#760400  part of "Guardians of the Inner Universe" series
 
Mixed media
5.5 x 4.5 x 3.5 inches
 
Head Sculptures — random notes from the artist
 
◦ i  made my first head sculptures as a pre-teen in oil based clay...iterative works in progress for many years ;-)
◦ i couldn't find any non-fired clay i liked (tried dozens), so over a period of many months (informed by decades) and a hundred or so trial and error recipes, i've figured out how to make my own clay from about 15 different ingredients weighed out on a gram scale and combined. mixing them into workable clay is a workout! but gratifying. max i can handle per batch is 8 oz, so my clay is "precious" ;-)
◦ i intentionally leave fresh sculptures uncovered to dry, to encourage cracking—because i like the way they look, their symbolism, and they add texture to the patina.
◦ don't try this at home, but my proprietary clay is incredibly durable; i bobbled a finished sculpture and it thwacked onto solid concrete...my heart skipped, but i literally couldn't find any evidence of the impact.
◦ i like the ritual of wrapping the "brain case"— with a tightly bound compressed core, then hand-cut recycled-content strips, and more binding.
◦ my heads/faces are intentionally abstract in this series, as they are intended to be "entities" of empowerment and strength, rather than representational or anatomical.
◦ laying awake nights, i conceived an "invisible" mounting method to keep the heads from drooping on the wall: hammer-formed wire to create a curved channel matching the curvature of the back of the head, which slides with a gentle arcing motion onto a screw in the wall for a secure, "no visible means of support" mounting method—as the recessed hammered wire loop pulls the sculpture flush against the wall.
◦ it's my hope these sculptures will play supportive roles in people's homes as together we navigate the chaos, culture wars, and societal/global tectonic opportunities/risks multiplying daily.