Art Attack in Metal
Friday is my 5th class in Welded Sculpture. That's the half way point. Last week, we finished up the demos and info on how to use the grinders and then with about an hour left, they said we could go start on our projects. So I, after being antsy to get started while they kept talking about stuff, wandered off and began going through the piles of scrap metal to try to pull out interesting bits that I thought might spark my imaginiation. I grabbed all the pieces that looked good, arranged them, looked at them, moved them around, went back for more and then abruptly seized up.
I realized that I hadn't really given any thought at all as to *what* I was going to sculpt once I had the freedom to start. And it started to dawn on me that this medium is so obviously different from my ceramic sculpting that it's not reasonable to approach it the same way. When I sculpt in clay, I sit down with a lump and just pull the image out. I'm frequently surprised by the direction it goes, but I usually have a feeling that infuses it and after a few pushes and pulls, the image just starts to appear.
Metal working is ... well it's different. That's all I can say at this point. Needless to say, I left class about 20 minutes early last week because I wasn't in a good place with it. I've been thinking about it and sketching on it off and on since then and I think I'm getting some hints as to where it's heading, so I'm really looking forward to getting back to the torch and welding machine tomorrow.
I realized that I hadn't really given any thought at all as to *what* I was going to sculpt once I had the freedom to start. And it started to dawn on me that this medium is so obviously different from my ceramic sculpting that it's not reasonable to approach it the same way. When I sculpt in clay, I sit down with a lump and just pull the image out. I'm frequently surprised by the direction it goes, but I usually have a feeling that infuses it and after a few pushes and pulls, the image just starts to appear.
Metal working is ... well it's different. That's all I can say at this point. Needless to say, I left class about 20 minutes early last week because I wasn't in a good place with it. I've been thinking about it and sketching on it off and on since then and I think I'm getting some hints as to where it's heading, so I'm really looking forward to getting back to the torch and welding machine tomorrow.