Sculpture Source

Since I’m new here at the gallery, I spoke to a few artists who focus on wind sculptures to get a better idea of what they take into consideration when designing a piece. In addition to the overall artistic concept, I was curious to learn what attributes can enhance or detract from the beauty and stability of each work of art.

As with other forms of three-dimensional art, material choices are critical to a successful kinetic piece, and variables such as weight, bearing strength, cost and durability are key considerations.

Artists told me that using a heavy material such as stainless steel makes the sculpture more challenging to create and transport, but can add to its structural stability in high winds. Aluminum can be worked in thinner sheets, but because it isn’t as strong as steel, it may have difficulty supporting its own weight, or the weight of other modules of the structure.

Jeffery Laudenslager mentioned that titanium is only slightly heavier than aluminum and is stronger than stainless steel, so titanium kinetic sculptures can be made which are 50% lighter and stronger. However, the material cost is ten times more by weight due to the high price of the material. Tradeoffs, tradeoffs!

In terms of durability, stainless steel is suitable for all climates. In more humid areas or in areas near the ocean with salt in the air, annual treatment with a rust preventative is needed. Titanium is virtually immune to corrosion and holds up well in the elements, but again, there’s that issue of cost.

Plastic is another material which is sometimes used for kinetic sculpture. Due to its relatively light weight in comparison to metal, it’s most often seen in the suspended modules of indoor pieces so that the movement remains subtle. Tim Prentice is currently working with elegantly engineered and precisely balanced plastic forms that dance on the slightest of air currents.

On May 25th, 2009, Brigitte Micmacker conducted an interview with Mark Chatterley. Chatterley opened a new solo exhibition at Sculpturesite Gallery on June 25th.

BM:  Your large groupings are extraordinary! Some evoke circus feats, while others seem to have sexual overtones. There are often recognizable yoga positions. How do you get the inspiration for these compositions?

MC:   I do a little yoga and try to keep somewhat fit.  Understanding how my body works so I can translate it into clay.   I do a lot of drawing to get an idea of where I want to go with group figures.  What I want to say.   Sometime this includes sexual overtones or psychological situations. On the stacked groupings, I start with one figure on the bottom, then I build on top using the figure underneath to support the upper figures.   I have to build them so they can come apart as individual figures and I can move them to the kiln.  For the glaze firing, I fire them in the group.  That way they shrink and warp as one piece.

BM:  What other sculptors’ works do you admire most?

MC:   I like looking at Anthony Gormley, Robert Brady, Isamu Noguchi, Louise Bourgeois, Martin Puryear, Lee Bontecou,  But I also like looking at two dimensional artists’ work like Robert Parke Harrison  and Paul Wunderlich.

BM:  You have taught many workshops and classes. What is your favorite aspect of teaching?

MC:   It keeps me on my toes mentally.   I have to figure out why I do things so I can teach it to students.  It also forces me to learn something new.   I have been teaching an advanced ceramic course for years, and there is a core group of students who have been taking the class from me year after year.  I thought that I had told them everything that I knew the first year, so coming up with something new is a challenge.   And I like to think that I take the same challenge of always coming up with something new with my work.

BM:  Thank you, Mark. I look forward to seeing your new exhibition of figurative sculpture, BEINGS: Clay Musings on the Human Condition at Sculpturesite Gallery next month!

On May 25th, 2009, Brigitte Micmacker conducted an interview with Mark Chatterley. Chatterley will open a new solo exhibition of figurative ceramic sculpture at Sculpturesite Gallery on June 25th.

BM:  Mark, you mentioned in a recent interview in Ceramics Monthly that your favorite part of what you do is the building of the figures, and that the glazing is not as exciting to you. As a gallerist who has sold quite a number of your works, I would say that your unique use of glazes is actually a very important part of the appeal for your work. How did you come about your particular “recipe” for what you call the “lava glazes” with the distinctive craters and flowing details?

MC:   I realized early on that I didn’t want to use a typical shinny glaze on the work. The Netsler’s  were a husband and wife potter team in the 50s that used an interesting texture glaze.  So I set out to see if I could get an interesting texture of my own.  It took several years with lots of experimenting  to where I am today.  Now I am playing with the bubble size with different chemicals.  Bone ash and silicon carbide, to name a few.  But it is not an exact science.   Atmosphere in the kiln, weather outside, how thick I apply the glaze, all affect the results.  It is always exciting for me to open the kiln after the glaze fire to see what is in there.   The one nice thing that I discovered by working this way is I can load the kiln so the pieces touch each other, Supporting each other so they don’t melt down.  When I open the kiln I take a hammer and chisel and separate them.  Giving them another added texture.  This is something that was told to me not to do when I went to school.  Maybe that is why I work this way.  Maybe the one reason I don’t like glazing as much as building the sculptures is  when I apply the glaze all the different colors look the same, a dull gray.  I have to imagine what it will look like after it is fired.

BM:  Your sculptures have a primordial presence that transcends time and geography. Viewers sense a deep connection to mythology and philosophical anthropology in your work. Have you studied or developed a personal interest in either field of study?

MC:  I have an interest in past cultures and how my work will be viewed a 100 years from now.  I am also interested in world religions, past and present.  And how artwork conveys these belief systems.   I am currently thinking of art as instinct and how if affects our every day lives and how it was used for survival and passed down through the generations.  

On May 25th, 2009, Brigitte Micmacker conducted an interview with Mark Chatterley. Chatterley will open a new solo exhibition of figuartive ceramic sculptures at Sculpturesite Gallery on June 25th: BEINGS -Clay Musings on the Human Condition.

BM:  So do you build your clay sculptures using slabs or wide coils?

MC:  I use slabs, 5/8 inches thick by 8 inches wide.  I have a slab roller that can roll 50 pounds of clay flat at a time. 

BM:  How do they hold up while they are drying?

MC:  I work 8 inches a day on each sculpture, with as many as 12 sculptures going on at one time.  I let the clay stiffen up each day so it will support the clay of the next layer.   The one problem working this way is I can’t go back and work on the bottom once I reach the top, for it will be dry on the bottom and wet on top.   On skinny, tall work I use cement blocks on the outside to support the work as I build.   I do drawings for each piece before I start so I know where I am going with the sculpture as I am working.

BM:  I understand that you have developed your own clay body that is mixed especially for you. Are you after a certain workability, or strength for the finished sculptures when you determine the properties you want in a clay body?

MC:  Clay is such a great material to work with.  You can make anything with it.  But one problem is in green ware the pieces are fragile, so I add materials to the clay body to give it strength at that stage of work.  Another problem is when you fire the work to vitrification, there is a lot of shrinkage.  So I add material to help with that.   The work still shrinks 10%.  Some materials are Kyanite, mullite, grog.  Different clays from around the country.

BM:  About how much clay do you go through in a year?

MC:  18,000 pounds.