Artist’s Statement about my Sculpture
These sculptures express my desire to make portraits of people, and include wood elements to complete a poetic meaning. Each one of the models I work from is an interesting and complex human being. In working from them, casting them, and presenting their portraits, I am honoring their humanity, and sharing it with the world. I attempt to describe the precious individuality of the people who have modeled for me.
I have studied, and continue to study, anatomy, for many years, as I believe a full knowledge of anatomy is one of the keys to my self-expression. The delicate curves of muscles and bones, the armature of the human form, have an abstract beauty which informs the nude human figure.
I work from life as many hours as I can arrange, with each model. I model the sculptures in red clay, supported by an armature, and continue working on details after the pose has ended. I then cast them in hydrostone (very hard plaster), and color them, to give them a feeling of being more alive. Sometimes I make wood pieces to go with them (as I did the sculpture entitled "Shelter"). The sculpture "Dreamer at Low Tide" was created with a portrait head modeled from life, and wooden elements created from an image in my mind. The image came to me as I saw a tree bending up from the sand, in a tidal area at the Tacony Creek Park. The tree’s resilience and distorted grace related to the portrait of a creative person who is a dear friend, whose head I modeled and cast. The richly patterned and curving wood surfaces relate to his many creative thoughts and inventions.
The sculpture: “Meredith and Spirit Tree” is a portrait of a model I know well, and an imaginary tree (made of wood), which represents her spirit. Her connection to the tree is giving her strength and serenity, as trees can when we are near them. The tree is made of walnut, mahogany, fir, and cedar. The standing figure of Meredith is made of hydrostone (hard plaster), cast from a clay original and colored with a casein patina.