I started my art school journey in Spring 2019. As a full-time faculty member in the Life Sciences department, I decided to make use of the Employee Betterment Program and explore some more right-brained activities. I’m working through this program one semester at a time, 6 credit hours at a time, so there is no definitive estimate of graduation date. I am however approaching the point where I have to decide if I am going to continue on with the BA or if I am going to apply to the BFA program. I am leaning toward the BFA, but I lack a lot of confidence in my own creativity still so it is a challenging decision to make.

I have little to no experience in 3-D art, other than some polymer clay projects that I worked on many years ago. I don’t know that I would say I have any SOLID goals for this course yet as I really do not know exactly what to expect, but I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the variety of types of work that can be done with 3-D techniques. I want to explore this new concept and see how it fits into my developing artistic style. Finally, I am hoping that the projects in this course will allow me to push myself a little further out of my left-brained comfort zone and improve my confidence in my artistic abilities and creativity.

Because I do not have a lot of experience in 3-D art and sculpture, I decided to do some research to get an idea of what kinds of sculpture really speak to me or excite me. One of the first artists I stumbled upon was Clive Maddison who works in wire. To the left you can see one of the trees that he sculpted entirely out of wire. These pieces are really beautiful and the texture he is able to create using such a simple medium is really amazing to me. You can read more about the series he did by following this link

In contrast to Clive Maddison, I also discovered that I am very drawn to 3-D work like that done by Rhonda Cearlock. Her use of texture and color in her ceramic pieces is very soothing to me. I have always been drawn to natural objects and earth tones, so it is really not surprising to me that these two. More information about her work can be found on her website - RhondaCearlock.com

Other pieces of sculpture I have found myself drawn toward are those that depict the human form in motion, as well as mythical creatures (dragons, fairies, etc) that show a lot of personality and detail. Movement within a sculpture and a sense of delicacy along with stability and strength seem to be the feelings I most associate with the type of scupture and 3-D art that fit my aesthetic.

As this is my first foray into the world of 3-D art, I am not sure what techniques, tool and media I am going to be most drawn to, or enjoy working with the most. I know that in general I have always preferred more natural materials and I believe that I would very much enjoy working in clay or with wood, however the art I’ve seen from wire is always so delicate and beautiful that I believe I will find it enjoyable as well.

The thing that I am most nervous (and most excited) about is that this is 100% foreign territory for me. The main goal of taking these art classes was to push myself out of my comfort zone and while I am always excited to be in that position I can’t help but be a bit nervous - I want to be good at this - I want to really enjoy it, but until I dig in and get to work I won’t know whether each of those wishes will be reality.

In general I’m looking forward to a great semester! I can’t wait to get started on our first project!