You cant handle the truth.

Here are two pictures of my finished elephant sculpture. I have had this elephant sculpture on my mind ever since Bro Tolutau told me the story in college. I have thought of many different versions of it over the years, including covering the elphant with people completely. However for this one I wanted to keep it simple, I used just one person to emphasize the enormity of the elephant. I was flipping through an old sketchbook from six years ago and I was suprised to see that this was not a new idea but one that I had forgotten I had had. I was startled to see how closely the drawing matches the sculpture because I didnt reference it conciously in any way.

I entered it in the county fair and it got first place for sculpture, (I think it was the only sculpture there). They usually have drawings and photos, and even paintings, but not much in the way of sculpture. The ladies who registered it for the fair asked if it was made from a kit. I got a call from the local paper and they asked me a few questions about my process and inspiration. They included a couple of paragraphs about it in the last issue. Its funny I have been here for seven years but only recently has my art migrated outside the classroom. Its the second time in four months that my art has been mentioned in the local paper. I guess Im just less busy now that my degree is finished.

at the bottom is a picture of my local clay sculpture which I am excited about and disappointed at the same time. It cracked deeply durring the firing. From what I have been reading this is a shrinkage issue which can be remedied by adding another less plastic (shrinkable) clay, or by adding grog. I dont want to add another clay because I really like the idea of a sculpture made completely from this area. So I will have use grog, which means crushing up the some of the clay in dry form, firing it and adding the fired gravel to the wet clay. Which is more work but thats life. I am really excited about the color of the fired clay it is a deep earthy orange. In its raw state it was an uninspiring brown, To put it bluntly, as my son remarked, "it looks like poop".  When I opened the kiln and saw this beautiful color I was almost giddy. I dont know why but this local clay really excites me. I am in the process of making more, hopefully I will  improve my results. I will keep you posted.

Funny Thing

This is inspired by the story of the blind men arguing about the nature of an elephant

This will be a wall haning.

The other day I had this conversation with my wife.
Leslie: whats wrong
Me: I am having an idea
Leslie: it looks like you are having a stroke, your eyes are rolling back into your head
Me: I am looking at the idea.

I have wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember. I think it may have started from my dads practice of bringing home scrap paper from work and putting it in a drawer in the kitchen.  I remember long hours spent drawing  ray guns, monsters, comic book muscle men. I drew all the time, I kept a pretty regular sketchbook after about 6 grade. I wish I knew what happened to them all. Drawing was my primary interest from kindergarten to 10th grade. I only took art electives when given any choice. Mrs. Nohara my art teacher recommended that I take a ceramics class to round out my artistic skill set. I dont know what is was about clay but I took to it immediately, all I wanted to do was sculpt or throw pottery. I couldnt be bothered to do a single homework assignment, but I read ceramics monthlys, I found and watched instructional videos in BYU Hawaii's library, I spent many of my lunches in the ceramics room at Kahuku High School. I enjoyed clay so much that I had a hard time making myself draw. I started leaving my drawing class to go to the the ceramics room.  I barely picked up a pencil for the next 3 years.

When I went on a two year mission for my church, I had no access to clay, but instead of returning to drawing as a primary medium I used drawing to record ideas for sculptures I would make when I got home. Drawing had become by that point more of a means to an end rather than a pursuit in and of itself. My sketchbooks all through college reflect this shift to 3D, I rarely took the time to do a finished drawing, instead I used my sketchbooks to record ideas in shorthand scribbles just detailed enough to resurrect my thoughts.

It was not until I started teaching that I came back to drawing for drawing sake. The act of teaching drawing, doing demonstrations, and reading about drawing, rekindled my early love of drawing. When I got the chance to do this show, I knew that I would make a lot of the art this summer. Because I would be working at home a lot, and its hard to sculpt at home, (and not really healthy either,) As stated in an earlier post, I was thinking about doing a whole show of just drawings. However last week I got an idea that I wanted to sculpt. So I went up to my class room and started working. Once I got my hands into the clay I was like "oh yeah, how could I forget,  I really like sculpting". It satisfies me in a way that drawing cant. I cant even explain it, because the things I enjoy about sculpting are nonverbal, tactile, sensations, and emotional response.

So I am sculpting, and throwing and drawing. I did another strict observational drawing last week of a pear, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Maybe I am too weak and feeble minded. Maybe my work would be better if I had laser like focus and perfect follow through on my ideas , like doing a whole show of strict observational drawing. But the funny thing is the past week that I have been sculpting, I have been itching to work everyday. Its no longer something that I should do, its something I couldnt wait to do. I think Leslie could see that too. She has been very good about scheduling with me so that I get up to the classroom to work. I think my best art is born out of effort and passion and I was trying to get by on just effort.

On a different but related note, after years of wondering I have discovered how to find local clay. Gerry Theil a former art teacher and local artist, told me that its all over the place. He said to just look for cracked earth. I remembered seeing some cracked earth on a local farmers property. So I went back and literally collected some of his dirt. I soaked it in water, dried it carefully, and wedged it (like bread kneading), and holy smokes its clay, right from the ground. I always knew that clay was just a certain kind of dirt but this was still astonishing to me. Its like a gamer finding out he can grow an xbox for free in his garden. I had this lump of dirt and It felt like the clay wanted to be a baby sculpture. Seeds, plants, trees, roots, and babies are definitely recurring motifs with me, and it just seemed appropriate to make this connection between the earth, and birth, germination and rejuvenation. It says in the Bible that Adam was made from the dust of the earth, and the Book of Mormon talks about the body as a tabernacle of clay. Making sculpture with earth is reminiscent of genisis where the inanimate earth is imbued with life, and I thought a sculpture of baby curled up like a seed waiting to sprout captured that idea. So I will post some pictures soon of sculpture made from local clay.

I also want to post something about art in general what I like and dont like. I have definite opinions about what I like,and dont like but I acknowledge and respect the opinions of others who completely disagree with me. I am thinking I want to explore a little what strikes a chord with me and why.