Alex Alvis Art

Concentrating Deeply Today

Today, I need all the alpha waves I can muster to figure out the best way I can to present an idea I have for a public art project.  I cannot say much about the idea...I don't want to jinx it...

Of course I have to figure out how to best do this in 1000 words or less...oh - heck - no problem for me...brevity is my middle name...yep...
 
I know what I'll talk about today....I will share with you a different idea I have for a public art project (it isn't something created for a specific call like the one I have to concentrate on today). 

One day - back in 2002 or so - a very funny thought for a sculpture occurred.,.you know - it came from where ever inspiration comes from...and I just happened to be listening.  I sculpted this thought then and saved the clay sculpture all these years.

In the last year, I re-sculpted it as a maquette for a public art sculpture.  I altered the original sculpture to be more the in style I have today for horse sculpture...but it is similar in title and thought.

It's called Horse-In-A-Round ©. 

Just as an aside, and you may already know this about my work, but - one of the things about horses (and especially my horses - wild and barefoot and carefree) is, they are the metaphor - to me - of a joyful human spirit!  

You who are collectors of my work maybe feel that about them too, as many of you have never had a real horse or even have much of an interest in horses. 
 
Anyway....so - here is this crazy sculpture of a horse in the middle of a summersault (something a horse really couldn't do - but something a happy human could do!) and his body is circular (in a round...yes?)  The day I imagined this sculpture - the thought of it was so fun... I laughed out loud!  :)  Good thing no one else was in the room...

I apologize about these photos I took.  They do illustrate beautifully WHY I have professional photos taken of my work most of the time.  

Remember now, these are photos of the maquette...a small version or model of what a large sculpture might look like.  The finished large sculpture would not be white or made from paper clay...the finished public art sculpture would be bronze or aluminum and would have one of the beautiful patinas my work has.... 

Ta-Da!   Horse-In-A-Round...get it?? 


hahahahaha!

Around the base are the words:  Horse•In•A•Round - and the letters are constructed so humans can walk up the letters and get on the base with the sculpture - and interact with it if they wish.


Walking up to the letters, people would walk over these handprints and signatures of everyone who contributed to the funding of the project.  (I think that it's a nice thing to do...thank the funders of public art this way.  It is something that will always be part of the work and something that their children and grandchildren can see.) 

So the letters and city or place logo would say:  Horse•In•A•Round in (for example) Las Vegas ...or Horse•In•A•Round at Churchill Downs. 

'Course - the proposal for the upcoming public art project I am currently pondering won't be for Horse-In-A-Round...because, somehow, the description of the project sounds a bit more low key...although - I could be wrong about that. 

What I am thinking to propose for the public art for the call I'm pondering today is Okaga, the South Wind !  He is a beautiful sculpture at 19 inches high...and I think he would be even more beautiful 10 to 12  -FEET- high! 

Can you just imagine it???  He is just so dignified and proud and there's just so much action in him with his upraised foot and his mane and tail blowing in the wind!  I look at him and see:  G - l - o - r - ious !  What a wonderful wild boy he is.

Okaga - the South Wind from the Lakota Winds series

Anyway...for the next few days or so, if you have a moment to - send me some help or email me any advice you might have - or just send any spare energy of your persuasive powers? your supportive thoughts? prayers for miracles?   Heck, I know there are a LOT of things more important than my little public art proposal - but if you feel so inclined? just send any positive waves my way? 

I sure would appreciate that huge!   Thank you  :)

'Til tomorrow!

~Alex

Ooops! After I finish cursing - Accidental Design Elements in our Art

Every day that I sculpt I have accidents that happen.  Occasionally a sculpture will leap off my worktable and break into several pieces and - since I'm working with clay that is made out of paper and dries in the air - things happen to the sculpture all during the creating process.   For instance, once the sculpture is started and I add clay to a certain area, that new wet clay is placed onto the existing dry clay and while it is drying, moving portions of the sculpture around.

When I first started working with this material, I tried to correct these "accidental" rearrangements of my sculpture but now I will consider these accidents to see if they actually help the design or make it unique in some way.  I have decided that the accidents are sometimes a form of unique guidance and serendipity and welcome many of those accidents as part of my creative process.

Many artists today and throughout history knew accidents were often a good component in helping them create their works.  Of course some accidents will just feel like a catastrophe! 

What do you think?  Do you believe that art doesn't "just happen" because of perfect planning and perfect control that it also happens by seemingly random accidents sprinkled in?

Check out the quotes below (thanks to art-quotes.com) from artists regarding accidents in their work.  Which is your favorite?

It's time for me to get to work.  I hope your (and my) art accidents are all good ones today.

~Alex

All painting is an accident. But it's also not an accident, because one must select what part of the accident one chooses to preserve. (Francis Bacon)

It's the nasty and the accident that form the foundation for elegance that comes later. (Nick Bantock)

In art, there is one thing which does not receive sufficient attention. The element which is left to the human will is not nearly so large as people think. (Charles Baudelaire)

U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do, it doesn't seem to help. (Bono)

Oops! I wonder how that blob of paint turned up in the sky? – that must be how many a bird 'happened' in a landscape and how extra leaves were added to overhanging branches. (Jeane Duffey)

Accident is veiled necessity. (Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)

Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud of unknowing. (T. S. Eliot)

There are many accidents that are nothing but accidents - and forget it. But there are some that were brought about only because you are the person you are... you have the wherewithal, intelligence, and energy to recognize it and do something with it. (Helen Frankenthaler)

We try not to have ideas, preferring accidents. To create, you must empty yourself of every thought. (Gilbert George)

It may have been accidental but you knew enough to let this alone. The intelligent painter is always making use of accidents. (Charles Hawthorne)

The most persistent principles in the universe are accident and error. (Frank Herbert)

I have meant what I have done. Or – I have often meant what I have done. Or – I have sometimes meant what I have done. Or – I have tried to mean what I was doing. (Jasper Johns)

A creative train of thought is set off by: the unexpected, the unknown, the accidental, the disorderly, the absurd, the impossible. (Asger Jorn)

We never learned how to solve problems, create effects, get concrete results. So we hope for, and rely on fortuitous accidents. What we do by accident we call 'creative.' (Brian Knowles)

You need accidents, otherwise it is fake. (Sotirios Kotoulas)

Experiment by applying a few strokes suggesting the subject and see what happens... develop the piece from interesting accidents. (Jean-Francis Le Saint)

It was accidental before but now it's become my method. (Hui Lin Liu)

At first laying down, as a fact fundamental, / That nothing with God can be accidental. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

I throw down the gauntlet to chance. For example, I prepare the ground for a picture by cleaning my brush over the canvas. Spilling a little turpentine can also be helpful. (Joan Miro)

Surprises are the joy of living. Surprises directly touch the soul. Good surprises energize and bad surprises teach. (Alev Oguz)

Accidents, try to change them - it's impossible. The accidental reveals man. (Pablo Picasso)

When a person is prepared to receive something, a series of accidents takes place. (Irving Sandler)

Every brushstroke has a certain tension, a certain nervousness. Every brushstroke is, in a sense, some kind of accident. (Raphael Soyer)

As soon as you accept the accidental effects, they are no longer accidents. They are necessity – the part of yourself that you could not expect or design beforehand. Thus the realm of your creativity grows wider. (Kazuaki Tanahashi)

The unforseen event, the 'accident,' the unexpected all play a very large part in my creative play. I prefer to let the materials suggest the direction of a work. (Burnell Yow!)