Sculpture Withdrawal

It has already been a week since the Sculpture Invitational started...I'm suffering from withdrawal! Withdrawal of seeing sculpture and talking about all things sculptural, from shows to sales to techniques to stones, my brain was filled last weekend.

I did get a quick fix when I was walking in my neighborhood on Monday morning and saw a beautiful marble bear in the back of a trailer...I recognized the bear and then the sculptor walked up. Turns out he was visiting some old friends before he headed home. He and I had been tent neighbors last year. We had had only a few minutes to catch up at the show. Now I got to hear some more details about what he has been up to and how the show went.

He told me about a new show that he was in that is in South Dakota and some of the great contacts he has made. Of course he also gave me a bit of a hard time for not being in the show this year. So we made a pact--we'd see each other next year, both as exhibitors. So there you have it, my first public commitment to be in the show next year. Guess I'd better get cracking--I mean carving!

That is one of the great things about artists. Some people would think we are "competing" for customers and therefore we shouldn't encourage too many other artists to participate. What we understand is that art is so subjective that there really isn't competition. The customer who loves my work might not like his at all, and vice versa. Oh, there will be customers who love work by more than one artist--I sure do, but even if the collector decides to buy one person's work over that by another artist, it still isn't a competition. We also know that by having more artists with a variety of media and styles, we encourage more collectors to come!

Another great thing about artists is there willingness to share what they know with other artists (and lay persons, too.) Whenever I go to a booth or studio and see something that I admire, I ask lots of questions. I let the sculptor know that I'm a stone sculptor and the conversations are just awesome. I have asked opinions on polishing, tool preferences and how someone got a specific feel on the stone. I've also asked questions of sculptors far more experienced than I am about a problem I've been having. I always get great responses. I really appreciate the teachers that I have found this way--even if the lesson is only five minutes! I enjoy teaching others, too, and find the openness and sharing is fantastic--it really helps offset the fact that we spend so much of our time alone in our studios. Maybe that's why we like to share when we have the chance!