12/31/18
A friend once told me that there are few places in a home to put sculpture (maybe a coffee table, mantle, or bookshelf) but there are many painted walls in need of artwork. With that in mind, I decided to work on some relief sculptures. Here is the first in my series.
11/25/18
Sometimes a quick sculpt is all that's needed to give me a sense of joy. This afternoon I spent some time in my happy place working on a classical Roman bust. When Theo came down to the studio, he said it looked like Pontius Pilate. And, thus, it is.
11/6/18
After all the drawing creativity of Chalktober, it's about time I finish a sculpture that's been hovering (some may say, "languishing") in my studio for a long time. Measured Passion is a labor of love and a study in emotion. Restrained emotion. Muted emotion. Controlled emotion. A contrasting piece is in the works as well but you'll have to wait a while to see that one.
11/3/18
The Industrial Technology program I designed for Holy Trinity is different than any other in the state. Our 3-d Printing and Manufacturing class is learning software to make 3-d models and print them on the 3-d printer. But students are also learning the "real" side of 3-d work in mold making as well. This little sculpture was made so I could show my students how to make a silicone mold for a sculpted object.
11/1/18
I'm not a full time artist yet. I teach, and this year has been kicking my butt. --As you can tell by the long span between blog posts. With so much school work to do, I needed a creative outlet that was fairly quick (at least in comparison to sculpture). So I invented Chalktober where I draw on the slate chalkboards I have at both schools and at home. 31 drawings are the result. The smallest was about 6 inches tall. The largest, over 3 feet. Click the image here to see them all.
8/23/18
Sometimes things fall into a person's lap and you can do nothing but be thankful. Yesterday I was given the opportunity to sculpt a 90 pound block of butter and meet Linda Christensen who has done the butter sculptures at the Minnesota State Fair for the last 47 years. It was a challenging job to work in a 34 degree cooler for a day on a medium that I've only tried once before.
The experience gave me a new respect for what Linda does every year in front of thousands of people.
8/19/18
When I sculpt usually I carve clay away and add some back and carve and add. If I ever want to make something in stone (or butter) I should practice a subtractive sculpture process. So today I spent 2 hours doing just that. Now, the results aren't perfect by any means, but this piece is a "proof-of-concept" work. And as such, I feel it was a success.
8/9/18
Sometimes I sculpt people who impress me. That was the case for my last sculpture of Roger and again is the case for this quick portrait of Dana. She is doing so much for the arts with her 410 Project Bike tour and #artjob! Dana was a former student who started the 410 Project bike tour where she visits artists and collects artwork from each, packs the pieces on a trailer and bikes to the next artist on the route. By the time she completes the route, she has hundreds of pounds of artwork on her trailer.
Her work intrigued me but after she posted a profile picture of herself with amazing waves of hair, I had to do a quick study. This took me about 8 hours to complete. (The multitudinous waves and curls took longer than I had anticipated.)
7/15/18
Happy Birthday to my wife today! She's 28 according to the card I gave her.
Now to the business at hand: Last year at Andrew's graduation party, I was surprised that Roger and his wife stopped by. I told him that I'd like to sculpt a portrait of him someday. Well, I guess it only took a year to get around to doing that. Now you can see the results of this portrait study of Roger.
6/4/18
Sometimes I feel so sad. There's nothing I can do but pray and find my happy place in the studio. Here is the result of an hour and a half sculpting out some happiness tonight.
5/29/18
I'm looking at my studio and wondering why I keep so many pieces. So today I set up a "Studio Sale" page that lists the items I'd like to move at a discount price.
That page does not display prices because I'd like patrons to make an offer. But bear in mind that this is not a garage sale and these items will not be sold for 10 cents each. I've put in many hours making these sculptures and would like to be compensated accordingly, but I'm willing to entertain any reasonable offer. So brows the "Sale" page and contact me if you see anything that might fit into home's decor.
4/24/18
Sometimes I just have to quit every tedious little thing and do something fast and fun.
Last night I worked on a little bust (12 inches high) of Prince. This was done from memory without photo references so there are some inaccuracies, but it was fun to play around on something whimsical.
As I alluded to, I've been working on a little statue during my free time. As an example of the tedium, I worked for 2 hours on the cuff of this little figure's sleeve. THAT is why I needed to make this quick and spontaneous bust.
3/4/18
A huge apology for the lack of blog posts lately. I try to post something every month but haven't had any finished work since December.
Even this little draped figure study isn't really finished yet (I'll add wings in the coming weeks). But she looks finished enough to display here. Click the image to see how this piece was sculpted.
1/20/18
Along with the toothbrush holders made for Christmas (seen here) I finally updated the Recent Additions page.
You can see a variety of things there but one I'd like to highlight is a 20 inch tall relief sculpture based on Edvard Munch's 1893 painting "The Scream". It was a fun little sculpt done as an example for my Pottery students. Click here to see that.