Dress Up

After a long day of painting and gessoing, which really aren’t that creative things to do, it’s nice to flex some mental muscles by playing with sculpture placement and object combinations. I almost never know what color I want a sculpture to be when I start making it, let alone what shape it will take or what object it will ultimately end up with (if any at all). Those questions are usually the last ones answered. Because of that, I usually take a while to really live with the individual sculptures and marinate on ideas with them. Part of today was one of those days. Just move things around, sit and look. Most of the time there’s no “Aha!” moment of what it should be, but usually there are some instant answers about what it shouldn’t be. This kinda puzzle work feels like the most important work involved in making sculptures: not the labor involved in getting the clay to stand or getting the paint to adhere properly or sanding off jagged corners (which are all necessary). Moving my body in space and switching up the jigsaw puzzle combo of works in process feels like where I really become an artist: where I have to decide between several options that usually aren’t better or worse than the other, just different answers that yield different results. So then, what results do I want from my work? Do they change over time? From one piece to another? Can I show several pieces with different “goals” in the same exhibit without it feeling disjointed? Decisions, decisions.