ELIAS WAKAN
S
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On the other hand, in one case the inspiration for the final form of a sculpture (“Segue”), only occurred after the originally intended sculpture was finished. After temporarily wedging two extra rows into place to get a better idea of what it would look like, and utilizing the wedging effect of the earlier layers, it wasn’t difficult to permanently add these extra layers. So the original sculpture that formed the basis of the final one only existed for a few hours before the decision to continue adding pieces effectively destroyed the original, which has never been rebuilt.
Some of the ideas for these sculptures came from simply not wearing prescription glasses when looking for an idea. Dimly perceived forms (illusions really) suggest forms yet unmade (like faces in clouds). Then quick, crude sketches suggest how to go about manifesting the shape. New sculpture ideas can also be triggered by looking at repetitions in nature; or they can originate purely mechanically, by taking one piece of wood, and rotating it, imagining it levitating or passing through objects, bouncing, bending, balancing, letting it fall, or allowing its shape to freely change while remaining topologically stable. A few hours of this kind of activity will generate many ideas.
Sergue
Once a decision has been made to create a particular sculpture, the next thing is to find the wood. To be suitable, the wood should be blemish-free, dry, not too dense, nor too porous, and be in sufficient supply for the sculpture and a generous quantity of spare pieces. After pulling a quantity of boards, each board is labeled, measured, and weighed to put a number on its density. The densest and least dense boards are all rejected. One will be too soft, and the harder one will probably warp unacceptably once cut, sometimes repeatedly, even if precautions are taken (like cutting the piece into short lengths first). Each board is inspected for knots, splits, blemishes, warping, as well as unusual grain patterns, and colors. More boards are selected to replace those rejected, which are kept for possible use in future sculptures.
The sculptures are all made of old-growth hemlock, which has very little pitch, and results in a cleaner, and therefore not progressively thicker-with-baked- on-resin saw blade, one less likely to burn in the kerf.
Girlchild
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