Thank you Art Appreciation 100

When I was working on my Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, I was always intrigued when artists would talk about what influenced their work.

None of us work in a vacuum, and it makes sense to me that pretty much everything must influence creative work. I can often see influences in my own work, whether it's painting, glass, clay or sculpture.  Usually it's a reflection of a recent adventure, travel to a new place, environmental changes or the sense of discovery--like hearing a new composer or watching a pink cloud float in the sky.

But, I had to laugh when I realized my major influences while creating the 3-D flood stick assemblages!  Clearly, I HAD been paying attention during Art Appreciation class!!

In case you haven't read my posts on "Sparkling Stories," I'm creating work out of sticks found along the banks of the Cache la Poudre River following major floods last fall and this spring.  I thought I would primarily create wall sculptures for the exhibit I will have this September.  These are comprised of flood sticks, twine and found relics--usually something I've found mired in the mud at the riverbank or deep within a "stick-jam," my word to describe a pile-up of sticks lodged by an unyielding tree or a stubborn riverbank.

The beginning of a "stick-jam" -- flotsam getting caught in an eddy.

 

After the river receded, this is one of my favorite harvesting sites.

Oh, I've found remarkable and strange things stuck in the sticks--lots of flip-flops, plastic bottles, tennis balls--and things I didn't expect to find like an arrow (without its feathers,) a baby's pacifier, and a hairbrush.   


 

  




This is an example of one of my finished wall sculptures, "Bend Like A Willow," created from flood sticks, sisal twine and river willow.  h - 39" x w- 50" x d 7 1/2"

            
When I'm "harvesting" sticks I have also been lucky enough to stumble upon the oddest, strangest, most intriguing bits of wood and bark.  Some I have used in other sculptures but some insisted on becoming sculptures in their own right.  And, how right they were!

And, THIS is where I realized how deeply I must have absorbed art by the great masters!  

I remember the first time I saw a photograph of this piece by Pablo Picasso, "Bull's Head."  I was so amazed that he saw the parts of a bicycle as shapes and not just handlebars and a seat.  It has influenced every piece of sculpture I've created since, regardless of medium.  

I, too, look at shapes and let my mind play with positioning.   

When I realized in my harvested collection of sticks I had naturally shaped pieces that would lend themselves to new combinations, I couldn't wait to begin!!

(All borrowed art photographs are from my well-worn textbook, ART Across Time, Second Edition, by Laurie Schneider Adams, McGraw Hill.) 

 This is my piece, "Wild Game," in homage to Picasso's "Bull's Head."  It is an assemblage of two found pieces of flood wood.  h - 12" x w - 15" x d 13"

No doubt you've seen Boticelli's "Birth of Venus."

 Here's my version, "Venus Rising," created from three pieces of found flood wood.  
l - 9 1/2" x w - 3 1/2" x h - 8 1/2"

"Venus Rising," two views.

And, here's my tribute to that famous Japanese woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, "Great Wave of Kanagawa." 

 This is my "Tsunami," created from two pieces of found flood wood.  I love the sweep of "water" just ready to crash!
l - 7 3/4" x w - 2 1/2" x h 8 1/2"

So, thank you again, dear art professors, who continue to show art in the dark to students you might suspect are dozing.  Surprisingly, we absorb more than we all realize!!  

Thank you for continuing to influence.


(To see more flood stick wall and 3-D sculptures please go to my website:  www.tobybakerart.com.)