"When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive searching, daring, self expressive creature." -Robert Henri
My mind is on art like never before. It has really become an integral part of my life and it has been great to see the changes I have made in my skill as an artist and as a sculptor in particular. I've also been reading a lot of quotes from artists. I read this one from Robert Henri the other day, and really can identify with it. I read a quote from someone else who talked about this same subject, and pointed out that the word"art" used to be synonymous with the word "craft". In that sense, doctors carpenters and a host of other skilled workers could be considered artists of their trade. I'm reminded of my cousin Brandon who runs his own remodeling business. I worked with him far a few weeks a couple of years ago and could not help but look at his work and consider it art. He has skill and talent in what he does. He is inventive and daring and I consider him and many of those other true craftsman to be artists.
Recently my focus in sculpture has been working on human figures. It has stretched me, and has been pretty difficult to work against my own ignorance, but as I've grown it has been immensely gratifying. The following photos are of a sculpture I've been working on for the past few weeks, and which is almost completed. It is sculpted out of water based amador clay and is about 18 inches tall. My inspiration for this comes from those hard workers who have lived through the ages toiling away with their bare hands to get things done. It is simply titled "The Wood Cutter."
