Why Do I Do This? - Part One.

Samson!



What makes me want to spend my time in my studio, a small cubical, 20 min. from my house, attempting to create items conjured up in my brain that may not mean anything to anyone else?

What makes me want to spending hours alone, wearing an apron, hands in mud, trying to solve all kinds of engineering type of problems in the making of odd looking things called sculptures out of a substance called clay?

I have written an art statement now for my art show coming up. It seems to be kind of a “left brain” document that seemed to cover the facts needed for newsletters and other various promotional purposes. But I did not answer this basic question, why am I doing this?

Let me count the ways and the reasons that I can think of this morning...probably there will be more reasons tomorrow. This kind of thing seems to be a moving target so let’s see where this goes.

First, I am finally convinced that I do have some kind of a “God given gift” as an artist and now more that ever feel responsible in not only to use it, but to attempt to grow and fine tune it in the short time I have left on this earth. Allow it to be all that it can be!

Secondly, I am embarrassed that, in the past, I have not really excepted the fact that it is a “real gift” and have left it so long to seriously apply it and act on it. I am leaning heavily on the truth of the saying, “It’s never to late.” I have spoken to my God about this and even though I still feel bad about that Him and I are ok about it now. We have an understanding and I’m confident in His profound presence and assistance in the this our joint venture together. (Am I serious in this? You bet, I can’t go on in any other way!)

Third. I do this because I love the 360 degree affect of sculpted pieces. That no matter what angle you look at it, it all contributes to the affect of the image and the message. By now my mind seems to just go there naturally and I cannot really conceive of an idea without it being an image “in the round”.

Fourthly. Now be patient with me here, I’m not sure how to say this without being socially embarrassing, but, I love the sensuality, texture and feel of the clay in my hands. There’s this “tactile” thing here that takes me away into another world. Of course it is tied to the fact that something is formed in the process but that is another item on the list.  Now, here I’m isolating the “feel” and the satisfaction and joy it brings to have an image in mind and have your hands move over this medium of clay to bring it into reality. Every sweep of the fingers, every move of the hand over the clay is made not only to create something but is done for the love of the movement.

Fifthly, I do it for the magic of the creative activity. Once the action has begun to create a piece, I seem to move into another unknown dimension. I am totally unconscious of time and space. I think of it now as the "Sanctuary of the Creative." I am on some kind of “automatic pilot” where my body moves until someting like my stomach growling will suddenly yank me back to reality. Not surprising when I realize it's way past lunch time. But, behold, a miracle, hours have gone by and there is something new I have created before me. It’s magic and I love that.

Wow, that was interesting... I will stop there for now. There are still additional reasons why I do this, I'll share them next time.

“The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God...”

Exodus 8:19