It’s a Wild Life: New Sculpture in the Works

During the Fall Colors Open Studio Art Tour, I wanted to show my wrapping technique to curious visitors. Rather than using jewelry, which can be miniscule, I grabbed a piece of a sculpture sample I’d made to practice welding.It was an open-ended triangular shape, but as I wrapped it I began to see it as more of a teepee. Then I heard the theme for the art aspect of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in 2015: “It’s a Wild Life.”The idea clicked that I would use this piece and make a miniature teepee dwelling, which will feature a marten mandible as the entrance if all goes well. Some other “wild” additions might happen in the final stages as well… I’ve got to leave some ideas up to that gut intuition that happens when art is underway.The technical and creative challenge for me was the idea of a base — this teepee form is not substantial enough to be freestanding. I tossed around ideas with my boyfriend, former sculptor and artist Sky Mowen.He told me to figure out what I wanted the piece to look and feel like — he was pretty much convinced that whatever I thought of, he would be able to help me figure it out.I decided I wanted a natural contrast to the hard lines of the wire form and angular mandible, so I wanted either wood or natural stone and eventually settled on stone mostly due to color and feel.Sky was willing to coach me in stone sculpting even though he’s over that part of his art career…. it seems he just can’t get away from it, though.I tried to do most of the work myself even though he struggled with watching a first-timer. His comfort with stone is fun to watch, but I wanted to make sure I felt comfortable claiming myself as the artist at the end.He’s responsible for the chunk of stone itself and drilling the holes… as a newbie, I still suffer from confidence issues when it comes to precision placements.It was fun to play in a studio with monster tools and learn new techniques — and I really loved the Montana green talc stone (ideas for new pieces started to pop up in my head right away). All is fair in love and art…. Sky asked me if he could incorporate some wire wrapping into future art explorations. Of course! I love sharing my passion for this medium.My new sculpture is as-yet unnamed but soon to be finished. It will be in the exhibit at DANK in the Osborn/Woods Gallery at the Miner’s Foundry during the film festival in mid-January. Follow the DANK Facebook page for more specifics about hours and events.