not doing the work yourself

[artisti@zzzzzzzzzzzz]

Rodin's wife was a cluz who did nothing. But he did collaborate for 15 years with Camille Claudel and often took the cedit for her work! I have collaborated on 8 monumental pieces and each time we signed the pieces with a signature design by us to represent us. But collaboration is another story. It can be very enlightening if you can not let your ego get in the way.

One of the Famous artists of Pietrasanta that does not touch his work, does give verbal credit to his artisans, but most do not.

As for tool marks left by the artist.... I personally love the tool marks, and would love to leave them carved like that.  Often I do clean them up so that most of them go away. But I try to leave some of them, like a transition from the raw stone through some of my early tool marks to finer tool marks, to an ultimate smooth finish.  One of the things that actracts me to working this way is that reproduction becomes nearly impossible, insuring that your work can never be copied. As soon as you put a united surface on your sculpture and carve it all free from the original block, then any artisan worth his salt can copy it.

artisti