ARTISTS TALKING

# 11 [9 February 2010]

"Gli Artegiani" at work

I have also been learning lots of techniques from the foundry guys - some hard to explain, but highlights are:

- use of heated sand-paper dipped in 'petrolio' to smooth the wax

- how to use heated rasps on the wax

- making wax plates / boards on marble slabs - 4 batons of wood measure out the space, then the slab and batons are oiled and the molten wax poured at a steady pace into the space

- soldering wax together (very similar to metal techniques) - using a hot tool and a bit of wax shaped into a rod

- how to use small pins to strengthen small soldered joins (heat and insert cut end of pin first, then use pin end to insert into the other half of join)

- moving over the large extractor fan when making lots of smoke (large soldering and using large heated tools)

- how to pour the molten brown wax into cool water, then with oil on your hands kneed into a ball of very maleable wax - they do this with the hard brown wax to build up barrier walls on moulds. It can almost be used like clay

- using a wonderful old metal syringe to inject molten wax into a small mould (although I haven't been alowed to wield the syringe that I'm coveting!)

and probably many others that are already becoming second nature!

# 12 [12 February 2010]

La Fusione

Here are some shots of a bronze 'pour' - or as they say here (far more exciting) 'La Fusione'.

I took these shots earlier today. They were doing 2 large pieces that were buried in sand, and then a lot of small pieces, that were taken out of the kiln just as the bronze was taken out of the furnace.

They had told me in the wax room to come down to watch this pour, as it was a very beautiful one - when the bronze goes in the small ceramics, you can often see it coming out of the holes.

# 13 [14 February 2010]

Donna Scultura (Women Sculpture)

This morning I went to the opening of the women's scultpture show - an annual show they have of 4 prominent female sculptors working in Pietrasanta now in its 8th year - which they always schedule to open on Valentines day!

It started at 10.30 am - with a series of talks in the lecture hall off the cloister (this was also used last sunday for the Knut Steen award ceremony which I haven't had a chance to blog about yet).

As I arrived I met Shelley Robzen (http://www.shelleyrobzen.com/) who I had lunch with on my first day here and who I'm trying to meet up with again, and Immanuel Klein (http://www.immanuelklein.com/) who was here on the marble carving residency before christmas but is back here for a while longer. We sat in the second row and ended up beside Hakon Anton. 

My italian is getting better as I could get the general jist of all they were say (it was all in italian) - although I wasn't always sure who people were. 

The artist were:

Elena Biancini

Who does interesting figures in fired clay, and a piece I particularly liked of an egg hanging in the centre of a pyramid (appesa a un filo). She didn't want to say anything, and I can't find her online either.

Editt Davidovici

Of Romanian origin, she showed a slideshow of personal photos starting from childhood, including amazing snow sculpture in Canada and ending with a poignant photo of her son who recently died in a flying accident whilst training to be a pilot.

She works in marble and I thought her most powerful piece was called 'fallen angel' and was dedicated to her son. It was like a wing and head of a bird or gull with an amazing line and curve - and had a tear of polished marble about where the birds eye would be. However, I did think that the tear spoilt it slightly - it was just a bit too cliched and unsubtle in a very subtle piece. I wonder if she could have kept it but tonned it down a bit, or maybe it wasn't necessary.

Jaya Schuerch

http://www.jayaschuerch.com/

She spoke of the amazing experience she has when she first arrived in Pietrasanta in the 80s and learned in various marble studios from old craftsmen who had been carving since the age of 14... Sadly a lot of these studios are closing down or moving out of town, as their son's don't want to face such a hard life and the price of real estate in central pietrasanta rockets. 

After having moved studios a number of times, her need to have a stable and 'bello' place to work, drove her to set up a studio where artist and artigiani can work: Studio Pescarella http://www.studiopescarella.com/

(This is just outside Pietrasanta and I'm hoping to go visit it soon)

Later in the actual exhibition I talked to Jaya - which was very interesting. Amongst other things, she encouraged me to invest in hiring a professional photographer to take shots of my works - if you can't send the work, its great to send good photos, and its very important to have good quality catalogues... 

I'd told here that I had only been here 2 weeks and how my head was a bit really from trying to take it all in, (I feel like a sponge). She said that I'd probably start crying a lot in another couple of weeks - most people do - or rather the women tend to cry a lot and the men take to drinking too much!

Virginia Tentindo

(I couldn't find a site of her work but this give a good overview) http://gumucio.blogspot.com/2009/11/el-erotismo-de-virginia.html

Of argentinian italian origin, her work seem very influenced by past latin american civilasations - with strange hybrid creatures and weird erotic scenes. (The little boy next to us exclaimed 'bruto' and 'monstro' - its ugly, a monster!) . She has a studio in the Bateaux Lavoir in Monmartre in Paris (where Picasso worked)

She showed a film of her work and studio with a voice over text by Julio Cortazar (Argentinian novelist). Unfortunately they didn't have the sound connected up to the PA system, but as I was only a few seats from the laptop I managed to catch some of it.

Igor Mitoraj appeared at the exhibition to see Virginia.

After the talks, we all gathered on the steps of the church (Chiesa di S. Agostino) and the doors were opened dramatically - such different traditions to the UK.

# 14 [18 February 2010]

Preparing ceramic shells for a bronze pour

On Saturday morning when I was loitering in the yard looking at lots of bronzes that had just been sand blasted, one of the foundry guys beckoned me over to asked me if I wanted to see them loading the ceramic shells into the kiln. "Si Grazie..."

They have a large trolley on rails that was loaded with about 4 large shells and lots of smaller ones packed around them. I was surprised that the large shells were the right way up, as I'd assumed they would be fired upside down to let the wax out. However, they explained that they had made holes in the ceramic shell to let the wax out. The smaller ones were all upside down.

They then raised vertically the large door of the kiln and I felt a blast of heat from the inside of the kiln which was already at around 650°C. The trolley was moved into the kiln and the big door came back down with a large metal drain pipe poking out stil. Within a couple of minutes the wax started pouring out of this and was caught in a very large saucepan which had to be emptied regularly.

They explained that the kiln would be kept at 650 till all the wax had melted, then it would be taken up to 900 for about 6 hours to fire the ceramic shells and then cooled slowly over the weekend. I should come back on monday morning and they would show me the rest of the process.

So about 8 am on Monday I returned, this time with camera in tow to watch the next stages. They were going to cast a large piece of the fountain they are currently working on. As it was so large they wouldn't be doing anything else with it. First of Enzo was having to fill each of the holes that had been made to let the wax escape - this was done with a dab of ceramic liquid and a little chuck of ceramic powder - followed by a quick flame throw to 'fire' it. For the large fountain - this took around 1 1/2 hours!

Meanwhile, Maurizio was getting the bronze weighed out and ready for the furnace, as well as the large container that the shell will sit in. This is lowered into a hole in the ground to make the pour easier. They waited until Enzo had nearly finished patching all the holes in the shell before lighting the furnace - they wouldn't want to have to keep the bronze at full melt temperature for any length of time. The furnace was loaded up with off cuts of bronze from previous cast's runners and risers, and eventually some ingots too.

When the shell was finally patched, it was hoisted up, and lowered carefully into the large container, which had disks of felt positioned under where the steel legs of the framework came. These legs also had rectangular pieces of rubber attached to them.

The container was then filled with sand from 2 large drums. I was then hoist out of the hole, and had a machine attached to it to vibrate it so that all the sand was well compacted.

The container was returned to its hole in the ground, and the top was sealed with a sheet of plastic before the vacuum pump was attached to put the whole container under negative pressure. More sand was then placed over the sheet, presumably to protect it from melting/burning from bronze splashes.

The shell was finally ready for the pour. All that was needed was for the bronze to get to the right temperature and for all the required people to arrive.

# 15 [22 February 2010]

Primavera al Mare

So - today is spring at sea - which comes a whole month before spring on land. We had a lovely sunny day today, so it was almost feeling spring like - and as I got another text from home telling me it was snowing, I definitely was glad to be in Italy!

# 16 [22 February 2010]

My mother is great!

Not only has she given up her life in London to spend a few months in Italy looking after my adorable but rather strong willed 2 year old, she is also being massively supportive and doing all the domestic stuff so I can just work - she jokes that she is my wife!

The average day starts with me getting up around 7am, having a quick bowl of porridge in the gloom and making myself a cup of tea in a thermos mug to take with me to the foundry, where I work till the horn goes off at 10 to 12. 

Meanwhile, my little son was got up and dressed by his grandma, who has also made sure he has a good play in the garden or an hours walk around town. My mother also does the shopping and makes sure she has lunch waiting for me at 12 when I get back!

I have a little play with him then head back to the foundry a bit after 1, and he goes down for his afternoon nap. This evening at 6 when I was cycling back, I ran into them both in the main square and we had a cycle and scooter together (when he wasn't busy chatting to little girls his height or showing off on his scooter).

After a joint supper, I do the bath and bed routine, then its time to check emails, research online, write my blog or the odd skype call to the folks in London. And I occasionally help tidy up too...

Not content with thus waiting on me hand and foot all week - my mother insisted that this weekend when I got to see my husband at last, that we should go out for dinner on our own whilst she babysat for us. It was so nice to catch up and spend some lovely time together, definitely essential and much appreciated.

In addition, my son is flourishing. He is happy, full of beans, and shooting up (the trousers he was wearing today are definitely too short now, and I'm sure they were fine before). He is also learning to say Ciao Bello (which is what all the locals say to him!)

So - the secret of how to do a residency with a family - skype is quite usefull but take your mother with you

# 17 [23 February 2010]

The display issue
Trusting yourself or allowing others to help you grow...

So, over the past week or so I have been having a number of trials and tribulations over my first wax. The main part of the piece developed easily, in particular as it was the week that Helaine was here, and she was popping in to the foundry daily to discuss how it was going. On one day, she raided the issue of how I might mount it, as the piece is more of a surface fragment, and the exact angle of it is quite critical.

The next time she was in, I showed her a solution I was developing to this, which would extend the piece downwards. She was excited about what I was proposing, but I was having problems really making it work. I then worked further on it, and had one of those small 'a-ha' moments, when I saw it in another light, and came up with a totally different way of doing what I was trying to make work. Thus in my mind it was still the same solution, but resolved in a slightly different language.

Helaine was leaving the next day, and the last time I'd seen her she had said that she might come by the foundry on the friday afternoon, but wasn't sure. Excited by my new solution, I sent her a text to let her know that I did have something to show her if she did come by.

It turned out she had been up a scaffold working on one of her amazing large marble works at Sem, so had not been able to make it. Instead she called me, and I made the mistake of trying to explain my work over the phone - which is fairly hard. She wasn't convinced by what I told her, and encouraged me to be sure and explore all avenues.

The next week I played around with a number of small maquettes of various solutions, but kept coming back to my original small maquette that seemed to work. So I decided to  pushed ahead with it on the main piece. It all worked a dream and came easily, developing and resolving itself in a really rewarding way. I always think this is a good sign.

So, I decided to trust myself. I talked to the foundry about getting it made into bronze and I fired off an email to Helaine with a photo of the finished wax. I had that wonderful sense of elation when a work is resolved, yet I was also full of anticipation as I was looking forward to talking it through the casting process and start learning all the other techniques new to me.

Then a couple of things happened that got me worried...

First I got a call from Shelley Robzen. She is a nice american sculptor who I had lunch with on the first day. She had come by the foundry to see my work. She said that she had been very taken by work piece and had been thinking about it a lot (very flattering), however that she wasn't that keen of the lower half. She was quite apologetic and unsure whether to tell me this, but as she knew from what I'd said that I was keen for critical feedback/mentoring, she was happy for me to come by her studio to discuss if I wanted. 

The other things was that I got an email from Helaine with the following:

"I love the  new form itself but still am a bit concerned about how you plan to 'present"it. Too simple a structure could trivialize the originality and toughness of the piece and its tension. I still see your original solution so clearly and want to put  in a last minute word for you to reconsider it!!!"

Hmmm - as you can imagine this was perturbing. Was I too attached to the form of the base and not seeing clearly how it worked with the top.

William Faulkner said about deleting material he was fond of because it intruded on the story as a whole "sometime you have to kill the little darlings"

[From Film directing fundamentals: see your film before shooting By Nicholas T. Proferes]

As I'm out of time and space, I will have to tell you how this resolves tomorrow...

# 18 [24 February 2010]

So, did I need to kill the little darlings?
(see previous blog)

I ran into Nigel Boonham who is my neighbour where I'm staying and is a really interesting English figurative sculptor (www.boonham.com, he has been here since September carving 2 large pieces in Marble for the Syney Cathedral). I mentioned my problem and he gave me some great advice: That you can listen to others, but in the end you have to trust yourself as sculpture come from in here (tapping chest). When I replied that I was worried that maybe I wasn't seeing it clearly, he suggested if I wasn't in a hurry to cover it for a week, then look again. He told me it would talk to me. He said sculptures tell you things.

This reasured me as it meant I had another tool to rely on.

On monday afternoon I went to visit Shelley in her studio. This was fascinating and a real priviledge to see what really seemed like someones inner sanctum. I was slightly jealous and impressed by how zen it was - it was a lovely proportioned room with hight ceilings which felt very close to a cube in proportions. She had 5 sculptures on plinths under a high window with natural light streeming down on to them, and apart from that there were the bare essentials and workbenches for working and some very well organised shelves.

She also seems to have a very clear working method - so like the icon painters, a simple set of rules within which to be free to create. I am the opposite - a horder by nature, my studio (in London) is overflowing with all sorts tools and materials, and everytime I start a new work or project, I will reinvent my materials and working method. I wonder whether this is just  a reflection of the stage I am at in my career/creative development, or how much this is also inherent in my nature. I partlly envy people who are very minimal and zen, yet I know it wouldn't suit me and I would feel an emptyness without my clutter and a fear of unimportance without complexity...

Anyway, back to the little darlings issue, after chatting about various other things and a lovely italian coffee, I went through my photos and sketches and we talked about my piece. I think I was waiting for an epiphany moment, where I would suddenly solve all my problems and see it all clearly - but although interesting, nothing changed. I wonder if we were both a bit too warry to delve in too deep, or maybe I was hoping for too much, but I remained a little unconvinced that there was a better solution that would enhance the piece. And probably rightfully, Shelley didn't criticise my existing solution harshly enough for me to move my position on it.

That afternoon back in the foundry, I played around with a few of her ideas, and spent a long while looking at my piece in a mirror or in photos... The more I looked at it, the more it all seemed to be one piece now.

I was rather worried about what Helaine would say when she came the next morning - what if she too was unconvinced. I would have to resort to Nigel's advice on wrapping it up, but I still wanted to get on with the foundry process. In a panic i texted Immanuel to see if he could come by to have a look too - maybe I wanted someone on my side to brave more criticism the next day... However it turned out he had his phone on so only got the message the next day.

The next morning I had my 'finished piece' on another turntable, and was busying myself with some new experiments pouring wax into water, and in my nervousness managed to spill almost a whole bowl over the floor. I was just spreading newspaper over the mess (no mop!) when Helaine walked in... She seemed not to notice and I showed her the work... which she loved! 

She said the photo really didn't do it justice, and she loved the way it had curves and added drama to the piece. That it was much better than the 'original' idea.

For a moment I wondered whether I should still wrap it up for a week, but hell I couldn't wait any longer, its now on its way to bronze...

# 19 [25 February 2010]

I had a little bit of an afternoon off - or at least out of the Foundry... Pietrasanta feels a bit like being a student again, where you can just cycle over and pop in to visit people!

After lunch I visited another foundry. I had met an american sculptor called Julia from Atlanta, who had told me she was working at the Fonderia Del Chiaro, where they do investment casting. She kindly offered to give me a tour. In some ways investment casting is very similar, but instead of using thin layers of liquid and powder to build up a ceramic shell on the wax, they use a thick investment which seemed to be a mix of plaster, sand, brick dust and there was even a pot of what looked like saw dust. The pieces ready to be poured looked like amazing bee hives, or large terracotta urns!

One of the main differences is that when they are making the wax in the mould, they pour in the central investment before taking the wax out of the mould. This means that the wax is very robbust, and it is easy to retouch without any steel structure around it. This is what had drawn Julia to this foundry.

She showed me 3 small pieces outside that were part way through the patination stage. The were models for larger pieces that she had already done: a horse which was very dynamic, and a double portrait of 2 boys - which had been a life size and mounted in a swimming pool, and a Saint with 2 small babe at her feet. She was also working on some interesting new pieces in both wax and clay. 

I also saw a lovely big studio they use for doing enlargements and sculptures. It has a stunning bronze cast of Michaelangelo's David. It has been years since I saw it, and it was stunning seeing it so close up, and looked good with a lovely new patina on. I must go to Florence soon and revisit my old favourite italian masters :)

I was also interested to see a steel and chicken wire armature of an abstract piece with expanding foam in it (which I've been using in the UK recently).

Overall the foundry was very different from Mariani's - it felt fairly quite cosey, definitely a lot smaller and a bit slower paced whereas Mariani is an amazingly efficient and professional outfit, powering through large quantities of work, with each artigiani team specialised in a small part of the process. But Del Chiaro (from what Julia said) also has like Mariani amazingly skilled and creative Artigiani.

I am constantly amazed at Mariani's how they take the time and care to do things in the best way possible, rather than the constant pressure you find in most modern life to cut corners and time to make more money. If they don't have the right tool or equipment for something, they make it. 

I have since found out that Mariani's method is a lot more accurate and better at capturing detail, but Del Chiaro's are able to do very large (5m I think) casts in one piece.

After leaving Del Chiaro's, I popped into Marco Giannoni's Marble Studio (which is nearby) to see how Hakon was getting on, and maybe to get sight of the marble sculpture of his daughter before it went to Oslo. Unfortunately I was too late - Hakon had left on Tuesday, and the sculpture was just being lifted up in its crate and loaded onto a truck. It turns out his show opens next week! Instead I popped over to see Giuliano Correli who was progressing with his marble carving of a man standing with octopus arms round his legs - and I found out about a resin he uses that is non-toxic: plasticrete (might have to investigate this, as the bioresin I use in the UK is very difficult, but I don't want to go back to the nasty polyurethane stuff that is carcinogenic...)

I also had a long chat to Marco Giannoni - he is really friendly and was telling me all about helping Hakon setting up his last show in Norway 2 years ago, and how cold and dark Norway can be in winter! He was also telling me how difficult all the logistics with marble are once you leave Pietrasanta, as people don't understand how heavy yet fragile they are.

I then had tea and an interesting catch up with Helaine.

# 20 [27 February 2010]

Something very strange has happened...

My younger sister gave me a great book for Christmas: "At work in Paris - Raymond Mason on Art and Artists". I started reading it when I got here on the 1st Feb. As I was saying to my parents last night, I don't know his work, but I think he should be a lot better know than he is.

Unfortunately he was not only a figurative sculptor, but also one who believed that art should be about real life and appeal to the public. His concern for content was against the fashion and flow of his time as he was working during first the modernist era with the primacy of the object and 'how' (not why) of art, then with pop art.

His memoirs are great - he is amusing and at times quite cutting about his contemporary artists and gallerist, then very challenging and insightful about art and artists. He was friends or aquainted with an amazing roster of artists, Giacometti, Francis Bacon Balthus, Jean Cocteau,  Alexander Calder, Cartier-Bresson, Picasso, Henry Moore... he was "admired by artists whom the public admire and ignored by most critics".*

It has been weird reading about his ideas and opinions at this influencial period for me, where I feel I'm going through a real period of growth and change in my practice. I almost feel like he has been a second mentor - not that I always agree with him, but I do respect and listen to what he has to say.

Then as we were talking last night I decided to googled him (I had already been looking up and investigating photos of his work). And there on his wikipedia entry I saw that he has just died - on the 13th February! It really shocked me, and seems strange that he should have died whilst I've been getting to know him. It also seems that his Obituary is just hitting the newspapers yesterday and today (in fact it is the lead Obituary in yesterdays Telegraph that my father had just brought from London - how strange is that!).

Please do look up and find out about this fascinating artist.

Raymond Mason RIP
March 2, 1922, in Birmingham, England – February 13, 2010 in Paris, France

* Telegraph Obituary:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/7318726/Raymond-Mason.html

Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/25/raymond-mason-obituary