I guess I need to have a picture of me pretending to sculpt while wearing my Dollar Store readers.
About Me
Husband of 1 (28 years), Dad of 8 (5 plus 3 married in), and Grandpa of 4 (more on the way?). It is an awesome family! Physical Therapist by day and Sculptor by night and whenever else I can fit it in.
I have always enjoyed working with my hands. I started with wood working when 10 or 11 years old. My parents gave me a jig saw, router, and other small tools for wood. I used my Dad’s table saw as needed. I started making wood trinkets for Christmas presents, then shelves or other bigger items for walls per my Mom’s request. I loved the creative process.
The first sculpture I remember making was a soap carving for a Cub Scout award. It was a polar bear eating a fish, I thought that was appropriate with the white Ivory Soap. I later started carving a small wooden chess set (wish I knew where that incomplete set ended up).
I started working in clay after I got married. I had a dream of sculpting little western cottages like David Winter Cottages, but after having kids I changed to wanting to sculpt memories of activities my kids did. My wife and Mom saw an add in the local newspaper of an artist offering a free 3-4 hour class to try getting students to sign up for other classes. They encouraged me to go to LeRoy Transfield’s class and that is the extent of my formal training. My other training is from trial and error, observing other’s works, books, and YouTube (my anatomy and physiology classes in college and daily working on real bodies as a physical therapist comes in handy too).
I set aside sculpting until I graduated from physical therapy school. I had a period of time that I was waiting for my license so I could practice so I pulled out the clay to work on “Wish Come True”. I built an armature out of a coat hanger and pencils. I used a Bic ballpoint pen lid as a sculpting tool and went for it. I thought I did a pretty good job but looking back I had a lot to learn.
I met a man in Yakima who was a student of a student of Rodin. John Peterson humbled me after looking at my first sculpture, he did not say anything at first. I told him if he did not say anything about it I could not get better. He agreed and said one work, “proportions”. He was right. As I looked my sculpture again I could better see the areas that could have used more work prior to casting in bronze.
Starting my next sculpture, “Daddy’s Partner”, I made sure I was more particular with the proportions. John’s response to this piece was, “the proportions are good”. Heading the right direction.
My third sculpture was of my near one year old daughter as she was learning to walk. “Lead Me, Guide Me” has some hands holding the small hand of the daughter walking. John’s response, “you’ve mastered the hands” then he taught me about draping the figure with just a light layer of clay and using a sharp point to define the edge.
My friend John now has Alzheimer’s Disease. I wish I could pick his brain a little more and show him my progression. As I think about it, I cannot forget to add John Peterson as some sort of formal training or at least mentorship.
So my journey continues. I look for time to work on improving and creating statically dynamic sculptures that will evoke some sort of memory in others.
Roger