Alex Alvis Art

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

"Look!" - the making of (Pre-Foundry)

The first sculpture in the House Horse Series was "Look!" When I "imagined" him he was standing on the fireplace mantle looking at me standing on the 2nd floor. I was looking down over the bannister of the landing into the family room when I saw him looking up at me. It was a bit of a surreal experience and one that is hard to describe. But I saw his form the way I sculpted it and he became the basis for the style of all the horses I sculpt.

Here is a photo of him in in the beginning stages of sculpting him - I took this from upstairs using zoom on the camera.

And as time went on I did the finishing details in my studio once the clay was dry. In that stage I do a lot of sanding and carving.

Until finally I re-attach the tail and he's ready to be put in front of the mirror.

And then it is time to say goodbye to the original sculpture. I will never see it again as it will be destroyed in the process of turning it into bronze...a heart wrenching thought - especially for the first sculpture an artist takes to the foundry to have this done. But the end result is (hopefully) spectacular and permanent and can be shared with other people because several (in the case of "Look!" only 50 bronzes will be made) bronzes are made from the original and then the mold that was made from the original is destroyed.

Tomorrow is a pictorial of the bronze process and then I hope that any of you who are reading this have met me at the wonderful show Sculpture in the Park in Loveland!

"Til tomorrow!

~Alex

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Tuesday and it is my birthday...

Well. I have a day off on my calendar today because it's my birthday. If today is your birthday too - happy birthday. Take the day off!

birthday cake painting by Carol Engles

I'll talk with you tomorrow!

"Til then!

~Alex

Monday, August 4, 2014

Monday is after Sunday

Topsy turvy house continues but the workers have not arrived and are, in fact delayed. So the house is waiting. Home renovations are sooo - disruptive.

I know it will be marvelous once it is done and it is, in fact, a remaking of a part of the house into a gallery for my art and a place for entertaining. I know I will love it once it's through.

But enough - you are not hear to read of my remodeling woes. You want to know how I make something that looks like someone waaay younger than me made it into something that is, in fact, beautiful fine art bronze sculpture.

Next step. Add more clay. Let dry. Add more clay, let dry, add more clay, let dry.

Really. Let me see if I can find some more progress photos.

beginning of "Yata, the North Wind" in clay with little "Look!"
in bronze standing in the foreground

So here is a good photo of "Yate the North Wind" the first sculpture in the Lakota Winds Series standing next to a finished in bronze "Look!" sculpture. I love this stage in the sculpting because they are beginning to form a personality and do gain a lot of their characteristics just from the material I use to sculpt with; that paper clay.

And here is another one of "Yata" in progress from the other side. Unlike many other sculptors, I sculpt my originals free standing. But I do occasionally employ the use of "props" - you can see some black tape down at Yata's feet - this tape is holding his legs down onto a level surface while the clay on the legs dry...otherwise some of his legs may dry unevenly...they may anyway, but this helps.

And here is "Yata" nearly finished in paper clay. There are some differences between this one and the finished bronze because this is pre-put-in-front-of-the-mirror Yata. Once I think I'm finished I always put a sculpture in front of a mirror and anything that doesn't look right in the reflection I address. Then off to the mold maker and the process of turning the original into bronze.

Then a couple of months (yes MONTHS) later:

Tada! Beautiful!

I will show you some photos of me working on "Look!" in my studio tomorrow and then the NEXT day will show you some actual photos of him being turned into bronze...all the many steps to make that happen.

'Till tomorrow!

~Alex

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Inspiration Sunday

At home everything is a bit topsy turvey right now (long story) and I don't have the time to find my book of quotes. I borrowed some of these from this lovely website though and you can find more there. My thanks to Skinny Productions for all the services they provide to us artists in the world.

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” ~Henry Ward Beecher

“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” ~Paul Cezanne

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” ~Albert Einstein

“Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” ~John O’Donohue

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” ~Rumi

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” ~Ben Okri

“You connect yourself to the viewer by sharing something that is inside of you that connects with something inside of him. All you have as your guide is that you know what moves you.” ~Steven Brust

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer

“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe

“Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.” ~Robert Henri

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” ~Marc Chagall

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” ~Francis Bacon

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” ~ Henry Moore

“Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?” ~Picasso

“Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing.” ~Marc Chagall

Saturday, August 2, 2014

What Next??

So what do I typically do after I have an "armature sketch?"

Time is spent adding layers to the sculpture and waiting for them to dry. Looking back over photos I found a few House Horse Series photos. Here is one of "Relax!" - you can still see the wire armature in her tail hasn't been covered by clay yet.

"Relax!" in the beginning

"Itchy!" in the beginning

and here is one of "Itchy!" It just starts with a lot of basic shapes and they look very funny at first.

"Watch!" in the beginning

and this is "Watch!" - you can see the differences from start to finish.

"Watch!" finished sculpture in bronze

When I imagined "Watch!" I saw her running up to the window and sliding to an abrupt stop and so as I sculpted her during the months ahead, I would put her back in front of that window where I first saw her.

Over the months by that window next to the front door I could see her face there when I pulled the car into the driveway. It was her window...of course, our cat thought it was her window too and would frequently send "Watch!" in progress sliding across the tile floor.

Next installment of a Alex Alvis Sculpture becoming on the Monday post because the next post is inspiration Sunday :).

'Til then!

~Alex

Friday, August 1, 2014

August Already?!?!

And it's Friday Too! Now that's a good thing.

Today I thought I'd talk a little bit about how a work of sculpture is started, at least for me. I have an idea that all sculptors are a bit different in their approach to beginning so I won't say this is THE way to do it.

I choose my subject matter based upon something that is internally very important to me. One very important things to me is the preservation of the world's natural animal habitat and the preservation of the animals that have historically inhabited them...or even the preservation of animals in habitats they have not historically inhabited - if that means they are doing good things for the natural habitat.

For instance I am a big fan of the work Alan Savory is doing because it makes sense to me that preserving the grasslands of this planet will literally save our skins.

He advocates for keeping any grazing animals on our grasslands as long as they are managed appropriately...which means they mimic the historic grazing patterns the grasslands evolved from - the idea being - mimicking nature allows the grasslands to thrive.

I'm geeked by the knowing that there are wild horses still running free and living in the wild....living in family herds and making our world an eminently more beautiful place just because they are out there living their lives.

There are all kinds of things going on with humans that threaten the existence of our country's wild horses. Every horse I sculpt is my way of saying "notice them...cherish them...respect their place in our world."

I started the Blue Moon Series this year. It is a series of animals other than wild horses that are in danger of going extinct. These are animals you may never see or only see 'once in a blue moon' because they are animals listed as endangered species.

I incorporate a blue moon in each sculpture with the animal. This sculpture is of a Spotted Owl holding a small blue moon that he has taken a bite from....he offers it to you to taste too.

Owl Ate the Blue Moon - limited edition bronze 12"x 9" x 6"

My sculptures always start with an imagining. I reason out the "why?" I want to do a particular series, but the imagining of a single sculpture happens with less thinking.

With horses imagining is effortless. Somehow, it seems I am wired to always dream about them and imagine them standing around in the house. I could write a "haunted by horses" book probably. One of my uncles thinks they are my totem. Maybe so.

For imagining other animals I may have never seen or have only seen occasionally, I look at photographs or watch movies or go to where they are. Then I carry those images with me and just kind of wait to see what speaks to me and how. They are then re-imagined.

I will also dream about other animals - especially if it is an animal I have been studying....I woke up with the blue moon eating owl one morning...so I think I probably had an owl dream.

In the re-imagining they are always doing something. And before that dream of how they look when I imagine them goes away, sort of like writing down a dream before you forget it...I grab some armature wire and make a "sketch" of the imagining.

Here is the sketch of a bull elk...pre-antlers (well - the antler buds are there). Rocky Mountain Majesty is the first in the Rocky Mountain Series. This is a series of animals we still can see fairly often if we visit the Rocky Mountain West. These animals are living in the wild in the Rockies and are my favorites and animals that I, myself, have been fortunate enough to see in their natural habitat.

sketch for Rocky Mountain Majesty - 1st in Rocky
Mountain Series of animals of a 10 point Elk - here
the wire has just begun to be covered in clay

My armature sketches are loose and not attached to a pipe or a board or anything. This allows me to play with the form for awhile until it seems that the pose is the way it "should" be...to me.

I have many sketches in armature wire in my studio at one time....many works are always in progress.

So that's the start.

More about what comes next tomorrow.

'Till then!

~Alex

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Artists Who Fear and Loath their Own Work

So I want to address how you treat your own sweet artist self today. And to help me with this I am bringing in one of my favorite people to boost me up on a blue day, Bryon Katie. I have included the partial transcript of a podcast below.

But first I would like to encourage you to read this hysterical article in Cracked. Most of the writing in Cracked is very funny...this is a great read too.

So the Bryon Katie transcript is about examining your thoughts toward others...but since that will eventually will lead you toward examining your thoughts about yourself...which is what I hope you will do, please read it with that in your heart...because...

Your success or failure as an artist is very dependent upon the thoughts you have about yourself. So nourish them into kind and loving thoughts with all your might...I beg you.

Here's the transcript. It's a bit of a read...so extend you attention span for a little while - you'll be glad you did :)

I have edited this a bit, my own words are in parenthesis and some things are left out...interviewer comments and the like...just to keep things more clear, to the point, and less loooong.

'Till tomorrow!
~Alex

I woke up and I could see clearly that ...when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, and when I didn't believe them I didn't suffer. And I've come to see that this is true for every human being.

...We (sometimes) just take for granted that what people tell us is true...especially as children. And that's fine, it's how we create the world.

But the stressful thoughts. (The thoughts that tell us) there's something to fear.

That is a breach of intimacy. There's no intimacy when we're in fear and there's no love when we're in fear. (Intimacy and love) it's there - it just that our awareness of it is broken. So we experience this separateness.

I invite people to identify when they're stressed out.

(When we) look at what we're believing about our partner (or about ourselves or about anyone or anything else and we are feeling stressed...what is the belief that is stressing us out?) (Because)...what we're believing, our feelings are the effect of that.

In other words - everything we experience emotionally is the effect of what we're believing.

So we've tried to change our feelings and change our feelings and it doesn't work as long as we're believing those unquestioned stressful thoughts, those thoughts that separate.

We're just...convinced (of some thought that is making us miserable), (but)...as we question them using these four questions, then we're shocked at what isn't true.

And our whole identity begins to change, and every time we question what we believe, our identity shifts, and then we just experience ourselves as kinder human beings because we have dealt with this underworld.

(I want to add here that many of us hang on to our "identities" for dear life. No matter how much they may be making us suffer - no matter how much our story makes others suffer - if I am stuck in an unquestioning "This Is Who I Am" my mind will not be open to the questioning of stressful thoughts.)

For example; you know the thought “(S)He doesn't care about me.” You think the thought, “He doesn't care about me anymore. He doesn't love me anymore.” “She doesn't love me, she doesn't care about me anymore.” So I would...do the work on that.

I would work on that, and... “(S)He doesn't care about me.” Is it true? Let's see “(S)He doesn't care about you.” Is it true? (And you don't decide...with thinking...is it true?) ...you just open the space and wait.

You just come up with a yes or a no. You just open your mind and you just very gently answer the question, it's not a huge big deal.

You're just answering the first question from as deeply within as you possibly can.

Now, what your mind did ...what the mind does when asked “Is it true?”

“She's cooks for me, she does this, she does that, duh duh duh, how would I know duh duh.” Ok just notice, notice, now. Answer the question. ("Is it true?" Yes or No?)

It's like, (if you let your mind take over and you don't just answer the question from deeply within) ...the work stops working the moment you stop answering the questions.

And so all of that logic that was coming out of you, ... we still have war on this planet. We promise to love each other to the death and we don't have a lot of that in our heads (with our egos and personalities).

You know - I say personalities don't love, they want something.

...An ego doesn't love. Love is our nature - it's our true nature, it's what we are already.

(But)...we take on this identity, “I need your love, I need your love. I need your approval.” That's what we're seeking...not the truth.

We're seeking love, approval and appreciation.

If I had a prayer it would be “God spare me from the desire for love, approval and appreciation.” It's a full time job, it takes your life over.

And you miss love.

(The friendly universe) Well you know everything is for us, is done for us, not to us. I found it's a friendly universe.

You know Einstein said there's only one question, “Is the universe friendly?”

And I just fell into this awareness, this realization, that in fact the universe is friendly and I have been testing that for 23 years, and so far so good. It is ringing true.

So, in my world any time anything is unacceptable to me, I look at, my mind judges that to be a negative thing. Not ok.

I'm going to feel stress. Because it argues with the true nature of everything. That's Negative, and so we feel it.

(Because) you're at war with what is, you're at war with your own true nature. So I invite people to identify what they're thinking when they're feeling that stress.

And to put it on paper and to put it up against these two questions. In other words to work that concept, to work those concepts - to work that thought.

...“(S)He doesn't care about me?” So can you absolutely know that it's true? - that he doesn't care about me? Ok so, about you. So you just get very still with that and notice and commit to a yes or a no.

And notice how your mind wants to go nuts with logic.

You know, people, forever, have wanted the mind to stop. “Just stop, stop, I just want to stop my head.” You know, people kill themselves, they commit suicide, because they can't stop their heads.

And it's just too painful and it looks like the way out.

But the way out is in.

And you know, I did suicide enough years, and it was, you know, I obsessed over it - I was so depressed.

...So I died of the self, and this work ... is for anyone that is open to it and wants a way out.

So we're going in.

So the Yes or No, that's it.

But this work, ...what it equates to is the truth and it is the truth that sets us free.

So if we go back to the thought on, “(S)He doesn't care about me.”

And then we ask that third question “How do you react, when you believe that thought, what happens? And get still with that one.

How do you react when you believe the thought “(s)he doesn't care about you” ? What happens?

And you see the effects of what you're believing, how you treat him/her when you think that thought, how you treat yourself when you think that thought.

And the addictions that happen, that's the effect of believing this stressful thought. And it's not right or wrong and it's ok to believe it.

We're just looking at the effects of mind and the world it creates. And we begin to understand that it is the mind that creates the world.

And who would you be without the thought “(S)He doesn't care about you?” And to just get still and look into that space only without the thought.

So we find opposites, “(S)He doesn't care about me.” turned around “I don't care about him/her.”

Now that can be very shocking, and your mind might go “Well, that's not true!”

And then you look at everything you've done for him/her and how you've sacrificed.

And then go back to it and look again. Find examples, of how you've lead him or her to believe that you don't care.

Like where do you punish? and where do you apply guilt? And then get specific, and then make amends for it, for your sake.

And because when we make amends, we find examples, and make amends for it, it raises our awareness.

We're more aware the next time it happens. And we already have found we don't, that's not us.

That's not the us that we live well with, that there's guilt in it and guilt, that's hard, that's really hard, it's a busy mind.

So.. if we don't know... we need to do the work with, on what we're believing about them.

How irresponsible of me to see you as irresponsible, you know that's your path. It's necessary. And how unloving of me to see you as unloving. ...We can't get away from it.

...Attack is attack. And when we attack what we don't understand we never come to understand.

...When) we turn these around they're huge (She doesn't care about me." is turned around to) “I don't care about me.”

And to find the ways that maybe you, the way you treat you, could be less caring than what your partner is living toward you.

And probably is, you know, if we are not our own best friend, how can we expect them to be?

...And we're so hurt when they're unkind, and look how unkind we are to ourselves.

And .... maybe we can't change our partners - but we do have the opportunity to work with ourselves.

... and I don't expect anyone to love when I don't love, or anyone to be caring when I am so uncaring. ...I'm just having a love affair with myself and working on me, and people are calling me kind, and...I'm doing nothing more or less than just self-love and it is...it's a full time job.

(So another turn around to "She doesn't care about me" is).. “(s)he does care about me” and then to find examples yes, ...(even though she or he is doing that seems uncaring to you - no matter how mean...no matter how thoughtless) it doesn't mean that they don't care about us, it just means he or she is believing their thoughts. That's all anyone is guilty over.

I work in prisons where I have worked with people who have murdered many many people and people who have burned down homes with their wife and children in it.

They were believing their thoughts, and if we believed the thoughts that they were believing, then we would be there too. It's like, what are we believing?

What are we believing that is costing us our freedom, our birthright which is happiness? And basically (is costing) the awareness of our own true nature which is love?
... suffering is nothing more than the denial of that.