and help advance this art into the 21st Century.

Meeting the Broader Wooden Sculpture Community

The opportunity to meet sculptors from all over the world, and to have a focus on the wooden sculpture is a rare experience for everyone to learn new techniques and exchange ideas. It is a positive environment to understand at a deeper level this ancient art we practice. While the event is not a competition, carving a 6-foot log in ten days will be a personal challenge of planning, skill, and stamina. Japan in August is hot and humid.

On the registration form, they requested both an image and the meaning of the work I intended to make. I had an idea inspired by a famous poem by Matsuo Basho for very Japanese flavor artwork. Rereading the directions carefully, I found the stipulation that it reflects “your culture.” That made me pause: “What is my culture?” After a lot of thinking, I decided if they want my culture: Western, Christian, Catholic, I would carve “Listening to the Moon.” A young woman and the moon as an angel, an Annciation. First carved as a small detail of a large sculpture, this is the opportunity to enlarge it. All the finished carvings become part of the public art collection of Nanto City.

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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 down to bumps and divots. Regardless of the subject, abstract or figurative, good sculpture bounces light and creates shadows with its forms and surfaces. I didn’t need to draw eyes, I could imply them in shadowed recesses. Forehead and nose and chin, cheekbones could be suggested by bright surfaces in the proper proportions.

Finding Inspiration in the Sculpture Process

Many of the drawings were unintentionally creepy. Ambiguity has always been an aspect of the Green Man. Medieval sculptures depict him with branches and leaves coming out of his mouth. Is he exhaling green or choking on it. Is wildness threatening or benign? Genetic engineering adds another layer of ambiguity. What would a human/ plant cross look like? How would new green beings relate to us, and we them?

I was also inspired by the science fiction book The Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It’s a story of a not too distant future mix of human and genetically modified beings and plants coping with a constantly changing environment.

I’m working on the carving now and will share soon. For now, here are some of my drawings.

Patrick-Gracewood-June-2019-Green-Man - Process-1

Patrick-Gracewood-June-2019-Green-Man-Process-2

Note: Patrick has been awarded a grant to participate in Inami International Sculpture Camp in Nanto City, Japan.

See Patrick’s small carving video

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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 the finished sculpture. While looking at the art you can see the passage of time because each line is one year of growth.

Japanese Technique in Wood Sculpture

Major influences on my wood sculpture are the Japanese monk, Enku, and the Taiwanese artist Ju Ming. Both influenced my work with their direct approach to carving.

Enkū (円空) (1632–1695) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, poet, and sculptor during the early Edo period. He was born in Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture) and is famous for carving some 120,000 wooden statues of the Buddha and other Buddhist icons. He used his art as devotional objects, giving them away, and to pay for lodging on his pilgrimages to temples throughout Japan.

I will be carving small figures in the style of Enkū and showing recent sculptures.

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Sculptors Share Secrets At International Sculpture Day 2019

International Sculpture Day - May 2019 - 1

International Sculpture Day - May 2019 - 2

We’ve yet to have an International Sculpture Day celebration that was not a great success. This one was slimmed down from previous years in that it was to be merely a juried exhibition with a few artists demonstrating techniques. A budget was set for food and the demonstrators paid a small fee to participate. Sculptors Jesse Pierson and Dave Gonzo hosted at their studio on Franklin in SE Portland. Of course, this all sounds simple, but there are a tremendous number of tasks to complete to pull such a thing off. Firstly, you need postcards and publicity, find somebody to pour beer, and the food needs to be bought and set up. Also, where does one find a computer beefy enough to run Oculus Rift? At some point, Gonzo had to lower the giant spider down from the ceiling and build a fire in it. Suffice it to say there was plenty of thinking and heavy lifting involved to make the event a success.

International Sculpture Day Is Mainly A Social Event

I was a demonstrator and went with the intent of making a decent number of little creatures. I made a small lump. It was green and misshapen. That’s as far as I got. Afterward, I spent the rest of the time talking with one person after another. What a bunch of interesting people and what a remarkable evening.

Oculus Rift is a piece of the 3D system with a stereo headset primarily aimed at the gaming industry. One is immersed in a 3-dimensional environment usually with ample weaponry. Hand controls enable one to manipulate and/or operate virtual objects. Your virtual hands or tools mimic the movements of your real arms and hands. Of course, all this means it’s possible to make things as well. This resulted in one person after another sitting over in the corner with googles and hand controls making insane gestures. Alisa Looney, Chas Martin, Andy Kennedy, Joe Cartino, and I were the demonstrators. All were constantly engaged. Thanks, Dave and Jesse, and all who helped out. That was a really nice event.

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“I am Leading this from What I Need as a Sculptor.”

Patrick Gracewood interviews sculptor, Alisa Looney

PG. I’m curious about artists who combine different disciplines. We share a love of drawing, dance, and sculpture. I’d like to talk about process. When we are focused on “Making ART” it is easy to ignore our body’s needs. How do you care for your spirit’s needs as a sculptor? Ignoring that aspect is problematic if we want to create art that communicates spirit instead of just manufacturing a skillful commodity.

AL. Many of the stretches and exercises that I do are essential for my body to function and to do physical work. Movement is key to keep my body mind and spirit all working properly. If I don’t move, I am literally in pain, my mind is not happy and my spirit feels stuck and I can’t draw well. Also, the computer is the hardest on my neck so I tend to avoid working on it.

How A Sculptor Translates Movement Into Form

I am still very drawn to depicting movement, yet not as much directly to the image of the dancer(s) as I was before. I have always been held captive by the energy of the body, and how it is the same energy as the river, the flow of life, the power of it, a strength of the body, the balance, the completeness of one human expression. My consciousness is expanded to the broader recognition of the web of life. How I can best depict our deep connection to nature and to each other?

One recent piece was inspired by the vision of humans breathing with the trees. We support the trees with our out-breath, and they support us with their oxygen. This was largely inspired by Treesister’s meditations which include gentle movement, and focuses on the deep connection to nature and trees. I am exploring how we co-exist with nature, how we can support the healing of our world and each other. This is primary to me now.

Currently I’m making an enamel on steel spirit mask. It depicts the rich layer of soil and fungus deep in the roots of the trees. Trees and fungus support each other with life giving properties. The roots take the shape of a human face, and the piece is titled: Rooting Tree Spirit.

I have had many, many years of movement – explored through dance and then brought that energy into drawings and paintings. Over the years that has developed what I call Sketch in Motion. I enjoy teaching this process.

Dance of a Sculptor

As a dancer, the movement I am longing to do is largely outside, along the river, under the trees. I have decided to start a movement class near our home and studio called: “Move with ease in the trees.” It is my hope that this brings movers to me that also feel this calling to move and to connect with the trees and nature. I will keep it gentle and improvisational, for any age, and will provide art supplies to allow whatever self-expression or inspiration to come out. Afterward, we warm ourselves up indoors and gradually take it outdoors as the movers feel comfortable to do so. I am leading this from what I need as an artist.

PG. Thank you, Alisa. I love the idea of leading from what you need. An artist doesn’t just make a product but is someone who integrates the different interests of life as a creative process.

Watch Alisa’s process video to see her combination of creative processes. https://alisalooney.com/about/process-video/

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Descartes’s Ipad – When 3D Technology and Sculpture Combine

Some years ago, I read a short blurb about a new 3D technology that could paint an image directly onto the retina. The resolution was poor but there were high hopes that would be improved. I never heard another thing about it, but it got me thinking. Would there come a day when you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between physical reality and a computer-generated environment? Descartes made the case that if you could, without a doubt, think you existed- that in itself proved your existence. Descartes didn’t have an iPad.

In a general sense, one can say a computer system can define points in space. How many of those points can be defined (resolution) and how quickly those points can be redefined is determined by the speed of the machines and the skill set of the programmer. Those factors have come to the point where that bit about not being able to tell the real world from a computer-generated world is rapidly coming true. The Goodwill has lots of 3D Goggles. They cost $5 or so. Download the rollercoaster app. (it’s free), slip your phone in there and there you go. What’s this mean for sculpture? All kinds of fun things.

Experiences Of 3D Technology In Virtual Environments

In a virtual world, one can define their own laws of nature. One can redefine material properties. Weightless, magnetic marble? Winged kittens? How about a room full of creepy statues that respond to your emotional state. I am pondering all this and imagining entire constructed worlds when, sculptor, Andy Kennedy sends me a video. I find myself in a real gallery, with sculptures that can only be seen when viewed through a phone, tablet, or 3D goggles. This is augmented reality, the real world with 3D technology digital constructions superimposed upon it. Here was a way to focus on virtual sculpture without the distraction of having to construct the environment as well and the consequent problem of how one would move about in it realistically. Using the real world as the stage resolves that nicely. I’ve posted some links below.

Here is a link to an artist. His name is Maxim Zhesthov. This is an example of redefining material properties. I thought this was real until something happened that could only be digital. Remember all those people wandering the streets staring at their iPhones playing Pokemon, peeking under bushes with their phones looking for little creatures? That is an example of augmented reality.

https://www.facebook.com/AdrienMClaireB/videos/1759097424148719/UzpfSTEwMDAwMjM0NjQzMjQxNzoxMDIxNjAzOTc2NjgwNTAzOQ/

In the above image, only the little man is digital. The full video can be seen if you follow the link. The artists are Adrian M and Clair.

The argument can be made that such things are not sculpture because they don’t have a physical presence, but isn’t that what a painting is, an image of a real thing? And does it matter anyway? The point here is that this is a new brush, a new tool.

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