LeRoy and Follow Up on Inspiration Post
LeRoy – mixed media movable sculpture
Remember the post I wrote about the “Mixed Media Movable Sculpture” class that I taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center about a month ago? I finally got around to photographing my sculpture that I made in advance of the class to show my students. He’s been sitting on my piano ever since I returned home, just hangin’ with some ceramic bugs that my daughter and I made last year. I sort of forgot about him, until yesterday when one of my daughter’s buds was over and made a bee-line for him. You can see the sculptures my student’s made by clicking here.
LeRoy's fancy wingtip shoes,
I had a lot of fun making this sculpture which is really a caricature of my dog, Danzig, who we adopted in April from Front Range German Shepherd Rescue. Incidentally, we didn’t change his name because we decided that he had lived with this name for the past 6 years and it might add stress upon relocation stress to change it when he came to live with us. We think he was named after the the ’80′s heavy metal band of the same name, though Danzig is also the German version of the Polish town, Gdansk. We think it’s the former, however, since his previous owners kept him locked in a garage for most of his life. We’ve discovered a few issues over the past few months, but love him anyway. Despite his intense dislike of anything on wheels, he’s a goofy, gentle, lovable and good looking dog – this is what I think he would look like if he had a few human qualities thrown in. My daughter has christened Danzig’s effigy, “LeRoy Guajardo”, after I asked for help naming him.
My movable mixed media sculpture is constructed with low fire earthenware clay, wire, wood, fabric, stuffing, thread, beads, acrylic paint, glue, nichrome wire and a few misc. items that I can’t recall at the moment.
Meanwhile, I wanted to revise my last post on inspiration. I am not lacking inspiration and have a ton of it floating around in my head right now. I’m merely finding it difficult to switch gears from teaching and writing lesson plans to creating my own work. It’s taking me longer to do so than normal. Mary commented that it’s okay to take a break once in awhile and to just breathe. Beth emailed me and mentioned that teaching and creating use different parts of our brains and it gave me more food for thought.
Then yesterday, I listened to a podcast of Craftcast’s Alison Lee interviewing photographer Kathleen Carr and I felt validated just a bit afterwards. One of the things the two discussed was the notion that if an artist isn’t creating every single day then are they really just a pseudo artist?. The answer is no, that’s not true. We are constantly gathering information, inspiration, and formulating a creative response even when not making any work directly.
At the end of the podcast, Alison mentioned a gift one of her friends had given her. It’s an “inspiration tray” to store and display items that one finds interesting sort of like a creative incubator.
After listening to the podcast, I was reminded of the slide show that Dan Essig presented at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in July and his inspiration files. He showed a couple of slides of all the things he has collected over the years since childhood that he keeps in tiny little boxes in his studio. It was fascinating and it looked like he had 100′s, if not 1,000′s of little boxes filled with collected bits and pieces that he finds interesting – some of his collected artifacts even ends up in his sculptural mixed media books when the time is right.
I think I’m going to give the inspiration tray a try and I can start by adding the seed pods (see last post) to the tray so that my thoughts and ideas can develop and grow.
~Cynthia
Undaunted
August 24, 2008 at 9:17 am //
LeRoy Guajardo looks great! Thanks for showing us the finished piece.
And thank you for sharing what you had heard on your podcast. I had thought recently that since I’m not creating all the time maybe I’m not as serious about this art thing as I thought I was? But you’re right, I have ideas churning ’round in my brain every single day.
By way of correcting myself – who says we have to be “serious” about it anyway? Surely the purpose of being creative is to bring peace and enjoyment into our lives? What is there to prove?
Mary T.
August 24, 2008 at 10:59 am //
To create everyday of our lives is too draining for me. Before long I’d just be churning out stuff I didn’t like and was just doing. Maybe a few geniuses are able to do that, but they took ‘play’ periods too. Doesn’t mean they weren’t taking in, just that they weren’t putting out at that time.
DH started up sour gas and petrochemical plants for most of our married life together. That means he walked around and checked everything for months before, up on piping racks tracing lines, dropping through trays in reflux towers over 200 foot high, getting inside of vessels lined with extra hardened enamals etc, and then he’d say, “Let’s get this show on the road! Who wants to push the start button?” No one ever took him up on it. He always pushed the start button and it always came on line. Sometimes the first 24 hours were shaky while everything lined out, but it always started and stayed started. Why, because he did months of intake and corrections before pushing the buttons. Sometimes, we just have to fill the well.
ang
August 24, 2008 at 5:47 pm //
hi cynthia, it all depends on how you work really, I’m a drawer ever since college when i finally had a great drawing teacher who showed me how to look below the surface…so now i keep several journals and just draw until nothing else will fit on the page. I do find it works to get ideas out of my head – it just makes room for more!!
Janet
August 24, 2008 at 6:59 pm //
Is it Lee-Roy or La-Roy? He’s cute. ‘Specially like the shoes.
patricia griffin
August 24, 2008 at 8:28 pm //
LeRoy is THE MAN! How cool that he’s sitting at your piano. I, too, subscribe to Craftcast and have downloaded this one, but not yet listened to it. Am looking forward to it!
Deborah Woods
August 25, 2008 at 5:28 am //
Hi Cynthia-I completely understand about how difficult it can be “switching gears”. I can’t tell you how much more productive and mentally into my work I have become since switching to potting full time. It has made a huge difference. I’m grateful for my situation, and sympathetic to others-it’s not easy when there’s a lot to juggle
Cynthia
August 25, 2008 at 6:49 am //
Hey Linda – I totally agree with the “serious” aspect. I just need to put one foot in front of the other and head out to the studio even if it’s just to sit there.
You’re so wise, Mary!
I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I enjoy your sketches, Ang – they’re fantastic. I need to take some cues from you…
Funny, Janet! When I told my daughter how much I enjoyed “Lee Roy”, she corrected me and said it’s pronounced “Le Roi”. I told her that is the French pronunciation for “The King” which is oddly fitting for our boisterous Danzig.
He’s not very coordinated, but he does look good!
I’m just now getting around to listening to my podcast subscriptions from the beginning of July, Patricia. I have lots to catch up on and love listening to them in the studio.
Hey Deborah, I was just trying to decide a schedule for my after school clay classes for the school year, now that school has started. A part of me doesn’t want to do it, but then another part does because it’s fun. I think if I do teach the classes this year, it’s only going to be one day a week vs. 2 like last year.
dinahmow
August 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm //
Like one of Damon Runyon’s characters from the racetrack. And those shoes!I have shoe envy!
Noelle
August 26, 2008 at 3:12 am //
I love this sculpture! It makes me want to come up with a whole personality and story for LeRoy. It feels like he should be giving an impromptu jazz performance at a speak-easy, during the prohibition era. You should create a mate for him with a bobbed hair-do and a flapper dress!