carving ethics

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi all,

I love topics like this and would really like to see a good many more topics
touching on values but....and a very big but, declaring our heart felt
values in a passionate way can easily cause rifts.

Each to their own, grind, carve or crush if you like but in the end we have
to mention such things as integrity and honesty.

Stone is a very peculiar medium in that it seems to retain a memory of how
it was treated during the process of making a sculpture. This is more felt
than seen but I think the lettering experts could be used as the best
example, a fine perfectly hand formed letter will always win over the sand
blasted version.

If we were analyse the difference between the two examples we would always
have to admit that the sand blasted version is a poor and very soggy
substitute for the "real" thing.

The same kind of thing always happens with drawing, you can almost always
tell the difference between something that has been copied from a 2D source
and the honestly developed original from "life".

Sculpture is the same, I am sure that every tool can be used with integrity
but if it is used to mask the maker's deficiencies it will always show. Just
as we can sense something lacking in sculptures that have been mechanically
scaled up from a smaller model we can sense that an artist has over
conceived a work and simply set out to make it instead having an ongoing
relationship with the original idea, themselves and block of stone.

Regards to all.
Clive Murray-White
Web: www.cowwarr.com