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Dear Jon,
It's the
beginning of August already, and for many sculptors around the
U.S., that means one thing - Loveland. Last year was my
first experience at the Sculpture In The Park and Loveland
Invitational shows here in Colorado, and if you haven't been
before, it's definitely worth the trip. It's a great way
to see a lot of great work, and identify trends in the world
of sculpture. I'm looking forward to making my way
through the multitudes of artworks and artists again this
weekend.
Here at Hammer & Pen, the Loveland shows
are a great opportunity for us to meet the sculptors and
advertisers who support us, something we look forward to all
year. We hope to meet as many of you as possible this
weekend. To all you participating artists, we wish you
the best of luck, and we hope the hard work and preparations
for the show pay off. If you're participating in either
show, be sure to stop by the media tent and sign up to win
some great prizes from our advertisers!
If you
are a student or you know a student in an accredited, higher
education sculpture program, be sure to check out our 1st Annual Student Sculpture
Competition. It's a great opportunity to get your
work published alongside one of your professors. Stop by
our Competition page
for details, and be sure to keep checking our website and Facebook page for
the latest from Sculptural
Pursuit!
Happy August!
Jon
NobleOnline
Editor | |
In The
Current Issue of Sculptural Pursuit
- Hopi Sculptor Kim Seyesnem Obrzut
- 6th Annual Sculpture Only Competition Winners
- Jim Boles, Mixed Media
- Marc Mayhew, Stone
- Gage Prentiss, Steel
- Anna Korver: New Zealand Wood & Stone Sculptor
- Working with a Professional Photographer
- Artful Business: How to Take Quality Images of 3D
Art
- Plus Literary Pearls, Collector's Corner, and
more!
Available on newsstands
now!
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All content in Creative Wisdom is
the property of Hammer & Pen Productions, and may not be
reproduced in any form without the express written permission
of the author and/or Hammer & Pen Productions. For
usage permissions, please email editoronlinesp@sculpturalpursuit.com. |
2009 Sculpture Only Competition - 4th Place
Winner
Stalin
Tafura's Tales in Stone
By Amanda
Quinn
"Talking, laughing,
smiling, singing" - that's what fourth-place winner of Sculptural Pursuit's 2009
Sculpture Only Competition Stalin Tafura experiences as he
allows a stone's shape to emerge. This cherished
interaction is why Tafura and other Shona sculptors carve
almost exclusively with hand tools. Tafura said he has
tried a few power tools in his travels, but prefers hand tools
because "there is more communication between me and the
sculpture. The stone and I understand each other
more. There is no dictating, it is a two-way
conversation. I don't want to miss all the creativity
that my hand tools, the stone, and I can come
across."
Allowing a stone to dictate its shape
is not always easy though, as Tafura learned while carving his
winning piece, PATIENCE HAS
WINGS. Tafura explained that the piece of raw
springstone that eventually turned into PATIENCE HAS WINGS was
probably the oldest piece he was working on in his
studio. "This stone kept saying something to me, but I
could not figure out  what. I
waited for a long time, but it was not that clear. Time
passed and I looked at it everyday, sometimes
unconsciously. Patience was what I was having with the
stone and then it started coming with wings. It sort of
reassured me that with patience you can achieve
dreams."
Throughout his years as an artist,
patience is not the only lesson he has learned. Being
part of a family of artists brought its own challenges and
blessings. "Since I come from a distinguished family of
sculptors, for me the hardest part [of my career] has been to
find my own way as an individual sculptor, not a young
sculptor from that family," Tafura says. "But the good
part about that is that there has been tremendous support and
cheering from my mother Agnes, my grandparents, and all my
uncles and aunts."
Growth, freedom of
expression, and the ability to travel are also benefits Tafura
enjoys as an artist. "There is a lot of teaching and
healing that comes with being an artist," he says. "It
allows you to look inside yourself. You can put yourself
out to the world in different ways, but on the other hand it
can also be external - you go deeper and start looking
elsewhere and through other people's eyes and it is then that
you won't sculpt from your own point of view anymore. It
will be more from the people and their surroundings. It
is a growing process, an expanding self-awareness."
Tafura adds that he also enjoys "all the travels and
meeting different cultures around the
world."
 Due to all the
traveling he has been able to do, Tafura does not see himself
as a citizen of any one particular country. "Even though
I was born in Zimbabwe, I see myself as a world citizen since
I have visited and worked with a lot of people from different
cultures. I have enjoyed art, friendship, and love
around the world."
Tafura has found through his
world travels that his art seems to resonate in many
cultures. "My sculptures have spoken to all kinds of
people and there is a great deal of satisfaction that comes
with that. I feel very honored," he explains.
Another honor for him has been winning SP's competition, since it
was the first competition he had ever entered. "For me
as an artist there is no better reward than knowing that
somebody out there sees and appreciates my work, seeing
something in my sculpture," Tafura says. "Winning
something in such a big competition naturally brings
confidence, and I feel honored. I am excited to see what
impact it will bring. It really is one of my big career
points."
For now, Tafura's future plans include
hosting summer workshops at Chapungu Sculpture Park in
Loveland, Colorado, where some of his sculptures can be seen,
and possibly pursuing an MFA degree.
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From The Current Issue of
Sculptural Pursuit
Inspiration: Cutting Back Can Encourage New
Growth
By Rekha
Ohal
When my son was little, I enjoyed making his
Halloween costumes. Usually they were fairly simple - a
hooded figure carrying a sickle, a mime, and once, a Power
Ranger. The last costume I made for him was more
complicated. He had seen riders on giant birds (the
performers used stilts) and, of course, that's what he
wanted. I spent two long but very creative days figuring
it out, using suspenders to hang the bird from his shoulders,
an old cast-off stocking for the neck of the ostrich, and a
chopstick harness so that he could maneuver its head. I
was so proud of that costume! I could have just bought
it, but it wouldn't have looked as inventive and would have
cost three times what I invested. Necessity can truly be
the mother of invention...
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Artistic
Expressions
This Month's Poll -- Is Nudity
App ropriate in Public
Art?
This month on our blog, Artistic
Expressions, we are talking about a controversy in Delray
Beach, Florida, where a privately-owned abstract figurative
sculpture that portrays nude figures is drawing criticism for
its proximity to a local middle school. Read more about
this issue and put your two cents in at Artistic
Expressions!
Photo courtesy of
Brandon Kruse/Pam Beach Post
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Literary Pearls
Michelangelo and the Pope's
Ceiling by Ross King (Penguin Books, New York, 2003,
ISBN-13: 978-0142003695).
Reviewed by
Jonathan Noble
 In the
art world, few if any names are as recognized and revered as
Michelangelo Buonarroti, and for good reason. The man
created works of art that, 500 years after their creation,
continue to instill awe in everyone who sees them, from art
professors to high school students. Michelangelo may
have been a master of his craft, but in Michelangelo and the Pope's
Ceiling, art historian Ross King tells the story of an
insecure, antisocial man who overcame his own inexperience to
create one of the most famous masterpieces in the history of
art.
King's book tells the real story behind
Michelangelo's frescoes on the 12,000-square-foot ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel, which were completed between 1508 and
1512. In doing so, he debunks the romanticized image of a
solitary Michelangelo hanging from the ceiling of a vast,
candlelit room, slowly creating his masterpiece.
Instead, King reveals a man who had virtually no experience in
the delicate and complicated art of fresco but, through a
tough process of trial and error, mastered the techniques that
would eventually leave the Vatican with a timeless work of
art.
Unlike some art historians, King uses
engaging narrative that draws readers into the politics,
controversy, and conspiracy that surrounded Michelangelo's
work in the Sistine Chapel, from his strained relationship
with Pope Julius II, who commissioned him to fresco the
ceiling, to his rivalry with the more personable Raphael, who
was simultaneously frescoing the Vatican's Stanza della
Segnatura.
Though King does at
times get carried away with stories that are unrelated to the
famous ceiling, his tangents provide a valuable survey of the
Renaissance, a time when artists like Da Vinci, Ghirlandaio,
Vasari, and countless others were changing the history of
art. He also talks in detail about the political
circumstances that affected the art of the day.
For artists working in any media, Michelangelo and the Pope's
Ceiling is an educational read. King details the
exacting process of fresco, talks about the inventive
scaffolding Michelangelo designed to work on the
sixty-eight-foot-high ceiling without blocking the chapel's
floor, and educates readers on the artistic concepts of
perspective and foreshortening that made the Renaissance such
a fascinating time. The book is well researched with
footnotes and end notes that back up King's assertions, making
it a trustworthy source of historical information.
Though King's book is a rare find in the world
of art history books, it isn't perfect. The biggest
drawback is the lack of actual images of the ceiling.
King describes the processes and design concepts in each of
the ceiling's scenes, however there are only a few images of
the ceiling itself, and they are in an insert in the middle of
the book, making it a little difficult to manage. There
are only a few detail images, leaving readers to their own
imagination if they aren't familiar with the scenes he is
describing. However, thanks to Google's image search
function, this problem isn't
insurmountable.
Michelangelo and the Pope's
Ceiling is a valuable resource for anyone with an
interest in historical art techniques. If you are
planning a trip to Rome in the future, keep in mind that tour
guides are not allowed to speak inside the Sistine Chapel, so
reading this book before you go will ensure that you can
appreciate the value of the artwork you are seeing, both in
the Sistine Chapel and throughout the Vatican.
Buy Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling at
Amazon
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From the Current Issue of
Sculptural Pursuit
 Tips of the Trade: How to
Photograph Your Sculpture
By Nancy
DeCamillis
Every sculptor wants to make a positive
first impression when submitting entries to competitions,
exhibitions, and publications. Rarely will these juries
and judges view the actual sculptures; they will request
quality digital images. They view hundreds of
submissions, so it is vitally important that your images make
an unforgettable first impression. They should evoke the
fine quality of your work, its design, and
craftsmanship. Your professional success could depend on
excellence in both the work and the image...
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