Collecting the Unusual

I have been with Jeff for 26 years.  During that time I have seen him collect yellow floor tiles so he could make a yellow brick road, turkey feathers for some kind of sculpture and cow bones because they are interesting.  The weirdest thing he kept was the bloody bandages from his collapsed lung.  He meant to do a sculpture about the medical world.

He has bits and pieces, this and that and sundry items all over the studio.  He has an old mechanical horse that he was going to use as a base for a sculpture, scrap motorcycle pipes  because the shapes are interesting and manzanita branches that he used in the sculpture “Chrysalis” which is a fairy emerging from  a chrysalis hanging from a tree.  A manzanita branch was used to make a mold for the tree.  He took his old boots and turned them into a sculpture about how no one can walk a mile in anyone else’s shoes (there is a huge bolt through the boots).

Most of the time the images he uses come from his imagination.  He doesn’t use models generally.  Sometimes he will use a reference book if he is looking for a particular look.  He is currently working on a soldier and dragon playing chess.  The dragon is your typical, run of the mill dragon.  He has teeth and scales and a wonderful tail.  The soldier is a different matter.

First, we had to find just the right kind of hat that Jeff saw him wearing.  He saw, in his imagination, a kind of brimmed top hat.  We started searching on the internet for just what he had in mind.  It turned out to be a shako.  A shako is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a peak (British English) or visor (American English) and sometimes tapered at the top.  So now he could sculpt the soldier’s hat correctly.  Next, it was epaulettes.  He took a bit of artistic license with that to make the soldier work sculpturally.

Now, he wants the soldier to have a sword.  He remembers seeing sword party picks that he thinks will be just right.  I’m not sure where to find them so I asked my Facebook friends and got a number of suggestions.  Finding them now is easy.

I love being a sculptor’s wife.  My husband’s requests are not the usual requests but I find them interesting.  Thank goodness we have the internet now.  Who knows what he will ask for next.

When is art offensive?

We have two new sculptures.  One was released this year and is entitled
“Homebuilders” and the other is a new sculpture scheduled to be cast and
released next year entitled “Sex Object.”

Now, I love almost all the sculpture that my husband, Jeff, creates.  I love these
two sculptures but the funny thing is that I am very sensitive about who I show them to.

Jeff never creates sculpture as statements about anything.  He is just exploring
the human condition with no judgement.  He observes, contemplates and sculpts.
There are lots of artists who are radical or militant or just angry and are
creating statements meant to rile up the public.  Not Jeff.

When he started “Homebuilders,”  it was a commission from two wonderful
gay guys who really wanted to celebrate their life together.  They had been looking
for a sculpture that would portray the life that they were building but everything they
found was either cheesy or homoerotic.  Not what they wanted.  We met them at a
show in the San Francisco Bay area.  They stopped by our display on Saturday and
talked to Jeff about their ideas and he said come back tomorrow and let’s see what I come
up with.  He always took wax with us to shows so he could create in the down time.
He had an idea.  Two guys building a treehouse.  When they came back on
Sunday he had a wax sketch, very rough, but the idea was there.  They loved it.
They have number one in the edition of 100 and are very happy.

Now we have this wonderful sculpture in our collection and I am ready to start
promoting it.  But, I have a hesitation.  I was excited and ready to send it to
all our of gay and lesbian clients.  “Please, if it’s not for you, show it to
your friends!” is what I want to say, but it seems inappropriate.  Maybe it is
more offensive that I think it is!  I see a wonderful sculpture about two men who
really love each other building a life that means a lot to them.  What will others
see?  But, if I don’t show it to them, am I doing a disservice to my clients who
might really want to add it to their collections or show it to their friends?  It is
a real quandary!  What should I do?

Tomorrow: Sex Object

Technology and Art

Bronze casting has been accomplished the same way for thousands of years.  Of course, there have been upgrades such as more high tech mold materials and furnaces, but you still have to have a wax pattern, make a mold around it, melt out the wax, pour the molten bronze into the mold, get the finished bronze out and clean it up.  Sculpture has been done the same way since sculpting began.  An artist has an idea and wants to put it into a three dimensional object to share it with someone else or just keep it for himself.  Selling sculpture has always been the same also.  A sculptor makes an object that appeals in such a strong emotional way to someone else that they are willing to trade something that they own to have it and be able to experience it whenever they want.  Owning sculpture that makes you happy or sad or nostalgic or amused is a wonderful experience.

The big changes now are how sculpture is marketed.  How do we get the sculpture in front of someone who will be happy or sad or nostalgic or amused by it.  I always thought that buying a sculpture is such an emotional experience that someone needed to touch it and feel that emotion in person.  Lately I have found myself to be wrong.

I love selling sculpture.  I love seeing a sculpture bring tears to someone’s eyes or having someone come to me the day after they have first experienced one of Jeff’s sculpture and have them tell me, ” I have to have it.  I dreamed about it all night!”  But, nowadays, more often than not, I am selling sculpture on the phone or over the internet.

So, in an effort to be more up to date and to reach the people who have been looking for Jeff’s sculpture, I am branching out.  I am studying social marketing and networking and more and more ways to connect.  So, if you see us somewhere new, please give us a friendly cyber wave.  If you have an idea on where we should be focusing, let us know.  And, if you know someone who should see Jeff’s sculpture, help us connect.