Process

They picked up the marble sculpture and plaster carver's model from the US Customs inspection office in New York, trucked it down to Potomac, placed the stone and finished the job by dinner time. These big events tend to build in your mind and then they happen. Just like that, they happen on an ordinary day. A Thursday, for example.

Sure, I designed the sculpture and sculpted it, but without the help of several models, the mold-maker and enlarger, Malcolm the stone-carver and his crew, and Andrew and the crew at Canal Street Studios, and not to mention the generous donor who has been gracious enough to give such a lasting gift to the church- none of this would have happened.

How many people does it take to move a two-ton sculpture of the Blessed Virgin out of the studio, onto a truck, drive sixty-five miles down the road and into a niche in a church? We had quite a crew out there!

For the people who visit Our Lady of Mercy, the sculptures point us to the Divine. The Stations of the Cross illustrate the Passion. They don’t merely retell an historical event but attempt to uncover some of the deeper spiritual truths. The Virgin Mary is celebrated as the mother of God but also as a woman whose act of faith changed the world. Her husband, St. Joseph, stands as a reminder to fathers and husbands of the important role that God has for them.

In my image, St. Joseph sits in his workshop with his carpenter’s angle in one hand dropping into his lap. A hammer and nails on the floor remind us of Christ’s passion. Joseph has just heard word from the angel in his dream about Jesus, and he stares into his hand, “Me, a father? The Son of God?!”

Most people imagine the artist caught up in fits of passion, creating, oblivious of the needs of daily life.  We picture the sculptor chipping away in a frenzy of artistic ecstasy. The most exciting part of creating art is indeed the conceptual phase at the beginning.

God gave me a vision of a sculpture that I had to make. I pulled out a pen and sketched out the image on an overturned piece of stationary. I drew an image of a woman, shown from the waist up. Her head and eyes turned dramatically to one side as her body twisted in the opposite direction. The visual effect was that of a spiral.

The way an artist looks at a model is unlike the way we look at one another in any other context. There is no judgment for the way a model compares with glossy magazine images or how they measure up to cultural beauty standards.

Tools are an extension of our own hands, but we always begin with what we already have. In this post I introduce you to my favorite tiny tools!

It was Tuesday Night Drawing group. If it weren’t so sacrilegious to say, it was our church. We never missed a Tuesday, even during that terrible snow storm last year. I walked the mile into town to draw.

Don't miss the debut of the larger-than-life bronze statue of fashion designer Claire McCardell!

After a grueling winter, I welcomed the warmer studio temperatures and wrapped up the finishing touches on the the 7'6" clay sculpture of Claire McCardell.

Frederick Art Club’s Statue of Claire McCardell Proposal Gets Nod from Frederick City Mayor

Have you imagined commissioning a sculpture? Let's say your family, a church, or organization wants to commission of a work of sculpture, but you have no idea where to begin or how to proceed. Here I will describe the process that I use in my studio.

How many people does it take to move a two-ton sculpture of the Blessed Virgin out of the studio, into a truck, sixty-five miles down the road and into a niche in a church?

With the exception of actually designing and making sculptures, working with a dynamic team of creative people is my favorite aspect of running a studio.

If you haven't seen the winners of this year's Art Prize in Grand Rapids, please go check it out! This year's first place winner is a mother and art teacher, Adonna Khare. She drew an exquisite, surreal mural of elephants and jungle creatures with nothing but pencils, an eraser, and a sock. The work is just incredible; it transports you to another place!

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