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Michele Collier

Teaching Sculpting Workshops– One Sculptor’s Dilemma

Michele Collier - Teaching Sculpting Workshops - Sept 2019

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. That was in August.

As I got back to my studio with no sculpting workshops on the horizon, I asked myself the question… why teach? It certainly contributes to my bottom line, but it also distracts me from what I consider to be my “real’ work.

When I returned to my studio, it seemed like I had to apologize to my muse for spending most of the year chasing the buck. A lot of groveling was involved. Little by little my sculptor self came back to me and the work grew with every piece. Now that I’m back in Artist mode (as opposed to teacher mode) I have to ask myself again…should I teach? I think it’s a question we all ask at some point (Unless teaching is our main career).

Key Lessons from Teaching Sculpting Workshops

I think the best answer for me is to find a balance. Teach a class, but don’t let teacher mode take me over. As a teacher, I think about how I will bring my students along so they can learn and have a good result. As a sculptor, I must take chances and work in a state of “spirit”. That’s the best way I can describe the experience. “Teacher brain” gets in my way.

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Filed Under: Blog, Education Tagged With: Michele Collier, sculpting workshops, sculpture class, sculpture workshops, The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology Author: Michele Collier

Art Inspiration – My Oracle…The Ocean

A lot of my work draws heavily on ocean waveforms for art inspiration. I’ve spent many happy hours sitting on beaches all along the west coast from San Diego, California to Long Beach, Washington just watching and letting the power soak into my bones.

I call this visiting my Oracle….I ask questions and (usually) I get a few answers.

There is nothing better for resetting your sense of self than watching several tons of water crash against the rocks …again and again…relentlessly. The rocks hardly notice, but over the years, the water will win. In search of art inspiration, I discovered when I went back to visit a favorite beach I found the sea had rearranged objects in my absence. 

Where Medium Meets Art Inspiration

My sculpture medium is paper clay. It has high water content and I can slam a slab of it against a “rock” that I set up in my studio. The effect is very much like what I observe at the beach. I manipulate these slabs to support human figures. I follow this sculpting method for a while like a person in a fever. But, after several new pieces, the fever will leave me and I step away from the ocean waves for a time. I now know that at some point I will have to return to the sea for information about my life and my art. (Aren’t they one and the same?). My Oracle will always be there. 

To learn more about Michele’s work or Pacific Northwest Sculptors, contact us today!

Filed Under: Blog, Material-Media, Members, Process Tagged With: Michele Collier, paper clay, paper clay sculptor, Sculpture process Author: Michele Collier

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