Unpacking the Shadow Art Exhibition

Dear Art Lover,

     Last year my friend and fellow sculptor Lorri Acott invited me to create a submission for a project she dreamed up.  I am not really into the whole “women’s art show” thing, but the older I get, the crankier I get about rudeness.  And thus, Lorri caught me at time when my life was starting to get some stability and it was also shortly after I had worked with Artesimia, a battered women’s shelter in Florence, Italy. 

     I think some realities there hit me pretty hard, especially since in my own childhood, it was often women who kept other women “in line.”  I struggled with that a lot as a young adult when I found myself living my first year at university in a female-only dorm.  Having been raised with three brothers and lots of fighter pilots, I once called my mother long-distance and cried to her that I could not understand females and felt out of my element.  Years before, my own well-intentioned mom had actually told me, “Don’t smile so big; your lips get thinner and are less appealing.”  She was probably told that herself by someone when she was a runway model.  Insecurities:  the gifts that keep on giving.

     Opening TODAY:  In any event, my contribution to the “Unpackingthe Shadow” exhibition focused on the above topic.  But not all of the art submissions were so heavy or even traditionally serious topics.    This was an interesting collection of female artists with very human desires in a variety of subjects.  I hope that you may see the exhibition, even if only online.   [In the photo, my piece is the image in the upper right corner.]

Denver, Colorado area:  Lakewood Cultural Center
470 S Allison Pkwy, Lakewood, Colorado 80226

Exhibit runs January 3-31, 2017 in the Corner Gallery
Opening reception is January 12, 2017, 5-7 p.m.

Selected Artwork Unpacking the Shadow Women Art Exhibition

Details

     Please join us for a bold, thought-provoking exhibit that features 50+ original works created by women, presented together at a time that feels especially poignant for female voices to be heard and recognized.

      Lakewood Cultural Center is pleased to present “Unpacking the Shadow,” a collaborative group exhibition conceived and compiled by sculptor Lorri Acott that explores the idea of how women rediscover, explore, and reintegrate important aspects of themselves that, throughout their lives, have been carefully removed and “hidden away.”

      This exhibit features more than 50 miniature pieces—no larger than 3" cubed and accompanied by mini-essays— that were selected from submissions by women from all walks of life and from around the world. These small expressions of intimate aspects represent what each participant hopes to rediscover in her life. The works are as diverse as sculpture, found objects, photography, painting, and mixed media.

      "And if we have put away so many of our angers, spontaneities, hungers, enthusiasms, our rowdy and unattractive parts, then how can we live? What holds us together?” 

- Robert Bly (excerpt from "The Long Bag We Drag Behind Us")

Lakewood Cultural Center
470 S Allison Pkwy, Lakewood, Colorado 80226

Exhibit runs January 3-31, 2017 in the Corner Gallery
Opening reception is January 12, 2017, 5-7PM

Anatomy and Line

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Although I have not spoken much about this, I am not trying to make a copy in marble of an actual human being. While I am thinking about anatomy and using real bodies for references, I am constantly looking for that beautiful line.

The depressing thing about doing art of a more representational style is that people judge the piece for what it is not more than what it is. I mean that the tighter a work gets towards recognizable, the more people critique it for the artist’s mistakes. If would not matter if someone creating an exact replica of a specific person that was 99% accurate (on a scientist’s terms I suppose). The viewer’s eye would immediately find that 1% inaccurate part and it would ruin the rest of the effort.


It was not until my first visit to the Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland, Colorado, about a decade ago, that I realized that there was a limit to how far I wanted to depict reality in my own work. Too much reality bored me. Art is in the details, but the KIND of details makes a world of difference. In Italy, especially, I have been learning to understand the difference between art and copying.


So, anyway, these images that follow show you how I am inspired by Nature’s anatomy, but that I am seeking a line that flows beautifully. In the latter two images, I have drawn the line of the legs that are covered up by the hands. This not only helps me to shape the legs underneath the arms and hands, but also helps me know how close to carve the hands and how much more marble I must remove.

The most difficult thing to do in stone carving is to have two things touch without overlapping in a weird way or becoming too far apart.

Enjoy your New Year’s celebration.

Milan Italy Duomo Interior

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Inside the Duomo di Milano in Italy there are an uncountable number of treasures. For about ten minutes I watched the restoration of the altar of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph). There always seems to be such a great debate about how restoration can best be done on cherished works of art. That is a good thing as time and technology offer feedback and new techniques, respectively.


As I walked around the back of the main altar, I was photographing patterns of light and dark, as I often do. This time my attention had drifted to a crypt under the altar. As I peered through windows and played with different compositions, I heard this gentile voice ask me in Italian who was buried in the elaborate tomb. Ever flattered to be addressed in a language I know not well, I turned to see a kind American face, and said truthfully (perhaps blasphemously) in English, “I have no idea. For me, it is not important. I was seeking the light and shadows.”


And this was how I met Darlene Aldrich and her husband Joe, as well as her brother Loren Mayfield. This couple is from Thornton, Colorado, US, and Loren is from Elgin, Texas, not even one hour’s drive from my home in central Texas. We discussed the stone carving symposium in Marble, Colorado, and various things about art and Italy, enjoying the idea of the small world.


We later descended the stairs to see the tesoro (treasure), or crypt of San Carlo Borromeo. We parted ways after taking a couple of snapshots and exchanging contact information.

I include here a few more images that I took inside Milano’s Duomo. The cathedral is intricate and beautiful, delicate and strong. The colors in the stained glass windows are brilliant and apparently were painted by hand on the glass. My coinquillina (roommate) Elena told me that her grandfather assisted in painting part of the stained glass in his city’s Duomo.


As in many churches in Italy, the floor is not to be missed. Like this cathedral in Milan, Italy, the floor is a mosaic of inlaid stones. Milano’s Duomo is undergoing extensive restoration, but there is so much to see that is not under wraps that even if you arrive in Italy before the project is finished, you are not likely to be disappointed.

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