Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sculptural art...

If you have perused my web site, you've probably noticed I also create wood art in the form of sculptures and wall art. Since this form of art is not quite as technical as creating studio furniture.. I can express myself through the creation of this free-form wood art. This is often a welcome break from the structured process of creating studio furniture. Recently, I have had the need to create two sculptures which follow a theme. These particular sculptures are different from one another but are related as to the theme and vision I am trying to put forward. With their small size and minimal need for materials such as wood, sculptures instead allow me to focus instead on the art itself. I select wood which has interesting graphics and a cohesive grain pattern. The wood blanks are typically large in dimensions, allowing me ample material to sculpt the components of the sculpture. Often the sculpting process can be somewhat of a challenge when I use compound curves.

When I create sculptural work I usually start with a sketch and move on to creating the sculpture directly from the sketch. I don't bother with maquettes or mock ups since at least for me, the sculpture is not too far removed from a sketch. The proportions are not critical as with studio furniture, they need to instead work to represent the intended vision.
Once I flesh out a design for a sculpture through a series of sketches, the fun begins. How to turn a sketch into a 3-D object. How to sculpt an object out of wood to represent an image without going overboard; without inserting too many elements into the design. The saying "less is more" often applies to sculptural work. How to create this sculptural work with minimal elements, only enough to put the image or vision forward. I often alternate between creating studio furniture and other forms of wood art, this keeps the monotony to a minimum and allows me to express myself with minimal structure and technical details... a very liberating feeling!