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Inner Garden
My work in the studio has been delayed
for over a year due to a conflict with the City Zoning Dept.
they put me out of business,
requiring me to spend $8000 and one year to fight my way back into
being able to legally sculpt at my studio
I returned to work as a stone sculptor this
August 2015 working short sessions getting my act back together
and find a rhythm after such a long absence. How great it is to
having my energy flow between hands and mind.
Selecting a stone
I had been storing a slab of dolomite about
2 ft. x 3 ft. and 1 ½ inch thick rectangle. This type of stone
carves very well, is hard enough to polishes to a high shine and
is a lovely black color. The shape of the stone was boring leading
to the next step:
Design
Having the stone in
the studio I began drawings of what I might do with it, my typical
approach for me. A shape emerged – a large circle with tooth like
tabs rising up at the top. In scale I designed an image for each
side – a spiral originating with a modified serpent head at top
winding down into the center with a monkey tail ending.
Old friends
Carving process
A couple sessions
of sawing then grinding the edges produced the outer edges and new
shape; it is very nice and stimulates the designs as I draw them
on the stone before beginning the carving cycle. Supporting the
slab so the vigorous pounding of carving does not break the stone
is challenging requiring lots of shimming. After rough cutting the
areas to be recessed I find finish textures than move from a
polished serpent head to water like veins coursing the spiral
around to the
monkey tail
ending where I switched to a hatch
marked surface produced with a wide finish chisel. A crack is
exposed in the head of the serpent while carving; it is part way
through the slab and runs about half way across the stone. I alter
the design of the plant side after I turn the stone to carve that
side and tightly support the stone’s upper section and proceed.
A friend visited
the finished piece in the studio and I was telling him how when
carving the different types of stone – sandstone / dolomite /
granite my thinking process changes while carving. It is like:
putting a plug or muffler into a trumpet that changes the sound
made by the horn. When carving this dolomite my thoughts are
unique to this material and in a way that is
listening/speaking to the stone.
I have noticed the finishes textures developed in each piece
change/evolve with type of stone and each composition. Sculpting
is an organic process, the mind is changed by the hand and it’s
response to the material and tool being used. The result is a
finished piece of sculpture but that is less important than the
process the sculptor travels through. For me sculpting is a
practice a way to explore ideas and the materials they are made of
– the end products of finished sculptures are wonderful and do
lead to the next project, yet pale in comparison to the process.
Steel work
After 18 sessions of carving grinding and
polishing ideas of how to present the piece begin to emerge. Using
a farm disk as a base I repeat the large stone circle connecting
it to the stone with a steel shoe, treaded for a bolt up from the
disk. Then as simple post welded on the edge of the disk connects
to the carved circle a two point support is enough for the back
and forward support. To keep the stone from falling side to side I
cut in two steel straps and drill through them a good bolt
connection. From the straps I develop a trellis of 5 steel square
rods welded to the straps and disk below. After 9 sessions of
steel work, I blacken the steel then lacquer it to stop rust. The
final finis is several coats of stone sealer to show off the
contrast in carved and natural surfaces.
Title
The name of a piece
comes at different stages of the process. Sometimes while
conceiving of a sculpture in the primary drawings pops out then
often after I shape the stone and begin the graphics the name
emerges. This piece took a long time I was actually wondering when
I would know. The sculpture was completely built then during a
lecture by a Buddhist teacher I knew it should be called
“Inner Garden”.
Seeing it
complete in the studio is a treat – it is a good piece and the
bonus is I have gotten back to work as an artist giving up my 1
year sabbatical as a victim of City Bureaucracy.
So
this lovely tale is told.
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