Channeling Whistler

I just love this painting, The Lady in White by JM Whistler. Perhaps it is the sculptor in me who loves the white-on-white. She's a sculpture against a white backdrop, but her flesh is real. Sculpture come to life; it is all of our fantasies. She isn't alive because she is realistic, however. Hyper-realism doesn't make a painting or sculpture come alive! It is rather the presence of the work. Do you know how you can tell if another person is in the room, even if you cannot see him? This painting is that way. She's in the room with you, alive.

MA Thesis

This past year has been more writing than sculpting. That's because I've been working to finish up my degree before the baby arrives. Just to clarify, I'm working on an M.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. My thesis is on Piero della Francesca's Polyptych of the Misericordia.

I am sure that you are all wondering why a sculptor would be getting a degree in the Humanities and writing a paper about a panel painting. For one, I do not see the history of art and the making of art as two separate disciplines. It is very important for my work that I know quite a lot about the history of what it is that I'm doing, and not just what is being made now or even recently. Why have humans made art historically? We now see art as an expression of the self, as being therapeutic, as something we make because we want to and then we struggle to market it. As far as human history is concerned these ideas about art are very new. In the Renaissance, no one would think to make art just because. There was an intended purpose, a patron and a payroll. Most artists worked in groups as a part of a workshop under a master. The myth of the reclusive, anti-social artist who works obsessively alone on things that express the inner workings of his soul may describe a few contemporary artists, but it is not the norm. In fact, many of us contemporary artists who work better in groups, are generally clean and cheerful and who would like to earn a decent wage feel like we phonies because we do not live up to some invented stereotype based off a few eccentrics.

So at the end of all of this, I'll have a Master's degree, not in studio art, but the art history, culture, philosophy, theology and literature of a time when the West commonly sees as the pinnacle of art. Until then, my nose is pressesd firmly to the grindstone as I try to get this done. It feels like a monumental task, but the words of my uncle echo in my mind, "One shovel full at a time." Or, for me, "One sentence at a time."

Kudos

A nice little mention by First Things!

Nine Tons of Marble

My uncle tells this beautiful parable about achieving a monumental task. Many years ago, he and his young son had to lay a sewer line in the back yard. They had to dig a forty-foot trench by hand, too poor to afford any machinery. His small son asked, "Dad, how will we ever dig such a long trench?" And he replied, "One shovel full at a time." Some time later, the father and son team were finished. When the men came to deliver the pipe, they asked, "Where is all of your equipment?" My uncle told him that they didn't use any. "But how did you possibly dig all of this?" And my young cousin piped in "One shovel full at a time."

While I was working on the Virgin Mary sculpture, I had literally imported nine tons of marble from the Cararra Mountains in Italy. How were we ever going to get an image of the Virgin out of that enormous block of mountain? It seemed like forever that we worked on this sculpture and the only way that it was going to get done was one bit at a time. In fact, this is the only way that art is ever finished, one brush stroke at a time, one note at a time, one blow to the chisel at a time.

And so this blog offers a glimpse into the shovels full of creativity that I dig up along my journey. Some days I don't work and lately those days seem more and more, but the ache to create grows more and more intense. I hope that I will have more to report in the coming days.

To Make Way for Advertising...

This morning in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette I read about a large-scale sculpture that is being removed to make way for advertising.

"The airport authority notified artist Peter Calaboyias in a Feb. 3 letter that his sculpture, 78 feet long and 8 feet high, was being removed to clear the way for advertising. It had begun taking down the work yesterday."

Ouch! As if art isn't underappreciated enough already. This had to have hurt. Upon closer investigation, this artist turns out to be a professor at Grove City College. Perhaps I ought to send him a condolences letter.

Art vs. Advertising. Let's see who wins.

Hempel Studios News- Winter 2009

Dear Friends of Hempel Studios,

As many of you may already know, Hempel Studios has pulled up stakes from the studio beneath the Blue Elephant in Frederick. I have not yet established a new physical studio space, so there are sculptures in process in the foyer of our new little 1930s cottage. We have yet to sell our fabulous little bungalow in Frederick. Please send real-estate well-wishes in our direction!

For the next few months, I will be working on the final capstone project for my Master's degree at Hood College. I've been taking classes part-time for the past four years and now I am nearly complete! My course of study has been a chance for me to delve into the history and tradition of Medieval and Renaissance art. The final paper will focus on a fifteenth-century Italian altarpiece by Piero della Francesca. Bruce Cole says of Piero della Fransceca that “while basing his art firmly on time-honored traditions, principles, and types, he was able to create a highly original style and interpretation.” This is my goal as well and I hope that I am able to take away from this paper some valuable things that I can incorporate into my studio work.

If you would like to receive e-mail newsletters from Hempel Studios, please go to the Contact section of http://www.hempelstudios.com/. In the case that you would like to be a part of the mailing list, please include your mailing address in your request. Otherwise, you can always find the latest updates here on the Hempel Studios blog. My New Year's Resolution is to update this blog more regularly.

Many Blessings,

Sarah

Big Changes

These past few months have been extremely stressful with the other half of my household living a million miles away while I stayed behind to finish my last semester of coursework at Hood College and wrap up a graduate assistantship in the Dean's office. Yes, it's true: we're moving.

Hempel Studios is heading out of town. As if six studios in eight years weren't enough, here we go again! This time we're headed way off Fifth Street. Hempel Studios will be located in the basement of our new cottage until a more permanent location is established. This does not mean that Hempel Studios will be in complete hibernation, however.

As for 2009... We move into our new home officially on January 19th. Most of my time will be spent working on my Master's thesis for the next several months. Then, hopefully, we'll get the call to go to India to pick up our daughter, Srushti.

I am also praying for a teaching position at a local university. It'll have to be part time, but I am planning to take a good year off to spend with our daughter. I love being a part of a university community and will miss Hood College tremendously when we move. I have positioned myself for a job teaching young, budding artists as they enter college. I didn't get an MFA because I was too busy working on giant marble sculptures for a church, but I did manage an MA in Humanities. Well, almost. I still have that pesky thesis to write. I'm hoping that the university will see the fancy degree, but look harder at my work and all that I've managed to accomplish in the past eight years.

We're off on a new adventure and it is an exciting time, full of possibilities!