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commitment to behave as if sculpting was my life’s work. I had more than a full-time job at that time, but beginning that day my sculpting was totally different.
JH: I know that you like to write about aesthetics. Can you tell me if you have an overriding philosophy about sculpture and sculpture-making? LG: I have a deep feeling about form. I use the term integration or integrity to refer to something that feels like one thing rather than a bunch of parts. Almost everything I’ve done in sculpting has been about achieving forms and surfaces that appear perceptually to be one thing – one surface – one set of surfaces that integrate into a single form. That’s big. I don’t understand it completely in the sense that I don’t understand why I’m so fascinated by that, but I’m fascinated about it in my work and in everybody else’s work. When I study history of art I see pieces that stand out in that sense. Brancusi’s work for example is exemplary in that way. And Bill Reid talked about the well made object. And in my mind a big part of what ‘well made’ means is producing surfaces that have that kind of quality.
JH: As you know, contemporary sculpture -making has moved far away from that, at least in some circles, mostly academic. How do you feel about that?
LG: I think it’s unfortunate when we look at work that appears to be hastily made. Work that is conceptual without being well made doesn’t do anything for me. Work that’s conceptual, or political, and is well crafted does do something for me. It grabs me. It’s not an intellectual thing; it’s the emotive thing - that quality of oneness hits me and then the symbols come, then the politics or the concepts, or whatever they are – they come after that.
JH: So you really need to see a well integrated piece of form, one that involves craftsmanship and understanding of form, as well as the conceptual or idea content, to be a successful piece. LG: Right on – right on! Yeah!
JH: Can you tell me a bit about your writing, specifically on art? How do you approach that and what does it mean to you? LG: Well, in my stone carving room I have a stand-up table. I think it began life as an architect’s drawing table, but it is just an old fashioned table where people used to stand to write. I’ve had it for about 25 years. I can put down my tools, take off my dust mask, pick up the pencil, and start writing about whatever is going through my mind at the time. And for me sculpting is a little bit like riding a motorcycle – it’s very physical – it matters what you do – it
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