SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011, Part 1
I made a commitment to sketch all of Dad’s sculptures today. Dad took a sculpting class at one of the local colleges back in the 60’s. I had grown up with these sculptures sitting around the house for the whole time I was growing up. Father had never formally studied drawing or taken any anatomy classes, other than what he needed to go through medical school back in the early 50’s. (Duh). It has always impressed me at how good it was and what a shame it was that he didn’t stick with it. Later on, he carved our front door out a solid sheet of mahogany, in Inuit pictographs, telling the story of “Little Red Riding Hood”. And he took a ceramics class in the early 80’s, not long before his fatal third heart attack in 1984.
The sculpture of the negress is made of clay, with a semi-gloss black glaze, measuring about 1.5 feet high. It sits atop the baby grand piano in the living room. I used to stare at it when I practiced my piano lessons in Jr. High and High School.
"Eve Emerging From The Clay" (my title; I don't recall if Father ever named it) is of soap stone. polished silky smooth on most of the flesh area, but left course in others, to (I assume) symbolize her intermediate state. It is not quite 1' long.
2 comments:
What a special endeavor. I'm glad you gave yourself a day to draw and ponder your father's artistic gifts.
So am I. Mother gave me one of Dad's sculptures. I call it "Happy Family". I'll do a painting of it one of these days.
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